Should Churches Grow Numerically? | 5 Views on the Church Growth Movement

Type of Doctrine: Secondary

" . . . I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

- Matthew 16:18

Why does it matter?

The subject of church growth is generally a secondary issue, since it can dramatically affect the way church is done and may affect the church one may choose. Churches who are proponents of the Church Growth movement will likely employ goals, strategies, and plans to grow the church (often learning from secular disciplines). Many will adapt to the world in order to reach it. Those who are not proponents of the Church Growth movement will likely not employ these goals, strategies, and plans to grow the church. They will likely adapt less to the world though they still want to reach it. They may even consider adapting to the world as the church becoming worldly.

From a big-picture perspective, should we expect the church globally to grow? From a smaller-picture perspective, should we expect our local church to grow? How do we process it if our church does not grow? Is there something we should do to grow the church or do we trust God to grow the church? To what degree should we embrace pragmatism? Should we do things because they work? Thus, as you can see, the theology of church growth matters.

What is it?

The Church Growth movement believes that the church should seek to grow and should expect to grow. That means churches should research what is helping church growth and what is preventing it, and it should incorporate these findings into a strategy to grow the church.

How did it start? The movement started in the early 1900s with a missionary in India named Donald McGavran. He wondered why some churches grew and others did not (sometimes the churches were even a few miles from each other!). According to Gary McIntosh in Evaluating the Church Growth Movement: 5 Views, the four main questions which McGavran developed were:

"What are the causes of church growth?
What are the barriers of church growth?
What are the factors that can make the Christian faith a movement among some populations?
What principles of church growth are reproducible?" (12)

Primarily, McGavran's influence came through his work at Fuller Theological Seminary; it was at this school that he influenced colleagues and students (14-15). McIntosh goes on to explain what became the three core principles of the Church Growth movement:

God wants to save the lost.
We should research the causes and barriers of church growth.
We should develop specific plans, goals, and strategies based on the research to grow the church (15-16).

Therefore, the Church Growth movement is focused on studying what may cause and prevent church growth.

The Church Growth movement is focused on studying what may cause and prevent church growth.

Numerous notable people were influenced by these ideas at Fuller such as: Win Arn, John Wimber, Peter Wagner, Carl George, Elmer Towns, Kent Hunter, John Vaughan, John Maxwell, Rick Warren, Bob Logan, Bill Sullivan, Leith Anderson, Paul Ford, Ralph Winter, and Eddie Gibbs (16-19). Other notable people such as Lyle Schaller, George Gallup, and George Barna were also influential in this movement (19).

Today, this movement has influenced many different streams of Christianity. Some notable churches who have been heavily influenced by the Church Growth movement are Willow Creek Church, Saddleback Church, Life.Church, Fellowship Church, North Point Community Church, and Elevation Church.

What does the Bible say? Jesus talks about the idea of the kingdom growing. He says that the kingdom is like a small seed that grows and expands (Matt. 13:31-32). Jesus also states that he will build his church and the gates of hell cannot stop it (Matt. 16:18). On the other hand, even Jesus' hometown had very little faith (Mark 6:1-6); it would seem then that kingdom growth wouldn't be expected in his hometown in the same way as it may grow in other cities. In other words, the kingdom will grow (big-picture; globally), but that doesn't necessarily mean that every city or church will have the same growth (small-picture; locally).

The same is true in the early church. Acts 2 demonstrates the power of the Spirit saving thousands of people at once - remarkable church growth. Luke writes, "So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls" (Acts 2:41). Nevertheless, despite this growth of the church, there are stories of opposition, suffering, persecution, and cities where it seems like church growth didn't happen in the Scriptures. At times, whole areas were closed off for mission (Acts 16:6-10). Therefore, it cannot be a simple conclusion such as this: all churches will grow. Instead, it seems to be the case that the worldwide church will grow but not necessarily every local church.

Some proponents of church growth make the case with illustrations. For example, I've heard some argue in favor of church growth insisting that healthy things grow (i.e., plants, people, businesses, etc.), but this illustration ultimately fails since unhealthy things grow as well (i.e., cancer, weeds, mold, etc.).

Moreover, the growth in the New Testament is often attributed to God, not pragmatic strategies. There is no record in the Bible of people setting goals and planning growth. Instead, what we find is faithful gospel preaching which is followed by responses which seem to be favorable sometimes and not favorable other times. The emphasis seems to be on faithfulness to the message rather than results (1 Cor. 4:1-2; Tim. 1:12; 2:2).

However, on the other hand, practical issues can still be important. For example, if a church welcomes a new person in a manner that embarrasses the newcomer, they might not come back. The Bible gives flexibility on issues like this, so we might as well welcome them in a way that encourages them to come back. It is clear, therefore, that some practical strategies will likely work better than others. This demonstrates that it is a complex issue, not necessarily a simple one. However, what is clear is that the kingdom of God will grow (big picture) - even if that is not the expectation for every church (small picture).

5 Views on the Church Growth Movement

The section below will discuss five views on the Church Growth movement. All of the following views agree that the kingdom of God will advance and expand, and therefore, they agree that the church will grow (big picture).

