The Spirit Calls, Gathers, Enlightens and Sanctifies God’s People
Some Basics of Church Growth
Ultimately it is the Holy Spirit who calls people to faith and gathers them together as a church. But he works through people and relationships. How do we do our part? Let’s get practical.
Church Growth studies can provide a framework for such discussions. The discipline of Church Growth was developed at Fuller Theological Seminary during the years I was an administrator and faculty member there. Two names stand out. Missiologist Donald McGavran laid the foundation. C. Peter Wagner popularized his concepts. Later C. Kirk Hadaway provided a more rigorous study of what seems to work and what tends to be ineffective. Through unusual circumstances, I became Mr. Church Growth in my church body of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. I still have pastors thanking me for my insights and advocacy that freed them up to do innovative ministry.
The basic principle about which all agree is that a congregation has to want to grow and be willing to make difficult decisions that facilitate intentional growth in size. Such a conscious setting of priorities was not needed in the peak years of mainline denominational growth during the migration to the suburbs. Such churches mostly grew from within and by attracting members who already knew their church culture well. Those years are gone.
Most of the congregations in my denomination are in decline. Is there a will to make growth in size a high priority? Where is the leadership in setting a new priority over and against maintaining traditions? What kind of fine-tuning of our church culture will be officially encouraged for the sake of more effective outreach?
The Homogeneity Principle
The second most basic principle is the homogeneity principle. People like to go to church with others like themselves. That’s demonstrated in the history of immigrants who gathered with those who spoke the same language. Their grandchildren typically could no longer speak it and drifted away. Typically, the third and fourth generations grew up in the suburbs and have a greater affinity with young adults like themselves who share the suburban lifestyle of family, schools, and homes. Many growing community churches have tapped into that new culture.
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in many ways is trying to retain the old ethnic culture with a defensive posture against anything that is not traditional. Witness the strong official resistance to contemporary worship. Thank God for a polity that allows congregations to develop their own worship styles as long as they remain within theological boundaries. In my experience, the pastors who have “gone contemporary” gladly embrace the theology.
Church Growth Diseases
Peter Wagner was the most visible advocate of Church Growth principles. He taught the Fuller Seminary D.Min. course on Church Growth that enrolled a large number of mission-minded LCMS pastors. I would meet with each group and hear their relief that it was finally OK to talk about practical ministry issues.
Among his principles, Wagner would use a congregational life cycle to highlight certain diseases. Two are fatal. One is ethnikitis, in which a congregation tries to maintain itself in a community that has changed. Unless they develop new ministries targeted to the changed community, they will sooner or later fade away.
Fatal also is old age. This may affect churches in dying communities, as is happening in many rural areas where everything is shrinking. It also happens in churches with a remnant that simply age out. They have not had the energy or leadership to try new ministries. The end is in sight when they no longer have the resources to afford a full-time minister. In my district, roughly 40% are at that point.
When the end is in sight, congregations can react in two ways. Most typical is a sense of failure and guilt. They have been unfaithful and let previous members down. But the reality is they faced powerful sociological changes that overwhelmed them. Better is to celebrate all the ministry done when the congregation was healthy. I have advocated for years that districts develop a hospice program for churches at their end. Go out with dignity. Celebrate all the ministries done and the people served.
What to do with the property? Here is a radical suggestion. Give the buildings to a young congregation that has growth potential. Carry on the basic mission through a biblically sound church with a church culture better attuned to the current community
Liturgical Worship
The worship wars in Lutheran churches wound down about twenty years ago, with the two sides firmly in place. A fresh perspective is offered by C. Kirk Hadaway, writing from a Southern Baptist perspective. He notes that the presence of “liturgy” is more characteristic of plateaued churches than growing ones. “Research shows that formality and liturgy are often barriers. Plateaued churches need excitement and life, and it is hard (though not impossible) to wed formality with excitement.”
Whether worship should be exciting is a controversial issue in highly liturgical churches. But the topic here is church growth principles. Something has to be exciting enough to bring visitors back again.
