Why Isn’t Our Church Growing?

Factors to facts in the growing of a local church

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FACTORS TO FACTS IN THE GROWING OF A LOCAL CHURCH

Local Factors In Growing A Church

As the Pastor/Teacher of Rivers of Joy Baptist church the last two years, one might say, "What is wrong with our church that we are not growing?" And I came across the website that gave me some ideas why that is? I have used the points and added my own personal touch, with outlines and photo and clip art.

The comment that person made to you, that your former church's problem was the lack of a "dynamic pastor" seems too simple to me. The comment assumes that lost people just love to hear God's Word, so the only problem must be a bad preacher. The most dynamic Preacher in history got crucified by His audience.

I know there are poor preachers, but the normal preacher doesn't need to be fabulous to be used of the Lord. As you more or less said, God hasn't ordained that we all be Billy Grahams or Bill Hybels or Charles Spurgeons, John MacArthur, Jr, or whoever your favorite is. I believe it says in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 12 that there any many ministries and diversities of gifts. (And not everyone who is praised deserves the praise, when you examine their messages carefully. There have been many preachers with large congregations whose preaching is significantly flawed.) At the same time there are many who should be noticed for their preaching and teaching of God's word.

Church growth has several moving parts, and not all of them are under our control.

• For example: A man's preaching could be really good, but the congregation is internally dysfunctional.
  
• Factions abound, and visitors are shown only a false friendliness that evaporates quickly. So you get visitors, but they don't stick, and eventually the congregation's poor reputation bleeds out into the community.
  
• Or the congregation could be pretty healthy, but the pastor is not good.
  
  • Pastors feel sensitive about everything being blamed on pastors, because that happens too often.
    
  • But we also know of cases where the poor brother just can't preach, or has emotional problems, or his wife was obnoxious, or he was lazy, or who knows what else.
    
  • Or everybody together could be spiritually OK, but the quality of ministry services offered is poor.
    
  • Where there are many churches, people get to pick and choose. Two churches might have equivalently good people, but one has a better youth ministry, or children's Sunday school program.
    

Then, community tastes & interests come in. These factors really are uncontrollable. For example, my nine years here have me convinced that the average "Christian" goes to church

1. to feel emotional up-lift,
   
2. make friends,
   
3. help their kids learn good morals,
   
4. have spiritual experiences,
   
5. and do the good works they've been taught (by supposedly Protestant preachers!) they need to make it to Heaven
   

That mega-church pastor you know is right there in that demographic. Not all but some.

1. He preaches at a middle school level, and wraps it up in a rock concert wrapping, like a taco.
   
2. His goals are for the listener (judging by what I've heard him preach about) to have on-going religious experiences with Christ, do good works for Jesus, and join the church
   

Personally, the shoddy Bible interpreting he does makes me grit my teeth, and I'm not 17 years old, physically, emotionally, or in my knowledge of what the Bible teaches on worship, so I tremendously do not desire a rock concert at church.

While I would like to see our church have 1000 people next Sunday, what I am saying I do not want to see that at the expense of worship that God is not glorified. Personally I am not willing to forgo the teaching of God's word to see people come to be entertained emotionally. I personally believe we should draw people by the Word of God and not by emotional driven music, drama, dance, or plays, lights or power point.

Now do I mean you should't have any of these? No. First I believe the worship in the church should be directed toward the Lord. We should not direct our worship that is going to please the unsaved and believe by doing these things are going to please the Lord.

We must ask ourselves,

1. what is the means whereby God brings people to the saving knowledge of Himself unto salvation?
   
2. By what means does the Lord want us to use to bring others to saving knowledge of salvation?
   
3. What are the means that God uses to see lost men and women to Him?
   
4. And by what means does God want us as a church to bring those who are born again into the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ into a full grown Believer? Ephesians 4.
   
5. 
   

Just how did Charles Spurgeon have 10,000 people come to hear him preach and 1000 were saved? And he is called the "prince of preachers."

At the same time how does Joel Osteen have 34,000 come to the church he is the pastor?

All I am saying if it takes a rock concert to get people come to church, I don't think I am willing to do that.

We have Johnny Edwards come to our church to sing and play the piano, because he loves the Lord, but if that is the only reason people come is to hear Johnny singing we have missed the point. If they come to our church, they get to hear Johnny singing or anyone for that matter, but we want them to come because they are going to hear the Word of God taught.

It's not a bait and switch ministry. Bait them with entertainment and then preach the Word to them. Or offer them a color HD TV if they come, just to get them there, and then switch to preaching the Word.

Oh but you say, 100's get saved with this kind of ministry? I hear of this each week in churches. So isn't it worth all the drama, etc to see people "saved? You might say 'Isn't one 32" HD TV worth seeing people saved?" Of course. But does God need all the drama to bring a sinner to himself?

WHAT IS THE MATTER THAT OUR CHURCH IS NOT GROWING YOU MIGHT ASK? Part two

I knew an evangelist who said he went to Philippians and 40,000 were saved in one revival meeting. Then next year the team could not find 100 of those people still in church. Billy Graham has said the same thing. Billy Graham said if 10 % were saved he would be happy.

Those who play in a church rock concert may with all their hearts desire to see people saved, I am sure many do. But is a rock concert the means that God wants us to use to draw the lost into this Kingdom?

But there are thousands of adult Kentuckians and Ohioans for whom this is exactly what they like. The majority of people around us want.

1. weekly emotional up-lift (not Bible knowledge),
   
2. a decent social life (not discipleship),
   
3. and self-help (not a faith-alone theme, and definitely not the doctrines of grace).
   
4. But, even though this sort of sensational, revivalist religious fare turns us off, we're forced to face it -- this is the community's taste, and we need to take it into account.
   

But what does it mean?