However, despite the agreement among the five views that the church will grow, there is disagreement on a number of issues such as these below (adapted from Evaluating the Church Growth Movement: 5 Views pages 7-28; 265-267):

The mission of the church - Is the mission of the church to proclaim the gospel, make followers of Jesus, and make members of a church? Or is the mission of the church to share the good news of the kingdom of God and form a community of faith that demonstrates the kingdom to the world? Or is it some combination of both?
The church's role in church growth - Should churches make bold plans, goals, and strategies to grow? Or should they focus on the spiritual health of the church and trust God to bring growth? Or is it some combination of both?
The measurement of church growth - Are numbers a sufficient measurement? Or are other numbers more helpful (i.e., assistance to the poor, widows, etc.)? What makes a church healthy, faithful, and biblical? What about things that can't be measured (i.e., love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, love of Scripture, faith in prayer, passion in singing, etc.)?
The extent of adapting to culture to reach it - How much can a church adapt to a culture to reach it without accommodating it? Where is the line drawn (to be "in" the world but not "of" it)? To what extent should a church utilize pragmatism? To what extent should a church incorporate secular ideas (i.e., business principles, leadership strategies, communication techniques, marketing, etc.)?

With that being said, here are the five views on the Church Growth movement (below).

Views	For/Against	Description	Details	Who?
Effective Evangelism	For	The Church Growth movement is effective in confronting and penetrating culture with the gospel.	Churches should use research methods to learn how to grow churches. Evangelism is the goal.	Elmer Towns
Gospel and Our Culture	Against	The Church Growth movement does not have a sufficient doctrine of the church, and therefore, it cannot effectively engage the culture.	The church should be missional rather than attractional. We shouldn't draw people to ourselves but go on mission to them and proclaim the kingdom of God. The goal is for Christians to live ethically in order to transform culture.	Craig Van Gelder
Centrist	For	The Church Growth movement is based on a theory that is focused on evangelism and mission.	Church Growth is based on 5 pillars: (1) God seeks and finds, (2) the lost world is the context, (3) saving grace in Jesus is the heart of Church Growth, (4) the Holy Spirit is the agent, and (5) the church is the primary instrument of church growth. Evangelism is the goal.	Charles Van Engen
Reformist	Against	The Church Growth movement assumes theology but does not employ it effectively to "analyze culture, determine strategy, and perceive history" (24-25).	Church Growth pragmatism damages the authority of Scripture. It begins with human ideas rather than theology. It determines effective practices and then seeks to validate them with Scripture. Therefore, it emphasizes growth rather than faithful proclamation and living of the gospel.	Gailyn Van Rheenan
Renewal	Against	The Church Growth movement must be built upon a "biblical vision of the church as the vital community of the kingdom of God in order to be effective" (25).	The primary concern is that growth be understood in terms of the broader kingdom of God (renewal and revival). Churches don't exist for themselves but for the kingdom of God.	Howard Snyder

To summarize, the Church Growth movement seeks and expects churches to grow. Proponents study the causes and barriers of church growth and seek to set goals, strategies, and plans in motion to grow the church through evangelism by attracting people to the church. Those who are against the movement are usually either against: (1) attraction (rather than outward mission), (2) pragmatism (doing what "works" even if it seems unbiblical or unwise), or (3) the focus on the expansion of the kingdom of God (rather than just growth of individual churches).

One concern to consider about the Church Growth movement in general is how focused it can get on pragmatism and numbers. This can lead to a human-centered approach to worship. Worship, at least in my view, should be primarily God-centered and understood based on the Scriptures (not pragmatism). Andy Johnson makes a similar observation in this comment from his book review of Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, "Amidst all the comments and counter comments, I did distinguish outlines of two visions for the growth of churches. One view begins with man and his wisdom, ideas, efforts, and sciences. The other view begins with God—his character, his purposes, and his instructions as given to us in his self-revelation."

One clear text addressing this issue is 1 Corinthians 1-4. In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul writes, "For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). In other words, Paul does not always give the Jews and the Greeks what they want in order to reach them - particularly if it empties the cross of its power and attracts them to something else (1 Cor. 1:17). However, it seems like some in the Church Growth movement have an approach that is the opposite of Paul. They seem to take this approach: give the Jews what they want and give the Greeks what they want so they will hear the gospel, get saved, and the church will grow. But Paul says that this empties the cross of its power.

Admittedly, there are a lot of gray areas on this topic. Well-meaning Christians may disagree on it. However, it remains a secondary issue since it can affect the church one chooses.

Application

We can share the gospel, love people, and pray for the kingdom of God to expand and grow so that more people believe in Jesus and are forgiven and justified. This means more people will find joy in God and bring him glory. If our church grows, then we can rejoice. If our church is not growing, then we can trust in his sovereign purposes and that his kingdom will never fail.

Where can I learn more?

Bibliography:

- McIntosh, Gary L., ed. Evaluating the Church Growth Movement: 5 Views. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004. See Andy Johnson's book summary and review by clicking here.