Church Growth Redefined?
When I read books or blogs about church growth, I hear two common themes. The first is more people coming to that church (growth in numbers), and the other thing I hear about is multiplication (growth by planting). Now, as a planter nearing the first year of our plant, I am all about planting and churches planting other churches is far better (IMHO) than orgs and denoms planting churches from a centralized office. While I am in favor of this, my take on it may differ slightly.
So how would I redefine church growth? Well, if we consider our church to be our family, then we need to look at it the same way a family operates at times. For the sake of argument, lets go nuclear with our imagined family. So we have a mom and a dad and say….three kids. In their case family growth can be defined in a number of ways. Sure, they could have another kid, and another, and another and so forth until they have 15 kids packed in their 3 bedroom house. But is that the only kind of growth they can have and is it the only growth they should have. What about the relationship between mom and dad? What about the dynamics of the relationship with the parents and the kids? What about the relationships the siblings have with each other. How about the relationships the whole family has when they are in a room together? Family growth is more than increasing the numbers, it is growth in relationships, personal growth, and so much more that the family can do to grow together.
Now let’s address the multiplication factor of the family? Does the family create an ad, interview candidates, and help those people get married in a home nearby and start having kids and call that multiplication? No. What they do is that they raise their kids to have good values and a strong foundation. In time and organically, those kids will grow and eventually find homes of their own, some (but not necessarily all) will find a relationship with someone and get married….the beginning of a new family. That child who is now a spouse may even have children and like you, will raise those children with the same values and that they were raised on…along with some new perspectives found along the road of life. These former children now raising children will still need their own parents for wisdom and guidance and advice and strength, but the dynamic of the relationship changes and in many ways the grown children become peers with their own views and perspectives and opinions. You will visit their home and they will visit yours and the two families are unique, but they are interconnected.
How would all of this look in the church if we adopted aspects of this family into our definitions of growth and multiplication? Instead of marketing campaigns we would improve our relationships and strengthen our bonds and make disciples. When we do increase our numbers, we will look at it as adding a new member to the family and raising them with our values and dreams. We will be adopting children into our family and taking that responsibility seriously as parents and siblings. When it comes time to "plant", we will have raised one of our children-or disciples-into starting a family of their own and we will be in touch as church communities as one family related to another family stays in touch and intermingles communities. There is something lovely and organic that could happen here. Just my thought for the day.
