Church growth comes from three sources: transfer growth, biological growth or conversions.
Numeric Growth Resulting from Transfers from Other Congregations:
Church Growth in post-modern America often comes from transfer growth from other churches. When people move from one city or area to another, it is natural for them to find a new church. When someone relocates, this is good transfer growth. Transfer growth is less desirable when it is merely the movement of Christians from one gospel believing church to another, but each story is different. Particular moves may be necessary and good but capitalizing on transfer from other local congregations may provide vitality to the gaining congregation, but not expand the Kingdom of God. For a new church or a church seeking to revitalize, gaining transfer growth is a good place to build to the congregation. Transfer growth means that gaining congregation is conserving the discipleship efforts of a sister church which they may or may not know. Transfer growth means welcoming into the congregation new people who need friends. People are most likely to seek a church within weeks after they move into a community. Advertising dollars are well spent on reaching new comers to a community.
Numeric Growth from New Babies:
Church growth happens when congregation members have children. Ensuring that this sort of growth means 1st affirming that children are the church, not the future church. While children are not ready for executive functions of leadership, they are a part of the current church. Children and youth programs should both aid in including the children in the church and bringing age appropriate discipleship. Often children and youth are mistakenly taught by our actions, not our theology, that the church congregation is for the generation of their parents. So when they go to college, they look for a congregation that includes their age group. Youth group often does not give way to participation into the life of the congregation. Two common paths are for teens who are not serious about their faith to drop out of church as an adult or alternatively to find a church where they are taken seriously. Ensuring that the church love and serves covenant children is as much a social phenomenon as anything else. The big question is, do we respect our youth? We often have affection for youth, but respect means that they are sitting on the bench of service until they are 30.
Numeric Growth from Conversions:
When we say evangelism, we mean people coming to faith who did not have it before. They dynamics of evangelism is often quite different than people expect. In the history of the American gospel believing church often evangelism means heavy persuasion. This persuasion type evangelism does address certain dynamics of the process. However, the persuasion evangelism of the past sat solidly on the shoulders of the extensive teaching ministry of the church. Sunday School, Biblical preaching, and many other teaching ministries of the church made it possible for evangelists to focus on the will. The cognitive, emotional, ethical, personal habit, social habits, and social association education were done by the church at large, while the evangelist could focus on the volitional aspects. In post-modern America the focus should be on full person engagement of discipleship rather than focus on the will.
The worship service is our focus of whole person discipleship. The singing, prayers, public reading of Scripture, preaching, and sacraments must all be leading us to Christ in our mind, our emotion, our will, our habits, our behaviors, and our relationships (with God, with others, and with ourselves). It is common that we think of education and discipleship as primarily cognitive in nature. While there are certainly cognitive aspects to Christian discipleship, it certainly is not merely cognitive. Our evangelism begins with worship where we are making disciples. This is not to suggest in the slightest that our worship service is merely a time for teaching by lecture. Rather as we meet the Trinity in worship, where everything leads us to Christ, we become followers of Christ or we become better followers of Christ.
Church Growth in post-modern America often comes from transfer growth from other churches. When people move from one city or area to another, it is natural for them to find a new church. When someone relocates, this is good transfer growth. Transfer growth is less desirable when it is merely the movement of Christians from one gospel believing church to another, but each story is different. Particular moves may be necessary and good but capitalizing on transfer from other local congregations may provide vitality to the gaining congregation, but not expand the Kingdom of God. For a new church or a church seeking to revitalize, gaining transfer growth is a good place to build to the congregation. Transfer growth means that gaining congregation is conserving the discipleship efforts of a sister church which they may or may not know. Transfer growth means welcoming into the congregation new people who need friends. People are most likely to seek a church within weeks after they move into a community. Advertising dollars are well spent on reaching new comers to a community.
Numeric Growth from New Babies:
Church growth happens when congregation members have children. Ensuring that this sort of growth means 1st affirming that children are the church, not the future church. While children are not ready for executive functions of leadership, they are a part of the current church. Children and youth programs should both aid in including the children in the church and bringing age appropriate discipleship. Often children and youth are mistakenly taught by our actions, not our theology, that the church congregation is for the generation of their parents. So when they go to college, they look for a congregation that includes their age group. Youth group often does not give way to participation into the life of the congregation. Two common paths are for teens who are not serious about their faith to drop out of church as an adult or alternatively to find a church where they are taken seriously. Ensuring that the church love and serves covenant children is as much a social phenomenon as anything else. The big question is, do we respect our youth? We often have affection for youth, but respect means that they are sitting on the bench of service until they are 30.
Numeric Growth from Conversions:
When we say evangelism, we mean people coming to faith who did not have it before. They dynamics of evangelism is often quite different than people expect. In the history of the American gospel believing church often evangelism means heavy persuasion. This persuasion type evangelism does address certain dynamics of the process. However, the persuasion evangelism of the past sat solidly on the shoulders of the extensive teaching ministry of the church. Sunday School, Biblical preaching, and many other teaching ministries of the church made it possible for evangelists to focus on the will. The cognitive, emotional, ethical, personal habit, social habits, and social association education were done by the church at large, while the evangelist could focus on the volitional aspects. In post-modern America the focus should be on full person engagement of discipleship rather than focus on the will.
The worship service is our focus of whole person discipleship. The singing, prayers, public reading of Scripture, preaching, and sacraments must all be leading us to Christ in our mind, our emotion, our will, our habits, our behaviors, and our relationships (with God, with others, and with ourselves). It is common that we think of education and discipleship as primarily cognitive in nature. While there are certainly cognitive aspects to Christian discipleship, it certainly is not merely cognitive. Our evangelism begins with worship where we are making disciples. This is not to suggest in the slightest that our worship service is merely a time for teaching by lecture. Rather as we meet the Trinity in worship, where everything leads us to Christ, we become followers of Christ or we become better followers of Christ.
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