The Wrong Reason for Church Growth – Quote of the Day
From Allan Bevere:
And one more thing– as long as the church wants to grow only in order to pay the bills; if we see new people not as persons made in the image of God who need God’s transforming grace as much as the rest of us; if we only see them as instruments by which to meet the general budget, then we will have really lost what it means to be the church in the world.
This comes from a post titled The Church Has an Edifice Complex. You should read the whole thing.
I’d link this to the numerous times I’m aware of in which a church has forced some ministry off church property because the people served weren’t those who attended church. These include a Wednesday night program for community youth whose parents weren’t church members and a young adult class whose members weren’t attending the church service.
Is church attendance desirable? Yes. But if you do ministry only to those who are already doing so, where’s the outreach?
Related articles
- Our Pastor is Lazy (jevlir.com)
- Finding The Church In People (cindyholman.wordpress.com) Quote: “If a building was stripped away from you – would you lose your identity?”)
Hi Henry! Not sure if you’ll remember me, but you taught me Hebrew for a year while I was on staff at McIlwain Church back in the late 90s. I remember having some stimulating discussions about Calvinism and Arminianism! You were always so gracious to this young, proud, fresh-out-of-seminary punk! Somehow I’ve stumbled upon your blog, so I thought I’d say hello.
Love this quote you’ve posted here. I wrote an article that expresses a similar sentiment here: http://www.breakpoint.org/component/content/article/104-worldview-church/877-when-your-church-is-really-parachurch
Hope you are well, sir!
Peace,
Jimmy D.
It is sad to think that a church would think of new people in terms of potential money. As pastor of a new church that is in need of funds for everything, I don’t think it would occur to our people to think of someone this way. God bless!
Terry Reed
Small Church Tools