The Growth Question
Measuring Success in God's Church (rough draft)

I'm going to be honest here. I have a lot of ideas that might come across a little "rambly" (real word?), but bear with me here.

I've been working through the ideas of "success" in ministry. As an American Pastor, it's taught and advocated by many to "grow" our churches by whatever [ethical] means necessary. When I start to unpack some of my concerns with "big style church" I want to make it really clear that I don't think big churches are in sin by being big or that I am making a defense for small churches. In other words... chill out and consider how you answer this question.

"How Big is Your Church?"

Rephrase these words all you want. How many people are attending? How many baptisms did you have this year? How many youth? What your Christmas program like? How long has your pastor been there?
You're how small? Is it a church plant? yada yada yada...

What I keep wrestling with as a Young Pastor keeps coming back to a few ideas. If my church/ministry isn't busting at the seems, living by the latest leadership jargon, or hip enough service, does that mean the ministry is a failure?
Failure is scary. It means no job security, no validation for your hopes and dreams, crushing insecurities, and no new iPhone! CRAP!
A few of these things I've come to some level of grips with. I really try hard to not let the level of the attendance of the services I lead be proportionate with my self-validation ***cough, cough, ego, cough***.

I've also know that as soon as I run my ministry according to job security alone, I probably should booted out on principle.

Though of course all of these human concerns rear their nasty little heads up all the time.

But I go back to my original question.
How Big is Your Church?

If you ask someone from a big church they go into brag time mode. It sounds like a mom and dad talking about Buffy and Timmy placing first at the track meet, getting an internship at Google, volunteering at the soup kitchen, saving a beached whale, and getting into Harvard Law. Good for them right? Don't you feel better knowing that Buffy and Timmy are out making our world a better place? ;)

If you ask the question to someone at a small church you'll probably hear them take on a similar Parental styling that involves their boy John finally getting that promotion at McDonald's, dating a nice girl, and saving money by living at home. All fine, but not impressive. And by no means "The American dream" right?

The American dream? What does that have to do with the church. Well that depends on what Country you're in when you ask about church growth doesn't it?

If we were talking about starting a church in Cameroon, Africa the standard of growth would probably change. In fact, if you told American's that you had a 100 year old church of 60 members back in Africa they would probably be impressed or at least they wouldn't present a "something must be wrong if it isn't up to 500" expression on their face.

But why does the standard change? Because American things are supposed to grow if they have a good product, good demand/supply, good distribution, a good CEO with good employees right?

So let's look at Christianity?
Good Product? Of course Jesus sells himself.... with a little help from the Holy Spirit.

Good Demand? We all need Jesus right?

Good Supply? We're not running low on Him.

Good Distribution? The entire modern world has heard Hid name.

Good CEO with good employees? Well I guess that differs.....

But wait. You're saying that the first three can be potentially outweighed by the power of the last? Well according to the American business structure... absolutely.

Ok, so you think I'm heading towards the Church shouldn't be so corporate right?
Well no, that's not where I'm going at all.
If a church rock at getting Jesus famous like Coke rocks at getting Coke famous, then more power to them... After all, Magnifying God is the point.

My point is that small churches are not invalid or unsuccessful based on their size. And here's where I'm praying for a new mindset.
My dream is that the church be not limited to an organization, but unmeasured as a community of life-long committed believers. *

A place filled with relationships that you simply will not walk away from because Jesus dreamed of a single body. And last I checked... my hand only belongs to me and won't fit on anybody else's body. I mean people who are in it for the long authentic haul.

And this takes me to something really special. How many Pastors can say what I'm about to say? I belong to a community that knows almost everything about me (the rest of the dirt comes in time) and I have community with nearly all of them. That means over 80 people are truly my family. I don't just lead them, I know them, I commune with them, I cry with them, I dream with them, I get unsettled with them, I sing with them.... I don't just do the Pastor thing in front them in order to lead, I do life with them in order to inspire. They belong to me and I to them.

How many Pastor's can experience intimacy on that kind of scale? Not many. They have too big of standard (or ideal) to live up to. And the higher standard that I'm held to as a Pastor can be held wide out in the open... so I don't have to grow alone. I belong to a church.

So, let me ask this question.
If this was the kind of church American Christians knew, would they still ask me a question like "how big is your church?" If they did, it would take on a deeper meaning. Because they would realize that they may have huge attendance, but if they don't have community... real, open, heart-on-shirtsleeve, community... then all of a sudden being "Wal-Mart Baptist Church" wouldn't be so impressive (though exciting in the convert number....sarcasm).

So maybe success isn't something that can be only measured in attendance or other statistical items. But maybe success can also be... how deep are your roots?
How deep are you rooted in?

Numbers are only one kind of success.

If you're looking for Community then welcome to North Pointe. If you're looking for sound-byte spirituality... watch Oprah... she's popular... and successful.

;) pastor tom gibson

Appendices?

*Ok folks, I get it. Yes, there should still be new people coming in. As our friends over at Granger say "Numbers are people too." Agreed. And if you can use Media or other business stratigies to further Christ's message then do it. In fact, every church should leverage every tool, every ounce of creativity, and every resource to bring more to the father through Jesus Christ.

I simply know too many ministers from various churches who are making amazing strides for the name and heart of Christ and feel constant invalidation in their calling because their not bursting at the seams every Sunday. I'm saying that Numbers are only one kind of success.