1. It might mean that we might never draw noteworthy numbers, in this kind of man-centered, experience-centered religious culture.
   
2. I don't know how it might be different in a bigger city. I know it's discouraging to think that our churches might be forced into being little niche churches, or refuges for people fleeing the squirt-cheese-in-a-can type quality of some of the big churches.
   
3. But the Lord never promised to make all of us big.
   

What about ministries that stumble, or fail?

• I agree that it's a waste of time to paw around in the ashes of a failure.
  
• What good is finger-pointing, if the goal is to run a good ministry?
  
• We need to return to the first principles that apply to that sort of work, if we want to make sense out of a stumble.
  
  • Example: suppose a house catches on fire and burns down because wiring was installed wrong. Somebody needs to know how wiring should go in, otherwise, how can we recognize what happened?: "Oh, there's the mistake! We needed to have done it this way." A post-mortem doesn't much good, unless we already have some idea what the thing should have been like.
    

Pastor/Teacher Charles e. Whisnant

Footnote:

I have being a member of the largest Sunday school in America in the 80's, I know when I see a crowd of people. I know what it looks like to see 10,000 people a year say they got saved and baptized. I have seen also the spiritual dead churches as well. I have studied The Purpose Driven Church workbooks. There is some good in all ministries, and my prayer is that God in some way will get the glory in how we glorify Him in the working out of His plan for the body of Christ.

FORD, GENERAL MOTORS AND THE CHURCH

Mistakes The Church Can Learn From The Auto Industry…Part One

Vehicle sales in the United States were sharply lower for nearly all auto companies, and the two largest U.S. manufacturers reported the lowest number of sales in nearly five decades.General Motors reported Monday that its sales dropped 31 percent in December, and fell 23 percent for all of last year. It sold fewer vehicles in 2008 than any year since 1959. Ford says its U.S. sales plunged by almost one-third between November and December, and about 20 percent for all of 2008, the lowest number of sales in 47 years. Chrysler reported a 53 percent plunge in December. For the full year 2008, the company's sales slid 30 percent.

1. They Were Focused on the Wrong Message

While the auto industry was spending time and millions of dollars telling people to buy American made cars what they should have been doing instead was spending that same amount of time and that same about of money actually making better cars that people across the world would actually want to purchase.

The same thing can be said about the church. Many times we can get too focused on, “please bring people to church” “get people to church” “do whatever it takes to bring people to this place” rather than creating a worship experience that exalts the name of Jesus and promotes life change to such an extent that people actually want to bring friends to church. We should focus way more on what is happening in our services than advertising about them.

AND…another danger as a church is getting focused on ANY other agenda other than Jesus and His Kingdom. More on that at another time!

You focus on your worship and your singing, and your preaching and your fellowship and you focus on your teaching. If we love these things we will invite others to share with us our love for Christ and the church.

2. Trusting in Tradition

One of the mistakes the auto industry made was thinking because of our strong and successful past we will always have a strong and successful future. People have always been loyal to us therefore people will always be loyal to us. While they were basking in the glory of their tradition, up-start car companies came along and surpassed their quality of excellence and relevance in the society in which we live.

One of the mistakes we can make as a church is to begin to trust in tradition and think because we had a strong and successful past that we, our particular church, will always have a strong and successful future. The past is something that should always be celebrated. The past is something to be thankful to God for. But the past is not an indicator of our future. The past is merely and reflection of God’s faithfulness and God’s faithfulness will continue in the future not as we embrace tradition but as we embrace his leadership through his Holy Spirit.

Another mistakes we can make is to think our tradition of the past even when the results have resulted in failure will in some way get us a better future. Our focus is to be on Christ and His faithfulness and not focus on the traditions of the church.

CHURCHES GOD MIGHT NOT SHOW UP IN ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY

I AM AFRAID GOD DOESN’T SHOW UP IN MANY CHURCHES TODAY?

James MacDonald pastor of the Harvest Bible Chapel wrote an article this week, about the church. Of course I read a few articles on the church during the week. And since I am back in the pulpit (we still have one) I am more interested in the subject. James writes this “When God Goes To Church!” James writes:

• "We have to get back to vertical church. Somewhere along the line, well meaning people have hijacked the church. Some in the name of organizational excellence, some because they want to see more people coming to Christ, some because they feel the church has become too stale to actually reach this so-called postmodern audience, and some because of countless other motivations, good and bad, that I can’t think of right now."

I believe well meaning pastors and churches have had the desire to reaching the community and the world with for Jesus Christ. I read daily of church innovation, they are continues in the process of inventing or introducing something new, technological innovations, preaching and teaching innovation. Cultural modernization, that is to change something in order to make it conform to modern tastes, attitudes, or standards, has become to form today in many churches.

I am amazed at the crowds that attend churches. I was watching Brian Houston, Hillsong Church, in Sydney, Australia, this week, and to see the crowds (20,000) of people come. Its innovated, yet how 20,000 people are involved is another question. Of course there are a number of other just works across the world. (By the way I do not view Houston’s ministry as a model for Church ministry). I am just pointing out the technological, musical, preaching, and teaching, innovation of the church. I don’t accept the gifts of tongues nor in women preachers, speakers yes, preaching no.

At the same time there are good men in the body of Christ today that are in to this new form of ministry. Many are following after Mark Driscoll Seattle Washington, Mars Hills, Acts 29 Network of churches and Rob Bell, in Michigan. I was amazed as I read about our local churches who are following in their pattern of ministry. And even more amazed at the church in Lexington Kentucky that I attended for five years has now planned a Mars Hills Conversations. What churches and pastors will do to see people come to church is just amazing to me. I am even more amazed to see fundamental churches of the past follow suit to the form of NewSpring churches network, pastured by Perry Noble in Anderson South Caroline. And these fellows are off shoot of Bill Hyber at Willow Creek.

