The sooner ministers realize this, and the sooner that elders and church leaders understand this, the better off the church will be.  The sooner we quit abusing Jesus’ parables about kingdom growth for the purpose of giving us incentives to “grow” the church, maybe we’ll quit acting like salesmen  on late night infomercials. Those guys drive a lot of us nuts, and if we’ll listen to those outside the church, we might find that our gospel sales pitches aren’t doing much for them, either.

Ministers who believe that it is incumbent upon themselves to grow a church may not realize they are putting themselves in God’s place. After all, God is the one who gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6). Sure, we plant and water, but God gives the growth.

I am terrible with plants. Last Summer, I built planter boxes for our front porch, bought a few plants, planted them and watered them. Guess what happened to them? They died. I planted and watered them, but I could not give them life or sustain their lives.

Here’s the perfect segue into our concern for saving churches. It is not our job to save churches, either. Last year, Dan Bouchelle, a talented pulpit minister for a healthy, growing church in Amarillo, stepped away from the pulpit to run an organization involved in church planting. On his blog, Confessions of a Former Preacher, he began to share with his readers why. On May 15, he offered this post. It apparently stirred up a lot of controversy, but I’m inclined to believe much of it was because what he stated was true, and it was something that some of us don’t want to believe. Read it, though. I think it’s worth the time. He lays out a real framework for thinking about churches that makes sense.

Shortly thereafter I, too, stepped away from the pulpit. It was not for all the same reasons, but I stepped away nonetheless. It was somewhat symbolic for me. In stepping away from the pulpit, I saw myself as actually surrendering to God, giving him the reins that he deserves.  He could now use me as he saw fit. He didn’t need me to micromanage his church, grow it, or save it.

I believe the misconceptions about growing and salvaging churches revolve around the business model we’ve incorporated in America for churches. They operate as 501C3 non-profit organizations with operating budgets and all the politics that goes with them. Programs are often slashed, not because the don’t work, but rather because churches don’t possess the operating expenses to sustain them. Something is wrong.

Still, God used experiences, blogs, and truth to show me how off-base I was. Thankfully, I got the picture. I learned the lesson.

Bovina Bulletin Board

Well, this is the final bullet point from a great bulletin board found at the Bovina Church of Christ. This last bullet point is a frustrating one. It is a virtual microcosm of congregational struggles across the land. It might reflect the degree to which the modern church has slipped its moorings from God’s original intent, and as a result impeded the church’s effectiveness in the world.

I’ve both seen and heard of church’s that have struggled to help even it’s own members because it was believed that a meeting needed to be called before responding. How unfortunate it is that churches have hobbled themselves to this degree! I’m not against meetings. Believe me, they are quite expedient. But matters as pressing as the mission of God can’t, and shouldn’t, always wait for the last Sunday evening of the month.

I suppose the New Testament church had some kind of “business” meetings. It seems logical. The New Testament, though, is relatively, if not completely, silent about them. In Acts 15 a gathering of Christians from various congregations and areas was conducted at Jerusalem to hash out matters pertaining to Jewish Christian and Gentile Christian relations and implications of Gentile acceptance of Jesus as Lord. But the issues they tackled were of a more doctrinal nature, and not so much about how one church carried out the mission of God. In fact, it is relatively clear that this “conference” actually transcended common church autonomy.

What compounds the frustration is that often, not always but often nonetheless, calling a meeting doesn’t guarantee things get done. One reason congregational business meetings are so poorly attended is because so little seemingly is accomplished by them. Church business meetings, across the board, don’t have the reputations they do because they are adored. In my almost ten years of local work, in churches both with and without elders, church business meetings are the subject of jokes, cynicism, and a ton of sarcasm. The almost universal consensus opinion about them should speak loudly and clearly to us.

My utmost prayer from having considered these bullet points is that we’ll quit making excuses for why things don’t get done in our churches. After all, excuses are all those bullet points are. God is ready to use us, but will we answer His call?

Bovina Bulletin Board

Are you kidding me? How much money does it cost to share the gospel with someone? It takes no money. Zero. Zilch. Not a dime. Gimmicks cost cash; conversation is free. Of course, it takes being relational to sustain a conversation with anyone. Hmmmm. Could this be part of the problem?

The 1^st Century church didn’t thrive because it had unlimited resources. Had they possessed such, the Jerusalem benevolent effort would not have reached out as far or lasted as long as it did. Paul was collecting funds for the needy of Jerusalem late into his ministry. The kingdom advanced naturally, not because there was an unending supply of monetary resources. Resources, actually, were scarce.

Churches grow because God is at work in them.  Churches came together collectively to “stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24-25). God is intimately engaged in this process. It’s a joint venture project wherein he helps us “ to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12).

In our culture, though, resources seem to be essential for churches to survive. I think resources are more integral to the edification process than to evangelism. Still, it’s functional relationships within the body that causes it to grow “with a growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:19). Resources only facilitate the relationships, giving us avenues and opportunities in particular environments. Nevertheless, resources aren’t necessarily essential for such.

At the core is how we believe growth is derived. I began this series with the premise that God is the one who gives the increase, not us (1 Corinthians 3:6). Growth cannot be forced. That we haven’t learned this yet is disturbing. That “resources” even come up goes to show that commercialism and consumerism overly affects our thinking.

First, let’s remember that church growth is a result, not a pursuit. God provides the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6), not us. He simply uses us to facilitate it. So, in a sense, it’s true: “It’s not my job.” Moreover, a “job” is probably not the best way to view one’s service to God to begin with.

Our commission is towards discipleship (Matthew 28:18-20). We accomplish this by living like Jesus, our Master Teacher, and teaching others to do the same. Discipleship is a heavenly mentoring program. Such was how Jesus’ approach, and such is our great calling. We sow the seed of the Living Word, water it, but God is the one responsible for the growth.

This being said, every disciple is called to a radical discipleship. No one is exempt. Disciples, by nature, make other disciples. Not all have the same gifts, but each of us are called to live out the Way of Jesus and teach others to do the same. To claim a disciple’s identity, yet not embrace the commission, is to deny the identity. It shows no love for Christ or for genuine disciples, yet love is the litmus test for discipleship (John 13:35).

Genuine discipleship produces natural growth, God derived growth; it doesn’t force it. Jesus adds to his church, not us (Acts 2:47). Our calling isn’t to grow the church, it’s to be the church. When the church is the church, the body grows and develops, naturally, by design (Ephesians 4:1-16). No, your job isn’t to grow the church, but your calling is to be loving channels through whom God works to expand his kingdom on the earth!