Introduction Your church can grow! I really believe that. What's more, the Lord wants it to grow. He earnestly wants lost people to be found and brought into his family as disciples and responsible church members. How could our Lord feel otherwise? The greatest evi­ dence for the living Lord is always a living, loving, laughing, and lifting church. The church is the body of Christ. How can we show that Christ is alive if his body, the church, is dead? One problem we face is that many churches are settling for less than our Lord would-a full house (Luke 14:23). Church houses are half empty and church members are fully satisfied. Empty seats do not honor God. Vacant pews do not recommend him to an indifferent and preoccupied world. But a full house is always a different story. If God's people would just show up, our churches would fill up, and the world would sit up and take notice. The purpose of this book is to encourage you and give you practical help toward that end. This book is about the nuts and bolts of church growth. It is not a book of theory. The things I have written have worked and are working right now to help our church to grow. Moreover, some of these things will work to produce growth where you are. They will work if you will work. If this book accomplishes that, it will be well worth the work that went into it. Unless otherwise noted, aU Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible. Scripture quotations marked (RSV) are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1946, 1952, © 1971, 1973. Scripture quotations marked (TEV) are from the Good News Bible, the Bible in Today's English Version. Old Testament: Copyright © American Bible Society 1976; New Testament: Copyright© American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible. Copyright © Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois, 1971. Used by permission. ©Copyright 1982 • Broadman Press AU rights reserved. 4225-42 ISBN: 0-8054-2542-x Dewey Decimal Classification: 254.5 Subject Heading: CHURCH GROWTH Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 81-68926 Printed in the United States of America I am especially grateful to my faithful secretary, Gloria Ortega, for typing and retyping the manuscript, to Gerrie Milburn for editing it, and to my great staff and church for giving me the time and the inspiration to write it. Contents 1. What God Has Done ...... .. ..... ... ......... 7 2. Roadblocks to Growth ....... ............. 20 3. The Crisis of Leadership . 29 4. What Makes a Church Grow? ...... ... ...... 41 5. The Primacy of Preaching ...... ..... ......... 51 6. Flake Was No Fluke ........................ 60 7. Do the Work of an Evangelist .............. .. 69 8. The Pastor and People Working Together ........ 76 9 . The Midweek Power Hour ............. ...... 85 10. Christ, Children, and His Church ............... 95 11. Putting a Spark in Sunday Night ........ .... 103 12. Building a Staff Team ...................... 112 13. Financing by Faith ...................... ... 121 Appendix 1: Where We Stand .... .... ...... .. 128 1 What God Has Done I read a quip recently that said, "Let him who often toots his own hom take heed lest he run his battery down." That's a loose translation of the proverb that says, "Don't praise yourself; let others do it!" (Prov. 27:2, TLB). What I have written here is not intended to be a boast about Green Acres Baptist Church. It is intended to give a boost to you. During the past eight years, our church has enjoyed a marvelous growth. I am often asked to share in conferences and at banquets some of what has happened in our church and why it has happened. What I have written here is an effort to share in writing those things that I am so often asked to share in person. Some churches start out with a fever and end up with a chill. Their growth shoots up like a rocket and comes down like a rock. The history of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, has been one of steady and significant growth. Our church was born well. It began as a mission twenty-five years ago, and it was self-supporting from the first Sunday the people met in their new building. Within a year, it became an independent church. During the past eight years, Green Acres has been among the leading churches in Texas in baptisms, Sunday School growth, and missions support. The only churches that have consistently exceeded us in these categories have been in the large, metropolitan areas. Tyler is an East Texas 7 8 THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF CHURCH GROWTH community of 70,720 people. It has grown 22.4 percent, from 57,770 to 70,720 in the last ten years. During this same period of time, our church member­ ship has grown 141 percent, our average Sunday School attendance has increased 154 percent. Our total gifts have increased 589 percent. The Infusion of New Life A church is healthiest when there is a continual infu­ sion of new life in it. New people keep a church from spir­ itual stagnation. They bring new ideas, new energy, and new enthusiasm into the fellowship. In the past six years, we have averaged over 520 additions per year, or ten per Sunday. We have now grown to a current membership of 4,300 people. Fizz or Fizzle Thirty-five percent of these' new members have come into our fellowship by baptism. That's important to us. Evangelism is to the church what CQ2 is to a carbonated drink. Without evangelism, there is no spiritual fizz in the church. A church without the fizz of evangelism will soon fizzle out. In the past seven years, we have baptized an average of 157 people per year. We work at keeping evangelism central in all that we do. When I came as the pastor eight years ago, I told the people that our goal was to build the greatest evangelistic church in East Texas. The word greatest is not to suggest the idea of a competitive spirit. We are not out to beat any­ body else. It is used only with reference to our potential. I believe the potential of our church is the greatest in our area, so we must measure up to it. 01 0> 0> 01 0 01 0 0 0 __!_, ---. ---' -., r r I I I I I a r i! I ,.r­ c I c I 3 0z f/) l (X) 0 (X) ~ (X) 1\) (X) 01 ............ ~ (I) ""' 0> (I) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ...... <0 "'-.I 0 I I I I J I (I) 0 I ......(I) (I) ~ (I) (11 WHAT GOD HAS DONE 11 Numbers Count and We Count Numbers I am unapologetically numbers conscious. Numbers count with us, and we count numbers. Have you noticed that those who minimize numbers usually do not have any to emphasize? Numbers count with the government, and so they take a census every ten years. Numbers count with the Chamber of Commerce, and so they post the population of their community on the city limits sign. Numbers count at ath1etic contests, and so the announcer usually tells you not only the number present at the contest but also the number of no-shows. Numbers count with universities, and so they proudly advertise any increase in enrollment. I am on the board of directors of a local bank. In our monthly directors' meeting, we always receive a report on the number of new accounts opened and the number of accounts closed. We think numbers are important. They are an indication of growth and progress. They are not the only measure, but they are one measure. Quantity Versus Quality But some people think that churches should be differ­ ent. They think we shouldn't be concerned about numbers. They believe we should emphasize quality, not quan­ tity. They feel we should place priority on discipleship, not evangelism. But any discipleship that falls short of evan­ gelism is a shallow and an incomplete discipleship. Any discipler who does not witness and evangelize does not understand enough about discipleship to be a teacher. Jesus didn't say, "Follow me, and I'll make you an expert Bible teacher." He didn't say, "Follow me, and I'll give you a deeper life." He didn't say, "Follow me, and I'll teach you how to memorize Scripture." He said, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men" (Mark 12 THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF CHURCH GROWTH 1:17, RSV). Bible study, a deeper life, and Scripture mem­ orization prepare us to be the best fishers of men, but they are never an end in themselves . Incidentally, an evangelism that does not go on to dis­ cipleship is a shallow and incomplete evangelism. The two are not competitors. They are companions. One is a number. Numbers represent people. We don't count chairs or hymnals-only people. To say that numbers don't count is to say that people don't count. God is apparently interested in numbers also. There is a whole book in the Bible called Numbers. When Jesus fed the multitudes, somebody counted the crowd; then the Holy Spirit led the Gospel writers to record that number for us. The fact we are told that five thousand people were fed helps us to see the magnitude of the miracle. Jesus didn't feed just a Sunday School class. He didn't just cater a small wedding reception.