From a general observation, you will believe what a wonderful way to worship, and 100’s of souls are getting saved each week. But upon a careful watching and recording of the facts, you will began to see another form of worship. Good man I believe, they are, but they have the overpowering desire to worship Jesus, and see His commission fulfilled.

In my humble opinion we are headed down the wrong road to the kind of Church, God is going to attend.

James MacDonald, writes (so would John MacArthur, Jr.)

• "Bottom line: at Harvest Bible Chapel we now have almost 20 years invested in the notion that church should not, better, must not be an audience-centered effort. NO MORE AUDIENCE-CENTERED CHURCH, unless of course we return to the biblical priority of God Himself being the audience. My thesis is that God simply does not attend most churches in America. He won’t work or manifest His presence in places where His Word is apologized for, His Son is polished and marketed, and His power is not sought in prayer or even anticipated. God does not attend churches where the gospel is watered down to a self-help pep talk about felt needs. God does not attend churches where Jesus’ crucified life is not proclaimed as the only hope for a fallen humanity. God does not attend churches where Bibles are not brought, and the gospel is reduced to a formula that a person can recite in 60 seconds. God does not attend churches where words, biblical words, like holiness, repentance, and Lordship are scrubbed from the vocabulary in an effort to . . . ? You may be able to get people to attend churches like that but God doesn’t show up much at all."

Of course at the same time, I have a very hard time accepting the altar calls and mass appeal to sinners to be saved that happen at James MacDonald’s church. From their website.

• Here is how you can receive Christ:
• 1. Admit your need. ("I am a sinner.")
• 2. Be willing to turn from your sins. (Repent.)
• 3. Believe that Jesus died for you on the cross and rose from the grave.
• 4. Through prayer, invite Jesus Christ to come in and control your life through the Holy Spirit. (Receive Him as Lord and Savior.)


• How to pray: Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Its not that the above is not correct, but far too many people just say those words without meaning them, and are led to believe they are saved, Christians, going to heaven.

And I would say that MacDonald would say the same, and is doing a good in discipline them in Christ.

Otherwise, I like what he is saying.

• 'God shows up with power to save where Jesus is passionately adored without shame or pretense, without entertainment or needless comedy. God shows up where His Word is proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit. God shows up where He can be certain that His Word will be heard and held up for the sufficient, saving, sanctifying word that He promises it to be. Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth” (John 17:17).'


• The church has fallen and is now, on most fronts, floundering in the abyss of cultural analysis and human approval. Proverbs 29:25, “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.” The western church in our day is floundering in silly attempts to be pleasing to an audience that does not conceptualize the stench of our lives in the nostrils of a holy God. Attempting to become ‘relevant,’ the church has become impotent and irrelevant. At the end of the day people want to meet God when they go to church, but His Spirit is so grieved by what happens in most churches, He simply refuses to attend."
  

I heard a pastor say recently that the past 20 years have been about “church done with excellence in the flesh is better than church done poorly in the flesh.” How insightful!

• How about church done according to God’s Word and in the power of the Spirit?
  
• How about Doing God’s Work, in God’s Way?
  
• How about church on fire, led by men on fire, burning a swath of God’s power across our land like a tornado across a Kansas wheat field?
  

1. Where is the mighty prevailing church (Matthew 16:18) moving with God’s power, seeing lives transformed frequently and totally?


2. Where is the church that sees miraculous answers to prayer and marvelous interventions of grace?

I want to spend the rest of my days working to see the true church, the grace AND truth church, (John 1:14) the spirit and power church, the overcoming, Christ-adoring, prayerfully dependant, Word-proclaiming church return to prominence. I believe it is only then that God will begin regularly attending the churches of our land. If that were to happen it would make ALL the difference, would it not?

THE LEADERSHIP AND THE MINISTERS

THE PULPIT AND THE PEWS

OR

THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP

OR

THE LEADERSHIP AND THE MINISTERS

A Well Articulated Principles of Ministry that is Biblical is Essential to “DOING GOD’S WORK IN GOD’S WAY.”

It’s crucial that this biblical conviction of ministry be the GRID through which all your ministry decisions are passed.


“What are we doing on the Lord's day, especially when we are gathered as God's people in church? How do we understand Christian growth and discipleship -- as chiefly corporate or individual, as nourished by the preached Word and the divinely instituted Lord's Supper or Baptism or by self-approved "means of grace"? Would an outsider coming into our worship services be immediately impressed with the centrality of preaching, baptism, and the supper, or would he or she be more likely to notice the importance given to performance?”

Could we all agree that our purpose for a local church is to provide Worship and Discipleship and Community and Fellowship? Where there is a difference is in how to provide the Worship, Discipleship, Community and Fellowship.

Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Ephesians 4:11-16
We would all agree on Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

We agree that the pastor/teachers are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. Where there is a difference of opinion is “the how” the saints are to be equipped for the doing of the ministry. And a difference of persuasion as to what is the work of the ministry as described here in these verses.

I would say also there are different mind sets as to how ministry is to be fleshed out in the body of Christ.

How to equip the saints? What are “the works of the ministry? And who and how are we to flesh out doing the ministry?

How is the best way to bring about the results that Paul speaks about in verse 13 thru 16?

Each member of the body is to grow up in every way into Christ likeness, so that the whole body of believers in the local church will grow in number. (“makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”) This could mean as we grow in Christ likeness, and in love, there will be an increase in a number of people being saved and coming into the church.

• “makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love; the increase of the body the church, is either in numbers, when persons are converted and added to it; or in the exercise of grace, under the influence of the Spirit, through the ministration of the word and ordinances; and both these tend to the edifying or building of it up; John Gill said. And he was a hyper Calvinist, and pastored the church where Charles Spurgeon pastored.
  
