Church Growth Sucks

A well intentioned geriatric church member approached me and stated with some concern and urgency that, "I know of a young couple that has recently moved to town that is a hot prospect for our church. I have also heard they have already visited (insert name of rival baptist church) and they were really putting the heat on them."

I hate church growth. It brings out some of the stupidest comments from perfectly good Christians. People will doubt their worship, question their staff, disembowel their music and completely abandon all thoughts of God, in the name of getting warm butts in the pews (that is the right warm butts).

What happens? Pride. When you get turned down, it hurts. Why else do we worry when someone leaves for another church. Most often they do not even change denominationally. They have not become followers of Beelzebub or Jim Jones, they just tithe (or do not tithe) elsewhere.

After inviting a few couples over, with little planning, an evening unfolded out of the spontaneity of the time, the correct phase of the moon and the right mixture of fermented grapes and tomorrow's schedule. That evening would be remembered during repeated attempts to duplicate the spontaneous event. Only when after discarding attempts to repeat and striking out to create the new, would the new remembered evening present itself.

True church is the relationships created during those remembered times worshiping God. Those times cannot be expected. Those relationships cannot be constructed. They can only be experienced during those remembered times. The discussion of the remembered times and the witnessed relationships attract others; others that wish to experience the remembered times within the community.

What good does it do to create a false reality that is clean, sterile and boring, all in the name of a repeatable (un)remembered event? Community is lost, but it sure fills up a church building.