Spiritual Maturity
Hadaway acknowledges that if he would revise his well-known book Church Growth Principles, the one key principle he would add is prayer. Church Growth leader Peter Wagner, I know from first-hand experience, was a man of intense prayer.
Overall, according to Hadaway, there is an increasing recognition of the importance of spiritual depth for a congregation to grow. He cites research from five mainline denominations showing that churches characterized by a greater emphasis on spiritual development also tend to be growing congregations. “Millions of Christians want spiritual depth in their lives, and they are not finding a way to grow in many mainline and conservative churches in America. People are seeking churches which can provide an opportunity for spiritual growth, and when one exists, the word spreads quickly.”
The Holy Spirit’s Power
My overall theme, following Martin Luther, is that the Holy Spirit does the calling, gathering, enlightening, and sanctifying of God’s people. We can and should do common-sense things that expand the number of contacts with those who are not connected to Christ. But churches of Christ are not just another social organization out trying to recruit new members. We have something distinctive to offer. We offer the Spirit, who brings his power to bear on the lives of others.
Turning around a declining congregation is very difficult. There are no guaranteed methods. What frustrated pastors can do is concentrate their efforts on developing spiritual growth among those already assembled. Teaching the Word is basic, of course. But there is a difference between the teaching and the learning that happens. More on that later in discussing the process of Spiritual enlightenment.
Facilitating personal spiritual growth is an intensely personal and time-consuming process. It is done best when led by pastors who are themselves growing closer to God by the power of the Spirit.
What do you think of the Homogeneity Principle? What is your reaction to the finding that formal liturgical worship does not relate well to growing churches? And how well does a congregation’s emphasis on spiritual growth relate to the growth in the size of that church?
Your encouragement to me in how to pursue church growth, both spiritual and numeric, while maintaining my personal commitment to Biblical, confessional Lutheran theology was deeply appreciated and very fruitful. Thanks!
Jim,
I can’t tell you how often I have been thankful for our partnership in ministry at Royal Redeemer. Those were exciting years and I valued your openness to involving me in Royal Redeemer ministries. I can’t imagine where I would be today without you. Blessings to Carol, too.
Dave
Will there be 15? Hi Dave. I have been watching from afar and have embraced much of what you shared.
My life after retirement from full-time ministry has blossomed into a more interventive style. I retired from number 4 and have served for at least six months in ten others. I have been “church growth” oriented before the church heard of such things. Messy churches have been my focus and working through problems has been my style.
Pain and stress serve as foundations for the reorientation and development of ministries. They can be tools of the Spirit for reconciliation and a vibrant future. A more critical tool of the Spirit is a pastor who has been gifted with an entrepreneurial mindset. He would be asking, “What would the Lord have me do to develop this ministry?”
Having served 14 I am now asking the Lord if there will be a 15.
Hi Larry.
Good to hear from you and how you are staying active in ministry. Intervening in a conflicted congregation is certainly valuable. I have been doing a vacancy pastorate at St. Thomas in Rocky River now for sixteen months. Their conflict is years behind them, and they are open to where the Spirit is leading them as they seek a new pastor. Say hi to Faith on behalf of Marcia as well as me.
David:
I have been following you for some 30 years, mostly from a distance. As a liturgical pastor, I took offense at your views on liturgy and growth and I knew that at a very level you are correct in your thinking. That said, God has placed me in a congregation that is the exception. The Holy Spirit called me out of retirement to Risen Savior in Chandler, AZ. This congregation has one of the most beautiful liturgical spaces I have seen, a close second to the Lutheran cathedral in Vilnius, Lithuania (I served a vacation couple of weeks for a friend). RS also has a brand new second Worship Center a block up the street. The new Worship Center seats around 700 and last week attendance at the Contemporary Service was close to 500. The paradox is that attendance in the two Traditional services is in the mid 200’s. We are starting our winter schedule 60 days sooner this year, where we add an additional Contemporary Service. So, our Sunday morning schedule is 0800 Traditional in the Sanctuary, 0900 and 1030 in the Worship Center and 1130 in the Sanctuary. Ron Burcham is the senior pastor, Kevin Austin will be installed on the 30th as Pastor for Discipleship. I do pastoral care, visitation, a good number of Baptisms and funerals. A unique approach to staffing is a “shared pastor” where our former associate pastor is shared with a smaller church about 50 miles from the campus. He is now called by the smaller church who pays 70% of his salary and benefits, Risen Savior payers the rest. He assists me in pastoral care as he has a 7 year tenure.