  
  

So how should the effort of building up the body of Christ in the local church be accomplished? Failure to correctly understand biblical leadership leads to unbiblical discipleship and modeling and uneven ministry priorities

THE AIM IS TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES

WEDNESDAY EVENING BIBLE STUDY AT RIVERS OF JOY BAPTIST CHURCH

LAST NIGHT

WEDNESDAY

EVENING BIBLE

FELLOWSHIP

STUDY

What we might be tempted to struggle with is getting ahead of what God is doing, in order to push the process ahead of schedule.

If we are sure that we are doing the right things, we need to allow God to work in His time.

We are seeing weekly how the Lord is moving in our fellowship. We need to enjoy the process, blessings. We need to thank the Lord has He is at work in our church.

Thus we need to stop and praise the Lord,

Therefore to be reminded of the following principles we have set forth:

The aim is to understand the biblical principles and practices for the promotion of God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, Gospel growth, as opposed to the kind of things often vended as key to "church growth."

We should be interested in growth, not mesmerized by it. Who wouldn't want to see an increase in numbers and budgets.

But there's growth and there's growth.. Understanding what the New Testament means by growth, and how that growth happens, is what we need to know.

What are the principles and practices that will lead the church to the advancement of God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, and Gospel growth? How are we to understand Christ's blueprint for the church practices? How does scripture speak of growth?

We need to be sure that our interpretive methods of Scripture will lead us to and not misrepresent the intention of the text.

The book of Acts does speak of growth in members of the church. "Daily Christ added to the church." The biblical purposes that God designed the church to fulfill.

We discover the intentions of the church in the Word rather than create them ourselves. This calls us to a submission to Scripture. And that submission will lead us to a commitment to thoroughly evangelical doctrine. There is to be a common commitment to every-member ministry, to conversion growth, to making membership more meaningful by using the church covenants, to church discipline, to the continued growth and up-building of the church, to fellowship with one another, and the building up of each member, and the training and disciplining of each member to be full grown saints (Eph 4:12-19)

We need to be careful that we don't use statistics as a barometer of God's blessings. Growth in new converts and new members are biblical. "Daily the Lord added to the church.'

Ligon Duncan said, "Liberalism says that the gospel won't work unless the message is changed. Some evangelicals’ say that the gospel won't work unless the method is changed. But biblical Christianity believes that the gospel will work, and that God has given us both the message and the method."

Thus we need a right view of the message and the method in which to model that message.
In our desire to see Christ bring His own to Himself in our church, we need to model a local church ministry that reflects a Biblical Model.

Pastor/Teacher Charles E. Whisnant – Rivers of Joy Baptist Church - 2008

THE STATE OF THE LOCAL CHURCH TODAY

THE POTENTIAL FRUSTRATION OF THE LOCAL CHURCH

There are times over the years that you do want to "pull your hair out." There are times of frustration can set in. Its human.

I am reading that local Churches attendances in North America have declined over the years. While there are churches that are larger, those churches are growing with those who have stopped going to other churches. There are fewer people going to church these days.

On a Sunday, “tech” is happening in classrooms, the Treehouse, the gym, the main worship center and our new FX Live family production that kicked off this past Sunday. The FX Live team has their own full tech team and uses IMAG (Image Magnification) in their production as well. NOTE: FX Live has 2 cameras right now (the same ones we used in our old worship center).

Well, come churches are trying to attract those who are dropping out of church. So some churches are doing some other things to attract people to come to their church:

In this church they have chosen to have a great stage to attract people to come to the church. Here is there staff

1. Dir. of Technical Arts (that’s me - I float around, encourage and oversee) \
2. Front of House audio (usually our full-time Audio Coordinator)
3. A2 (second audio engineer at FOH)
4. Monitor Engineer
5. Lighting Technician
6. Service Director (on headset with stage managers, times service, executes)
7. Stage Manager on stage left
8. Stage Manager on stage right
9. Stage Manager on floor
10. Producer (takes in overall experience, gives creative feedback/guidance)
11. Video Director (right now the VD calls and switches)
12. Video Engineer (this person is the camera shader and is responsible for starting the recordings for the DVD-R and capture to FinalCut for the video podcast)
13. Camera operator 1
14. Camera operator 2
15. Camera operator 3
16. Graphics Operator (right now their is one that runs EasyWorship)
17. FUTURE: Broadcast audio engineer (right now we capture to ProTools HD)
18. FUTURE: TD at the switcher (the Video Director will just call the shots)
19. FUTURE: Prompt Screen Operator (we are going to move to 2 graphics operators, one for the screens that the people see and one just for the prompt screens that the singers see)

I read this comment: I Chronicles 12:32 'And of the children of Issachar, [which were men] that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them [were] two hundred; and all their brethren [were] at their commandment.' From this text, "men who understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take" Today, church leaders must act as scouts, fervently asking the Lord for discernment into how they can best practice biblically faithful ministry in their cultures and contexts." I thought this has come merit.

So how is the Pastor and Staff to view the need of church ministry today.



Next time. Its late.

ATTRIBUTES OF A BIBLICAL CHURCH

-

Are you tired of churches trying so hard to "entertain the lost" in their worship services that they’re forgetting to "feed the sheep?" Are you tired of churches whose agendas and traditions trump the Word of God?



Maybe you’re looking for a church that is striving to be what God told us to be, and that is “The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). If the latter describes you, then this Baptist Church might just be what you’re looking for!



"Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, there a church of God exists, even if it swarms with many faults."- John Calvin

1. The Bible is inerrant and infallible: "All Scripture is breathed out by God" 2 Timothy 3:16 That is the Bible is true 100%. God can be known! Truth can be known.
2. The Bible is the guide for all faith and practice. "and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
3. God has called each Christian to share the Bible and God's teachings (evangelize) "God therefore and made disciples....Matthew 28:19-20. Every Christian is called to share with others the Gospel with others.
4. Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1
5. All people are eternally lost; salvation is by faith alone, by Jesus Christ alone, by God's grace alone. Ephesians 2:8-9
6. The glory of God is the motive of the church ministry. I Corinthians 10:31

HERE IS A PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO WHAT I BELIEVE WOULD BE A BIBICAL CHURCH'S DESIRE. A focus on people.

.

When God speaks through song, sermon or prayer we want us to stop……and pray, repent and seek reconciliation to God and others. We want people sitting and praying with one another after a service or crying together in joy or pain to be a standard picture of how much we care for one another. We want to pray for the sick, doubting, confused, depressed or tired. We desperately need to provide avenues for people to partake of the graces of God, not just hear about them. People hear about the compassion of Jesus every week, but how many experience it through the ministry of the local church? People hear that God longs to connect to them and teach them but how many hear from God through godly counsel? It is our job as a local church to see this happen and to build a team of experienced, caring people to care for the family of God.

.

I believe this kind of desire for a church fellowship would cause members to share the gospel with others and invite them to come to their church.

HAVE YOU WONDERED WHY MEMBERS DO NOT INVITE OTHER PEOPLE TO ATTEND THEIR CHURCH? pt 2

^

Of course this is not true in some churches, but in many churches members may go for years and never invite another person to come with them to visit their church..

Why do some churches have a difficult time seeing visitors come, and if they do come, they don't say very long?

There is a sample of some responses to this problem:

-

A survey of responses to this questions were:

1. Its pretty simple. If people love being there then they will invite others to share that experience. If they are only there because they feel the have to be there even though they hate being there then it makes no sense at all to invite others.



2. maybe it’s to hun drum and do not want to bore other people, or no one wants to invite anyone to a troubled church, or they are just plain lazy, if the works of god is going on in a church you could not keep people away. there would be standing room only. hey no power no people, if it is just a form of godliness but they are denying the power there of , what do you really expect. if a church is full you can believe the works of god is going on or they are making a lot of people feel good about how they live,



3. For starters, I generally won’t invite someone if I know they’re already attending another church; the main exception would be if I know they have a particular need that isn’t being addressed there and is likely to be (better) addressed at a different church.
   
4. If I’m going to invite someone to church, I want to be sure that is the right "next step" for them; I don’t want to give the impression that the church will meet their needs, but rather that it is a relationship with God that is ultimately needed. Relationships with His people are vitally important, but secondary nonetheless.
   .
5. Final point: we should never be afraid to invite someone to a church other than ours. My church may not be the best fit for Joe, but if he needs to plug in somewhere, I want to be able to refer him to another church that will be a better fit. That means I need to do some homework about other churches in the area.
   .
6. Part of this is of course laziness, or church irrelevance. But let me question the analogy of the concert a little bit. Whether or not outsiders are invited to ‘church’ is a function of what we think the Sunday service is. If it’s primarily an ‘event’, then yes, properly orchestrated, it should cause members to invite others.
   .
7. But if it is primarily a gathering of believers, the fact that non-believers aren’t systematically invited may be a sign of health. We don’t invite nonbelievers to take communion, because it presupposes the appropriate response to God’s invitation to become a part of his people has already been taken (viz. baptism).
   .
8. It’s of course possible that ‘church’ is a little bit of both (event AND gathering of believers), but lack of clarity on this point will mean regular attenders will be wary of inviting outsiders. I also want to suggest that if church services are taken to be the gathering of believers, then ‘outreach’ needs to happen in a different manner. I’ll let you imagine just what that might look like……
   ashamed would be the biggest issue!!
   .
9. I agree with you. Not to be too cynical, but I think churches that lack excellence in their services tend to make excuses more than adjustments. Too often when something is called less than great, the accusation is attacked rather than heard and examined.
   .
10. I don’t think that every critique needs to be taken to heart, but if it is coming from an involved, invested, and committed individual, than it needs to be prodded for more detail. If more churches did this, there would be a better dialogue on how to be more effective and visitor friendly at our services, and more effective at making an impact spiritually when people are there.
    .
11. I will probably get some grief for this comment, but one of the things that often makes it difficult to invite friends to church is the quality of music that is presented…… for me, bad music is embarrassing is all……
    more often than not, the bad music comes as a result of a worship team (aka "a worship band") trying to present music that is beyond its level of expertise…
.

12. if i, as a regular attendee, feel "on edge" or nervous because i am just not sure what sounds will emanate from the singers or instrumentalists who are leading me, i just have second thoughts before i would subject my unchurched friends to the same… "special music" can be even worse, but we don’t have to go there just now……
    that being said, having myself been involved in leading worship and presenting music, without intending to, i may have become overly critical or overly analytical… i recognize that (including myself) every worshiper brings his/her own attitude to the service, and that attitude affects how the worshiper feels about the experience……
    additionally, i would say that about 50-60 % of worshipers don’t even notice "bad music", so for them, it is a non-issue…… all in all, it seems to me that worship music "style"" is less important to many participants than the "quality"… (what i mean by that is that although i prefer modern or contemporary worship music, i personally would choose old hymns "done well", over contemporary music "done mediocrely")…
    if worship teams and bands would stick to what they are able to do well, i personally would find it easier to invite unchurched friends to the service……
    
13. The Lord has many ways in which He can be worshipped, but it really starts with God, working through us, to express Himself in us.

Have You Wondered Why Your People Do Not Invite Other People To Attend Your Church?
.
Let me ask this question: How do people see your church? The one on the left or one on the right? Are members more likely to invite people to the church on the left or one on the right?

.

