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“Preachers, Numbers, and Church Growth”
Categories: Meditations
I’ve known and appreciated Terry Francis for a number of years now, but his recent series of posts on preachers and churches may well prove to be more valuable to the Lord’s work than anything else he’s done. In them, Terry has confronted some hard truths about elders, about churches, and, yes, about preachers.
In his most recent post, he highlighted the propensity of the latter to get trapped in a Rick Warren church-growth mindset, with a resultant focus on numbers and neglect of brethren. Ouch. Caught me right between the eyes with that one, Terry. Like him, I can look back with sorrow at times in my work when I cared more about number of baptisms per year than I did about fostering relationships with those who were already members of the congregation.
Don’t get me wrong. Saving souls is wonderful, but so too is dwelling with other Christians in unity and peace. We must do the first, but emphasizing the first at the expense of the second is a perversion of Scripture.
I think this is another one of the areas in which the church has taken its lead from wider American society. Society teaches us that the preacher is an employee and the church leadership is his employer. So too, society teaches us that if you want to evaluate the usefulness of your employee, you need data. You need metrics, even if useful metrics really don’t exist. Another one of those American illusions is that only the measurable is important.
According to this way of thinking, the preacher’s job is to keep the church in the black. As long as the attendance and contribution keep rising, all is well. If either starts declining, hmmm. It might be time to “look for a new direction”.
Preachers, at least the ones who think they can “grow the church”, like this metrical method too. It gives them job security (they think), and it gives them justification to become puffed up and proud. How dare any member get crossways with them??? They’re growing the church!
As Terry points out, this is a dangerous delusion. When it comes to the Lord’s work, no man can give the increase. Both preachers and churches must acknowledge this. The data that offer the appearance of objectivity end up distorting the truth instead, either about our preachers or about ourselves.
If we want to test the quality of a man’s work, we have to use Scriptures, not spreadsheets. Three whole books of the Bible are devoted to a discussion of the work of the evangelist, and there is much other material besides. The word reveals quite clearly what questions we ought to be asking.
Among them are these: Does a man work hard? Does he accurately handle the word of truth? Is his conduct an example for other believers? Does he preach the word, in season and out of season? Is he humble and patient in his dealings with others, especially when they’re wrong? Above all, does he love the Lord his God with all his heart and soul and mind and strength?
These things cannot be measured, but their value is immeasurable. A man who is and does these things, regardless of the number on the attendance board, has won the approval of God. Preachers need to rest themselves in this truth; church leaders need to honor it.
If, conversely, numbers begin to matter to us more than godliness, surely ungodliness will not be far behind.