Part of the purchase of the land for the Worship Center was a bank building. With very few modifications this building is now the Administration building where our offices are located. No church would invest in the kind of furniture and furnishings that came with the building. It makes for a very inviting place.
I share all of this with you not to boast, but to share that being open to the Holy Spirit from the building of the traditional sanctuary to the acquisition of the land for the worship center and offices happened in a very short amount of time. I realize most current LCMS congregations will have the resources and leadership Risen Savior has, but I believe part of our success currently is that we invest in excellence in both Traditional and Contemporary worship formats. That makes us exceptional but we are not the only congregation that has done this. Christ Greenfield in the next town has also consistently offered excellent traditional and contemporary worship with excellent attendance and amazing participation. Tim Ahlman also prepares men for the pastoral ministry outside of the “system” with great success. OK, so Arizona is not Michigan, but thinking outside the box is happening around the LCMS.
I know of Risen Savior in Chandler and have high respect for the innovative ministries and approaches under Ron Burcham. I am happy to hear you have found a home and a continuing ministry there. Risen Savior, like nearby Christ Church Lutheran, are in the middle of retirement communities. Doing innovative traditional and also contemporary church makes a lot of sense. I pray for God’s continued blessing on the dynamic ministries your church is doing as well as on your specialized ministry.
What I have observed at Pilgrim Lutheran Church and my long career at Acts 1:8 Ministry, both in Green Bay, WI., is that without a dedicated commitment to outreach/church growth, it all too easily disappears. We started doing monthly PACK (Planned Acts of Christian Kindness) Outreach in our community 30 years ago and have rarely missed a month, even during Covid. I have to admit on a number of occasions I was the only one that showed up at the planned location to hand out whatever we were giving away, along with our Connect Cards (They declare Jesus as the true source & also serve as our invitation to what we have to offer them at Pilgrim). But more typically we have great involvement of our school and confirmation students as well as a core of committed adults. Some of our PACK events have grown in size to where we engaged hundreds of our congregational members in a “support role” such as purchasing/donating; packing/assembling; distributing and so on. One of the many blessings of PACK is that they know that their help will directly bring Jesus to the forefront in the recipient’s eyes and they will learn they are most welcome to come and experience all what Pilgrim has to offer them in service to His glorious Kingdom! This has been key in drawing in and maintaining congregational support of our outreach efforts.
I am glad for your long history of reaching out in unconventional ways. I pray God continues to bless your efforts.
Our churches are like a host gathering guests for a beef dinner. When the guests arrive they see a plain table, no plates, nor silverware, or even a napkin. There in the middle of the table is a large platter of beef, no side dishes, no drinks. The guests will leave and go to McDonald’s and eat to be filled, rather than stay at your invite and see the meat yet remain hungry. Yes the church has semenary trained people that only focus on what the semenary gives them to feed. Like the platter of beef with no sides or eating utensils. The mainline corporate enterprise Church lets it goal of filling the plate interfere with the true mission. The seminarians let their schooling interfere with their education.
Interesting and helpful metaphor. Another I have heard is that Word and Sacrament ministry is like dining at a fine French Restaurant. If I were to be in the Gospel restaurant business, I would rather be a McDonalds offering nourishing food to many more than would go to a high-end specialized restaurant.
Greetings David. I am in agreement with many church growth principles and agree that spiritual maturity does lend itself to reproducing/multiplying people. I like the idea of a spiritual growth track to help people discover how the Holy Spirit has helped them mature. It certainly helps when they are able to communicate what God is doing in their life.
Ralph,
Of course, I agree. It is interesting that in the LCMS we have no spiritual growth “track.” It is not something that can be taught by lecture. Do you think there would be much interest?