"Why do the members attending your church not invite other people to come to the worship and preaching time? They come. They’re faithful. They give and support, but they don’t invite other people. If people in your church are not inviting people, they are not inviting people on purpose. We think they are scared, but they are not. They know very well how to invite people to great stuff. They do it all the time..."

.

You take an average person who goes to a great concert; or a great movie, it’s very easy for that person to invite someone to the next one. He went and had a great experience. He was moved, he was touched, it was a great value, and it was worth the time and the effort. He knows that his friend is going to benefit from it and he’s going to thank him afterward. So he invites him enthusiastically. They make the date, they plan, they spend the money, they anticipate. We’re really good at inviting people to places that we love going and knowing there’s a benefit at the end.

So is there a Harmony.com scientific data that would help us as Church leaders to understand the process of getting members of our church to get engage in the Great Commission?

• So at the end of the day, maybe what you should be more focused on is helping your people love to come and to understand the benefit that others may have who come after them. Maybe people aren’t inviting people to your church because they aren’t that enthusiastic about it either.

McCHURCH FRANCHISING CONGREGATIONS

"Just like a Chick-fil-A, or McDonalds my church is a 'franchise,' and I proudly serve as the local owner/operator." said Eddie Johnson

*

Just thinking before I go to Lexington, Kentucky

to visit Eric and Leslie, Chad and Heather

and Kyle

and attend Ashland Ave Baptist Church in their new building.

Charles

*

AN ATTITUDE THAT WE NEED IN THE BUILDING OF THE CHURCH

Part Two

*
I have been meditating on the famous parable of the seed and the sower. It is obviously important because is found in three different places in the gospels (with Jesus' explanation in parenthesis):

Matthew 13:3-9 (18-23)Mark 4:3-8 (14-20)Luke 8:5-8 (11-15)

Context is all-important in understanding this parable. It stands first in a list of seven stories Jesus told in Matthew 13. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus gave these parables on "that same day." What same day? Go back and read Matthew 12 and you'll see that it happened on the same day that the Jewish leaders accused Christ of working miracles by the power of the devil (Matthew 12:22-32). Jesus then pronounced judgment on that wicked and adulterous generation (vv. 33-37). The die was now cast; the religious leaders had made their choice. They will now do whatever it takes to get rid of Jesus.

This story is placed first in Matthew 13 because it reveals something crucial about the response to Jesus’’ message. After the public controversy with the Pharisees in Matthew 12 when they accused Jesus of doing his miracles by the power of the devil, one logical question would be, "If you are who you say you are, why doesn’’t everyone believe? And why did the religious leaders reject your message?" That question rings across the centuries in many different ways. Why does a wife believe and her husband reject? Why does one brother become a missionary and the other a pornographer? Why do two children raised in the same family end up some unalike spiritually? How is it that the same Word of God produces such differing results in the human heart?

Most messages on this passage discuss it from the standpoint of the four soils. I want to look at it in terms of what it teaches us about doing ministry today. I find at least eight principles that both challenge and encourage us.

1A *Build Your Ministry on the Word of God. Part One

*
I've been around long enough to see the trends come and go. Here's a short list:

• Bus ministry Bus Ministry: (Calvary Baptist, Gideon Baptist. FBC Hammond)
• Sunday School campaigns (almost every church)
• Church growth movement
• Moral Majority (I liked Jerry Falwell)
• Evangelism Explosion (Ashland Ave Baptist)
• Contemporary worship (Southern Acres)
• Seeker-friendly churches (Southern Acres)
• Purpose-Driven churches (principes are good)
• Revival of traditional worship
• Cell group movement (Ashland Ave Baptist, First Baptist Church, Altoona)
• Promise Keepers (Ashland Ave Baptist)
• Soul Winning (Hyles)

And that's just off the top of my head. I should add that I have been deeply involved in some of those things——Bus Ministry in several churches. In Fort Worth, Texas in 1969-70 we had over 350 on the buses of a church of 660. By 1973 the church was closed. Sunday School campaigns were a part of the Fundamental Baptist Movement as late as 2003. "FRIENDS SUNDAY." Contemporary worship was part of a three part worship service, the church still split and 450 people left and started another church across town. Of course some of these programs worked well for a time.

But the bottom line is the preaching and teaching of the WORD OF GOD.

• Here's what I want to drive home. Be a student of the trends. Study your culture. Learn from what others are doing. Don't reject things out of hand without looking into them. But above all, never substitute a trend or a fad or the hottest new thing for the simple, systematic teaching of God's Word. Without the Word, our churches may grow but they will not produce fruit that will last.

Part three next:

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant

BUT THERE’S GROWTH AND THERE’S GROWTH

It is hard for pastors NOT to be mesmerized by church growth. Who doesn’t want their church congregation to grow? I would love to preach to 500 rather than 50 anytime on Sunday. Who doesn’t want to see numbers and budgets increasing year by year? And who isn’t greatly interested when the latest growth model comes along–the latest research, the latest insight that promises us the key to such growth? If the pastor is worth his salt he is interested (my opinion only).

But there’s growth and there’s growth.

I am going to relate my history of learning about how church growth was related to me over the years.

For every example of a church that is larger for the wrong reason, I could give you an example of a small church (less than an hundred) that is small for the wrong reasons. What’s my point?
So what are the points in which a larger church can be biblically larger and a smaller church being biblically small?

I don’t know many pastors/elders who set out to see that their church does not grow.

We are sitting in a Seminary class room: Church Building 101. I am sitting in Christian Education at Hyles Anderson College. How Should Church Ministry Be? I go to the Super Conference at Thomas Road Baptist Church, in Lynchburg, Virginia: "Building a Bus/Children’s Ministry." Of course, there were a number of conferences. The Pastor’s School at Hammond, Indiana. "How To GO Soul-Winning." Only to name a few Bible/Church conferences I have attended over the years. Hyles/Falwell/Roberson/Rice/Malone/ I could mention others.

