My Research
How can we create an atmosphere within modern churches to negate negative history of churches and to foster growth while not diluting the message of the gospel?
What I need to know:
My research is driven for this project by my interest and involvement in the church, both world-wide and locally. My Essential Question (bold above) reflects this desire while also producing a practical scenario to research. I recognize the opinion and bias that could go into answering a question such as this, there is not necessarily a concrete answer. What I desire to look for is the most solid way to build upon this question and to find the most concrete and solid answer rooted in faith. My largest questions and interests are what growing churches do to keep their growth and what does the bible say about growing and the numbers of a "church congregation".
What I know or assume:
Most of my knowledge of this subject comes from a spiritual prospective. In the early church led by the 12 apostles the church was growing at an alarming rate. The book 'Acts of the Apostles' is the best tribute to this saying "And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved" (chapter 2, verse 47). It is evident throughout the new testament that where Jesus was large numbers of people were too. The spirit of God attracted people. Based on this knowledge I assume that a large (or most important) piece of growth in today's church is not watering down the message that we have, keeping the church aligned with all of its convictions combined with members who are willing and able to share the Good News with others.
My search:
My research was conducted through a series of interviews, consulting books and articles on the history of the church and its growth, and reviewing methods of modern growing churches. They all generally agreed and many offered new perspectives. One website I consulted was Desiring God, a network of articles created for the purpose of individual and corporate spiritual growth led by well known and accredited writer and pastor John Piper. He offered fresh biblical perspective, comparing those who revert to human tactics for church growth to Abram sleeping with Hagar to carry on his line. God promised Abram a child and a multitude of nations through his wife Sara, but when they grow impatient with the supernatural they attempt to carry on the line outside of God's will. Piper implores to treat "Abraham as a pastor" and relate this promise to the growth of individual churches. He concludes saying we should move towards building our ministry around "prayer and fasting". Another Christian network shared similar sentiments, calling man-made ways to grow the church "gimmicks". i interviewed my mentor and youth pastor to add on to this and many things he said were in concordance. He thought that the basis of church growth and evangelism is built on a personal relationship with a person and events and attractions can only take you so far. Marilynne Robinson recognizes the error of human attempts in her article "Awakening" on the relation between church and state by sharing, "“There is a truth that lies beyond our capacities. Our capacities are no standard or measure of truth, no ground of ethical understanding.” Another article mentions the growing positivism of the church and the potential dilution of the gospel through westernization: "...Christians’ desire to see the return of Christ, or to take their place in heaven immediately, might have diminished." The article "Church Planting" authored by Josephine Campbell offered practical on information the idea of church planting as a tactic for church growth. Many organization, such as Acts 29, adhere to this tactic and use it as their main vision. Matt Chandler, president of Acts 29 and successful pastor over The Village Church in Dallas, Texas, shared that the primary purpose of the organization was to "plant church planting churches". He also expresses his three main reasons behind joining the network in the first place: "the vision, the strong theological conviction, and the brotherhood." All of these sources were relatively unbiased and allowed for open interpretation from person to person.
What I discovered:
Much of the research I gathered aligned with my personal assumptions that I had before the I ever started the project. I was able to determine for certain that church growth and planting should be focused around the supernatural ability of God to grow things that he calls up to steward as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3:6. Attractions can be beneficial but as congregations we have to rely on the Spirit of God moving to expand our numbers. In my personal life, I can see the need to focus my life more centrally around prayer and fasting as mentioned by one of the articles. In many ways the personla relationships I create can do greater things than the atmosphere of a church service. My largest conclusion however, one that was agreed upon by the majority of sources is that the Church needs to focus in on having a heart for the lost to grow and expand.