Local church leadership need to find ways of measuring how well our church plans or strategic thinking are working out. Peter (2 Peter 1) speaks of our being effective in our growing understanding of our faith in Christ. Paul in Ephesians 4 teaches how the maturing process is worked out by multiple leaders exercising their gifts. This is probably how the church grew in influence and spread so quickly in the first century by the members who were inspired to share the Good News. When people are happy (joy-filled) in Christ with their church they usually invite others to come along. Church members need the freedom for their Holy Spirit inspired ideas to help shape the ministries of the church.
Ralph, again, I agree. Thanks, Dave
I think that the Homogeneity Principle is contrary to the Kingdom of God, and it feeds into the flesh. Under its rubric, institutional racism finds a cloak for coverage, and the love of money gets a coat of whitewash as “the least of these” get abandoned by “the wealthiest of these.” It was bad when Wagner thought of it, It was bad when Rick Warren popularized it with his “Purpose-Driven Church,” and it’s bad now.
Regarding the larger issue, for the entirety of its existence, the Church of Jesus Christ has been liturgical. The “faith once for all delivered to the saints” expressed itself liturgically. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. There is a beauty in the Divine Service that the world cannot duplicate because it is not of the world. Whenever Enthusiasts end up coming to a Lutheran funeral, they experience that beauty, and they are always awed by it. Then the devil lures them back to their familiar spirits and we don’t see them until the next funeral.
Yes, the homogeneity principle is not the way the church ought to be. But it is reality. Churches that want to reach out to new people will need to be sensitive to different cultural contexts.
I disagree with your reading of worship in church history. The worship Paul described in 1 Corinthians 14 was hardly liturgical. See my book about how Lutherans worshipped for many centuries in a simple preaching service that followed a simple outline. Highly liturgical became dominant only in the last half of the 20th century.
Can you be specific about what it means “to be sensitive to different cultural contexts”?
What does that mean exactly?
Skip,
The church I serve is in a lily-white suburb. We have few Black visitors. I make it a point to seek them out and welcome them. But I do so knowing they probably would feel more comfortable in a church within a Black culture. Few stay very long.
The message of the LCMS is about Jesus and what He’s done for us. Lilly white, black, brown, red or yellow… doesn’t matter. Don’t change the message because of a person’s color. Observe.
https://youtu.be/cbZOth6rHPE
It’s amazing that the LCMS Black Ministries Convocation is able to be liturgical and exciting at the same time. How do you think that is?
Good to hear from you, Delwyn. Are you still at St. John in Gary? I pray your ministry is going well.
The key factor in your Black Ministries Convocation is that the participants have been socialized into liturgical worship. How representative are you of the broader Black Community?
Every worship service, whether traditional or contemporary, has a liturgy. Each worship service has an order. There are two important things to have in that order. 1) The order of service must be true to the Word of God. 2) The order of service must be understood by the people in the community. (I say community because St. Paul says it must be understood by the person coming in off the street.). From the traditional liturgy we can learn what elements are important. They are confession and absolution, reading the Word of God, discussing and explaining that Word, and the sacrament. And, for music, we can follow Luther’s example, when sent an order of service, he said he would not use it because the music was the way Italians sing. He wanted music his people would understand and could easily sing.
Thanks for getting back in contact. I agree with everything you say. What “liturgical” means today is highly specialized for people trained in that tradition. We are talking about an orderly service with the basics you mention. I like your emphasis on “people off the street.”
I appreciated this Reflection. It had me thinking about the differences between newer churches and older, more traditional churches. It left me with more questions. Why do newer/younger churches seem to do a better job at evangelism? How different are the barriers between traditional mainline churches and non-denominational churches? Is church growth a true priority of older congregations? How do older churches define effective outreach? I can’t help but think about a lot of the smaller mainline churches near my in-laws…they are barely surviving and have such low attendance, but they refuse to partner with each other — is that a consequence of pride? They can’t even afford full-time pastors.