Footnote: Tom Malone, Lee Roberson and Jerry Falwell have died this year 2007

Young preachers coming out of independent Baptist schools have a desire to serve the Lord. We were Baptist only preachers, who did not know Reformed preachers existed. (1947-1980).

Now in those days, starting a church in a town was what preachers were encouraged to do. You would go to a town, find a building and then start knocking on doors inviting people to come visit the new church. Sometimes you also inviting them to come to Christ. There were many preachers who did just that.

Today in those same Seminaries and Colleges, they still teach the same idea of Church Ministry.

I don’t remember if in any of those classes the point was "How To Build A Church of 1000 People." We believed if we did what we were taught, we would have a church of a 1000.

Of course more of us never saw 500 in our churches. Of course, that was so disappointing to us. We had yet to learn why we were pastors/teachers, I think.

I never went to a Pastor’s/Church Conference where that local church had 200 in attendance. Can you imagine going to a Church Conference where the attendance was 50 in Sunday School?

You were always challenged to go back to your church and town and build a church like theirs.

I remember being in Hyles-Anderson College and First Baptist Church, and I left to go pastor a church in Altoona, Kansas, the First Baptist Church, on Main Street. I was rather excited that first Sunday. The church building was the size of one of the Sunday School classes at Hammond. The town had a total of about 500 people. I had to have a mindset adjustment.

I had seen 20,000 people come to church on one Sunday, and the next Sunday there were only 12,000 in the whole 40 square mile county!. I had to have an alignment in my brain cells. I could leave this town and church or find a way to do ministry in a different way.

My mindset adjustment came when I attended my first Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church. The Conference in 1983 and in 1990 took only 250 men in those years. I remember that first year and in the first session, the speaker said, "If you are here to learn how to build a larger church you are in the wrong conference." I said, "Did I come to the wrong conference? This is why I am here-- to learn to build a large church." Grace Community was a very large church. So what was the point of coming to this Conference?.

The main idea of the Shepherd’s Conference was this. How To Be A Godly Pastor/Teacher. The idea was not how to build a large church but how to have a church ministry that is pleasing to the Lord. What kind of Church ministry does the Lord teach that we should have?
You be the kind of person you should be, you do the kind of ministry that the Lord has called you to do, you preach/teach the way the Lord called you to do it, and then you allow the Lord to do the rest in the place you are called to minister. Oh! That works!!

So I went back to Altoona, Kansas thinking "Oh, this is what kind of person I should be, doing this kind of ministry, and then we will see what the Lord will do!" I can tell you that was scarey. Because my mindset about ministry was nothing like what I had learned at the Shepherd’s Conference. From Jack Hyles/.Jerry Falwell to John MacArthur, are you kidding!

First I had to change my idea of what kind of preaching I should do. Hyles or MacArthur? What kind of ministry should we have. Soul Winning or Church Discipleship? You mean no more contests to see how many we could get to come to Sunday School! You mean no more giving away hats to kids to ride the bus? What would the church become? And maybe we would never have 1000 in Sunday School. (Let alone 200).

The primary focus may not have been on "numbers" but you desired to see new people come to the church. You were there in that town with a purpose, and since in Altoona, there were only three churches in the first place, we were interested in reaching people with the Word .

I think the difference in my mindset was this: The purpose of the local church was for the discipling of believers, for the fellowship of believers, and the worshiping of believers. So what we did on the inside of the church was for believers.

My focus as a pastor/teacher became the teaching of the Word of God, and the training of believers in the church. The focus was off getting a crowd, and on building believers up to do the work of the ministry: (Ephesians 4:12-16).

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant and Proof Checked by Charity Whisnant May 21, 2007

BUT THERE’S GROWTH AND THERE’S GROWTH

It is hard for pastors NOT to be mesmerized by church growth. Who doesn’t want their church congregation to grow? I would love to preach to 500 rather than 50 anytime on Sunday. Who doesn’t want to see numbers and budgets increasing year by year? And who isn’t greatly interested when the latest growth model comes along–the latest research, the latest insight that promises us the key to such growth? If the pastor is worth his salt he is interested (my opinion only).

But there’s growth and there’s growth.

I am going to relate my history of learning about how church growth was related to me over the years.


For every example of a church that is larger for the wrong reason, I could give you an example of a small church (less than an hundred) that is small for the wrong reasons. What’s my point?
So what are the points in which a larger church can be biblically larger and a smaller church being biblically small?

I don’t know many pastors/elders who set out to see that their church does not grow.

We are sitting in a Seminary class room: Church Building 101. I am sitting in Christian Education at Hyles Anderson College. How Should Church Ministry Be? I go to the Super Conference at Thomas Road Baptist Church, in Lynchburg, Virginia: "Building a Bus/Children’s Ministry." Of course, there were a number of conferences. The Pastor’s School at Hammond, Indiana. "How To GO Soul-Winning." Only to name a few Bible/Church conferences I have attended over the years. Hyles/Falwell/Roberson/Rice/Malone/ I could mention others.

Footnote: Tom Malone, Lee Roberson and Jerry Falwell have died this year 2007

2008 -2011 There has been not number growth.

Young preachers coming out of independent Baptist schools have a desire to serve the Lord. We were Baptist only preachers, who did not know Reformed preachers existed. (1947-1980).
Now in those days, starting a church in a town was what preachers were encouraged to do. You would go to a town, find a building and then start knocking on doors inviting people to come visit the new church. Sometimes you also inviting them to come to Christ. There were many preachers who did just that.
Today in those same Seminaries and Colleges, they still teach the same idea of Church Ministry.

