3rd Sunday before Lent.
1 Corinthians 3:6
'I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God gave the growth.'
It was a relief this morning to find a perfect excuse not to preach from the gospel , but go for the Epistle instead. I left Jesus' teaching on adultery and divorce for another, less contentious day, to embrace the somewhat easier (though only by a slim margin) topic of church growth.
This was in the light of reading the Church Growth research project, From Anecdote to Evidence, just published, which looked at factors which affect growth in church congregations.
For visual learners, I added in a chance to compare two leeks - one grown in optimum conditions on our local, GM free, organic estate (the fat, juicy one) and the other grown in our back garden (the thin weedy one).
The main verse from the Epistle was even written on the front cover of the report, so I knew I was onto something during my sermon preparation (some weeks I'm just so grateful for divine inspiration, as the time left to write these things often has a habit of trickling away to nothing).
I mainly have a love/hate relationship with findings on church growth, I think, because,
a) I'm worried that people in a large 'successful' churches with massive paid staff teams will tell me the perfect way to grow the church, which will of course not work in this situation, and then I will feel inadequate.
And:
b) I nonetheless remain hopeful that they'll come up with some unique finding such as, 'if you're nice to people and smile a lot, your church will grow', and then I'll think, 'great, how hard is that going to be?'
Is growth only about numbers?
The report, quite rightly, says numbers aren't the whole story, but researching growth in numbers is obviously a lot easier than researching growth in, say, holiness or prayerfulness, or generosity of heart. The paradox in church growth is surely the same in all Christian endeavour, even something as basic as prayer: what is the relationship between our effort and God's activity?
St Paul was quick to point out that although he might sow, and someone else water the seed, it is God who gives the growth, yet this apostle was hardly one to sit back and do nothing. When it comes to growth it would seem that we are to labour as though it all depended upon us, and trust for 'results' as though it all depended on God.
Finally, returning to leeks fat and thin - the report found 7 main factors positively correlated with church growth:
1.
Good leadership
2.
A clear mission and purpose
3.
Willingness to self-reflect, to change and adapt according to
context
4.
Involvement of lay
members
5.
Being intentional in
prioritising growth
6.
Being intentional in chosen
style of worship
7.
Being intentional in
nurturing disciples
Recalling the verse above, then, like a good gardener, it looks like we have to be intentional if we want to grow, while leaving the actual mystery of growth to God.
I've often thought that being 'intentional' is something that the Church frowns on? Just my experience at BAP seemed to point me toward that idea. I was criticised and given a NOT for Ordained Ministry in the main, citing my directness about things. There were other concerns expressed, but they were mainly being a bit ageist about my ability at 60 being able to cope with the rigors of academic study?
ReplyDeleteI hold a Masters Level vocational qualification in leadership and management, acquired during Army service, with a wide range of evidence of collaborative leadership, but with a strong element of the intentional, because, the Commanders Intent - is something that we set out to achieve, direction on how this is to be achieved is obviously something that forms part of it, but actually delivery of that intent is left to the discretion of the subordinate commander. So, again, perhaps my performance was judged against that?
It seems that the Church is intent on Growth, but they leave it to local, collaborative leadership on how this is achieved, but I believe that at parish level, the Vicar/Priest in Charge needs some bit of 'directional' within them, delivered softly, but firmly if the aim of Growth is to be achieve. Putting the conditions in place, guiding the people and than trusting that the Holy Spirit will work among us to achieve growth.
I felt prior to BAP that the sort of call that God was gifting me with was about mission with a strong element of Evangelistic content - being in the community rather than in church, working to build the Kingdom - perhaps that came across as being a bit to directional? I have no regrets, because that call remains now to be exercised in different ways through lay leadership, and finally after two years, the Church seems to get it!!
Interesting...I think there is a tension between traditional 'pastoral care' of the church family and reaching out towards those outside, & it feels a bit of a tussle sometimes. As you say, the church are getting more and more outward focussing as it stares full blown decline in the face
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