Church growth theory and Biblical growth

Biblical thinking requires eliminating the box, not just thinking outside of it.

I intend to incorporate into this site my thoughts over the past months on just what it means to be a growing believer and by inference, what it means to be a growing church. Just as Paul said, a time is coming and is now come when all true worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth, for these are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. So what does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? We will discern this along the way, perhaps.

The remarkable thing I see in my study of a variety of examples from proponents of the current church growth movement - scions like Willow Creek and Saddleback- is that there is certainly much to commend them. They certainly have been both the model for change and the cause of debate over the past fifteen years or so. My first exposure dates back to when the Bible Church in Dallas I was attending at the time began considering incorporating these types of changes in its approach to ecclesiology.

For instance the Saddleback approach, from my take on it, incorporates the following principles: Healthy, consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church." These five purposes are to "Love the Lord with all your heart," "Love your neighbor as yourself," "Go and make disciples," "[Baptize] them," and "[Teach] them to obey." And those purposes can only be accomplished, argues Warren, when church leaders stop thinking about church-building programs and shift their focus to a "people-building process" involving fellowship, discipleship, worship, and evangelism.

Saddleback's Purpose Statement is "To bring people to Jesus and membership in his family, develop them to Christlike maturity, and equip them for their ministry in the church and life mission in the world, in order to magnify God's name." The structure is built around the proposed 5 biblical purposes of the church: worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and evangelism.

Who could argue with those premises? Not me. At least not these premeises per se. But I do have some concerns from my observation of how some individual chrches interpret and incorporate them into their local body. I also must admit up front that I have a skeptical predisposition when it comes to popular approaches to any biblical issue. While some of the literature, and Warren's book in particular, seems daring and fresh, I want to make sure the approach is Biblical.

Like most simple abstracts of a body of information, the devil is in the details so to speak. Implementation of such principles in a church must be done in love and with a high regard for the biblical way of implementation.

Not to be a contrarian, but it always seems I am being such a one when I approach these issues- That old gift of discernment will out and it gets me in trouble from time to time, because once a truth is discerned, it must be spoken in love and defended. And I must say that I discern a few strands of the world entering into the equation. Just as a little leaven leavens the entire loaf in a positive sense, so it also attains in a negative sense.

Since the fall, all growth incorporates some aspect of pain. In a comfort driven culture, where, ease, comfort and pleasure are the prime motivators, the church has languished in her mission. We must realize that much of what keeps churches from growing today is a fear of change. But this is exactly where God works in our lives. the christian life is a changed life by definition.

I have found that the imperatives of scripture are a never failing aid in discernment of God's will in any situation, so it must needs apply here as well. I will use as a point of departure the upper room discourse, Jesus's final imperatives for his disciples this side of the cross, and the imperatives he left us with before ascending to Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

"A healthy church will grow," is the fundamental assumption underlying Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Church.. But some people will ask, "what theological warrant do we have for this assumption?" They might point out that in John 6, Jesus speaks to a large crowd about their need to "eat his flesh and drink his blood." This truth-telling approach to ministry actually led many of Jesus' followers to abandon him (John 6:66). The notion of taking up a cross and following Jesus is not included in many popular approaches to evangelism. The pressing question for the church-growth movement in America is whether it believes that the church's misson to be a truth-telling people will of necessity lead to an increase in numerical growth.

I want to start by formulating an answer to the above objection. I would like to look to the scriptures for the biblical warrant in question.We must be sure to remember to ask the question: Are we viewing Scripture through the eyes of our experience, or viewing our experience through the eyes of Scripture?

Abiding in Christ-John 15:1-17 in context.

The upper room discourse tells us what Jesus said to the disciples the night before His death.These are the last things the Master had to tell His disciples on the verge of Calvary. It provides and answer to : In the light of who Jesus is, who are we and what we are here for?

This is the last great "I Am" in John; there are seven of them:

Light of the World
The Door
The Resurrection and the Life
The Good Shepherd
The Bread of Life
The Way, The Truth, The Life
The True Vine

I want to focus on the last one. The vine is an ancient symbol of Israel. In Hosea 11 it is mentioned. In Maccabean times the Jewish coinage had a vine on it. There are over twenty references to identify the vine with Israel in the Old Testament. It is important to realize that "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" is the transliteration of the name of God "I am". When Jesus applied this to himself, Jewish leaders heard it as blasphemy!

The outgrowth of the idea of the vine in the world was that it was to be the source of life for the world, in much the way the God's Tree of Life was in the garden for a similar purpose. This Living Vine- the Christ was planted in the earth like a kernel of wheat to die and then grow and thrive and for us to be grafted into. In Him we are to live, move and have our being, and without Him we can do nothing. One of the qualities of a living Vine is that it grows. Gardeners will know what I am speaking of here.

Jesus said- if you abide in me and I abide in you you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing." So what is Much fruit?

There are six kinds of fruit the Bible speaks of

1. The character fruits of the spirit:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against these there are no law." Galatians 5: 22,23

2. Soul winning- spiritual offspring (implicit, not explicit in Romans 1:12)
3. Praise and worship (fruit of lips)
4. Good works
5. Sharing of possessions and ourselves (broken bread and poured out wine)
6. Personal Holiness/ righteousness

So it is in all these areas that growth must occur. So growth is not just about numbers, right?

Hold on there, pardner. Please understand that while numbers in and of themselves do not constitute Biblical growth, numbers are important! Numbers are important for the very reason that those numbers that are absent from the equation are human souls laughing all the way to hell. And if anything is true about the heart of Christ, it is that he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

to be continued....

Some Side notes to ponder