I don’t remember if in any of those classes the point was "How To Build A Church of 1000 People." We believed if we did what we were taught, we would have a church of a 1000.

Of course more of us never saw 500 in our churches. Of course, that was so disappointing to us. We had yet to learn why we were pastors/teachers, I think.

I never went to a Pastor’s/Church Conference where that local church had 200 in attendance. Can you imagine going to a Church Conference where the attendance was 50 in Sunday School?

You were always challenged to go back to your church and town and build a church like theirs.
I remember being in Hyles-Anderson College and First Baptist Church, and I left to go pastor a church in Altoona, Kansas, the First Baptist Church, on Main Street. I was rather excited that first Sunday. The church building was the size of one of the Sunday School classes at Hammond. The town had a total of about 500 people. I had to have a mindset adjustment.

I had seen 20,000 people come to church on one Sunday, and the next Sunday there were only 12,000 in the whole 40 square mile county!. I had to have an alignment in my brain cells. I could leave this town and church or find a way to do ministry in a different way.

My mindset adjustment came when I attended my first Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church. The Conference in 1983 and in 1990 took only 250 men in those years. I remember that first year and in the first session, the speaker said, "If you are here to learn how to build a larger church you are in the wrong conference." I said, "Did I come to the wrong conference? This is why I am here-- to learn to build a large church." Grace Community was a very large church. So what was the point of coming to this Conference?.

The main idea of the Shepherd’s Conference was this. How To Be A Godly Pastor/Teacher. The idea was not how to build a large church but how to have a church ministry that is pleasing to the Lord. What kind of Church ministry does the Lord teach that we should have?

You be the kind of person you should be, you do the kind of ministry that the Lord has called you to do, you preach/teach the way the Lord called you to do it, and then you allow the Lord to do the rest in the place you are called to minister. Oh! That works!!

So I went back to Altoona, Kansas thinking "Oh, this is what kind of person I should be, doing this kind of ministry, and then we will see what the Lord will do!" I can tell you that was scarey. Because my mindset about ministry was nothing like what I had learned at the Shepherd’s Conference. From Jack Hyles/.Jerry Falwell to John MacArthur, are you kidding!

First I had to change my idea of what kind of preaching I should do. Hyles or MacArthur? What kind of ministry should we have. Soul Winning or Church Discipleship? You mean no more contests to see how many we could get to come to Sunday School! You mean no more giving away hats to kids to ride the bus? What would the church become? And maybe we would never have 1000 in Sunday School. (Let alone 200).

The primary focus may not have been on "numbers" but you desired to see new people come to the church. You were there in that town with a purpose, and since in Altoona, there were only three churches in the first place, we were interested in reaching people with the Word .

I think the difference in my mindset was this: The purpose of the local church was for the discipling of believers, for the fellowship of believers, and the worshiping of believers. So what we did on the inside of the church was for believers.

My focus as a pastor/teacher became the teaching of the Word of God, and the training of believers in the church. The focus was off getting a crowd, and on building believers up to do the work of the ministry: (Ephesians 4:12-16).

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant and Proof Checked by Charity Whisnant May 21, 2007

"HOW ARE WE TO GET THE PEOPLE TO COME TO LISTEN TO THE WORD?"

This question is been asked ?

"Is the desire for personal growth or church growth?The desire to see church growth encompasses(2)getting people to hear the Word preached.

This is what I mean by church growth: (3) The growth of influence, & confidence, in the ability to accomplish the desired purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's not numbers.

But its okay to grow in new converts, and members

When a church member invites a visitor or friend or family member to come to our church, they will have the confidence that their guest will receive a warm welcome and visualize an attractive atmosphere. From the moment the guest sits in the pew, he will be drawn into what we call worship, and will listen to music and preaching that reflects the song, "There's a sweet, sweet spirit in this place, and I know that it's the Spirit of the Lord."

That, and from the time they get out of their car until they get back into their car they will know something has happened to show them what it means to Worship theLord Jesus Christ.

It's not boring, dull, or lifeless,and you won't be embarrassed that your guest came.

GROWTH:

The act or process, or a manner of growing, development, gradual increase. Something that has grown or developed by or as if by a natural process.

Part One:

A Recipe for Church Growth

• 'The answer is, Christ is his own attraction, Christ is the only trumpet that you want to trumpet Christ. Preach the gospel, and the congregation will come of themselves. The only infallible way of getting a good congregation, is to do this.

• "Oh!" said a Socinian(1) once, to a good Christian minister, "I cannot make it out; my chapel is always empty, and yours always crammed full. And yet I am sure mine is the more rational doctrine, and you are not by any means so talented a preacher as I am.

• "Well," said the other "I will tell you the reason why your chapel is empty, and mine full. The people have a conscience, and that conscience tells them that what I preach is true and that what you preach is false, so they will not hear you."

• You shall look through the history of this realm ever since the commencement of the days of Protestantism, and I will dare to say it without fear of contradiction, that you will almost in every case find that the men who have attracted the greatest mass of people to hear them, have been men who were the most evangelical——who preached the most about Christ and him crucified.

• What was there in Whitefield to attract an audience, except the simple gospel preached with a vehement oratory that carried everything before it. Oh, It was not his oratory, but the gospel that drew the people. There is a something about the truth that always makes it popular. Charles H. Spurgeon

(1) follower of Faustus and Laelius Socinus who rejected a number of traditional Christian doctrines, as the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and original sin, and who held that Christ was miraculously begotten and that salvation will be granted to those who adopt Christ's virtues.

(2) to include comprehensively: a work that encompasses the entire range of the world's religious beliefs.

(3) to arise or issue as a natural development from an original happening, circumstance, or source: Our friendship grew from common interests. To increase in influence or effect: To become gradually more liked or accepted by:

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 03 19 07 Checked by Charity Whisnant