Isn’t evangelism what we are fundamentally commanded to do by Jesus? As Christians are we not clearly instructed to seek the lost and train the found? Scripture says, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
The main priority of any church, in my humble opinion, is to be sharing the gospel. However, I do think HOW we share the gospel is important too. Are we doing it in a relevant way? Are we not just servings as witnesses with our words, but also by our actions?
So it seems fair to say that evangelism is obedience to the Lord.
Regarding the homogeneity principle, I personally can’t imagine not being amongst a diverse congregation. Yes, of course congregations typically reflect the communities where they exist, but what amazes me is the unity and kinship that people share with one another, despite all their differences—all because of a common love and devotion to Jesus Christ and his Word. Our God is a God who breaks down all barriers and brings all peoples together as members of His household. I read somewhere once, “the “otherness” of different people is surpassed by the “oneness” that these people share in Jesus Christ.”
Appreciate your work and devotion and strong focus on the Holy Spirit.
Kristine,
The truth is, evangelistic outreach is not very important in the heritage of traditional mainline churches. They may endorse it as a slogan and preach about it but are held back by the anchor of following traditions rather than being open to new possibilities today. Community churches like yours don’t have that anchor and are free to develop common-sense programmatic approaches. Bible-based community churches will prevail in the next generation. I am curious whether there is in fact a movement among community churches that is turning into another Awakening like those of previous centuries. The difficulty truth with the declining traditional churches is that many members are more attached to their building than to the ministries going on within it. I just came from our Ohio District pastoral conference, where I saw little interest in how to improve ministry and turn around the decline. Thank God the Spirit is more welcome in the emerging churches.
Yes, a well-integrated church is wonderful for all the right reasons. They have laid a good foundation. The reality, though, is that church-goers do sort themselves out according to where they feel most comfortable and welcome. The homogeneity for your church may well be college-educated suburbanites.
The latest numbers from LCMS show that worship style has no bearing on church growth at all. Worship style is a red herring. It is personal connections that grow churches: visits, fellowship events, communities within the church, involvement in meaningful ways.
I could not agree more! As a layman and “late-in-life” Christian, I am a member of an LCMS church that is growing with both Sunday services in the traditional liturgy. There is a lot of conversation about the nebulous term “spiritual growth”, but what does that mean exactly? I find that the personal connections you mention are where the rubber meets the road.
Personally, I think the blended or contemporary worship services are fine (within the context of actually being Christ-centered), but I prefer traditional liturgy because the music always tells a story and I prefer my worship not mimick the other six days of the week.
Skip,
“Spiritual growth” means being drawn closer to Christ-likeness in our daily living. It means “staying in step” with the Spirit as we go through life. More knowledge has little to do with this relationship.
Dave
I am now aware of those numbers you are referring to. I am aware of the continued growth of community churches, which are very contemporary-oriented.
The Homogeneity Principle appears to be one of a number of traps into which a congregation can fall. Especially if a congregation is somewhat stable and successful, thinking they are doing all the right things and, perhaps, forgetting to listen to what God is calling them to do. An over-reliance on liturgy is another trap when a congregation’s weekly dose of religion consists of 15-20 pages of the weekly worship service. I have seen situations where that same 15-20 pages week in and week out is the beginning and end of people’s belief system.
I recall driving through the Rocky Mountains and seeing some very majestic mountains ahead, thinking, ” I can hardly wait to get a closer look,” only the have the road go in a completely different direction. Such, I think, are our spiritual journeys and the Kingdom of God.
I am intrigued by the letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2-3. I can identify specific churches and their angels (clergy?) whom I have encountered at various times who match up with the seven churches. The letter to the church in Ephesus refers to returning to their “first love” and “first works.” The answer may be here. I am currently working out the theology for what “first love” and “first works” mean for the church which I currently attend, which has proven to be a challenging task.
John,
Thanks for your reaction to lengthy scripted worship services. There has to be more to worship in spirit as well as truth. Good point about being on a road that does not take you to the majestic experiences you are looking for. Part of the first love of the Ephesians was outreach to the surrounding area, as represented by the other six churches, all within 100 miles.
Dave