"Business" as usual?

I have an undergraduate degree in business administration. I took this course of study through of those "accelerated degree" programs many years ago. In my experience, "accelerated" simply meant less classroom time and more reading. LOTS more reading. And I read more business "How-to" books than I ever care to mention.

So why tell you all of that in this space, at this point in time? Too often the work of leading a church is written about with thinly veiled business principles. There maybe a few Scriptures, wrestled out of context, tossed at the subject, but the principles are the same ones I read in my undergraduate program. But here's the rub, in business, the goal is to increase the profitability of the company. The goal of church work? I think it is the same as the chief end of man from the Westminster Confession. "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

In today's world, I know churches have to "keep the doors open." And I do like my paycheck. But beyond the bottom line, God has something to say about the church. In my beloved (though flawed) denomination, we are crying about a decrease in membership and baptisms across the board. If a church has not grown at the same rate as the community around it, that church is deemed stagnant or, worse, declining. Who wants to pastor a stagnant or declining church? No one that I know. And the answer for this decline is to share our faith more so more people will be "saved" and the church will grow. And doesn't that sound so holy?

The problem is that this focus on numbers completely eliminates God from the salvation of souls. If we share more, more will be saved? That's like telling a salesman that if he contacts more people he will get more sales. Yet, the Gospel is not for sale and, even though the message is oral (see 1 Cor 1:21), God is ultimately the one who saves.

Now, someone will jump all over me about doing nothing to speak the Gospel. I strive to share the Gospel with someone who doesn't know daily. I said, "I strive." I fail. I ask God for His forgiveness. And I approach each new day as an opportunity to be obedient. I am not against sharing the Gospel. I am against the thinking that says numbers are the only measure of success or failure in the church. At best, church numbers (budgets, bucks, and butts) can reflect problems in the church, but they are not the only measure. If I take my temperature at home and see that it is high, I might schedule a doctor appointment to find out what is really going on in my body. My fever (the number) is merely one indication of an underlying, previously undetected problem.

So, let's stop beating up on churches that are not growing numerically. Perhaps they need more attention, but perhaps they are already praying for the Great Physician to intervene. If you have not personally visited that church, you cannot say which of those is true. God will deal with those parts of His bride as He chooses. Some to growth. Some to close. That is His choice.

I'll finish this one by reminding you of the Parable of the Sower (as it is called) in Matthew 13:3-9 and the explanation in Matthew 13:18-23. Seed is sown. Some falls on the road, some on rocky soil, some on weedy soil, and some on good soil. None of the first 3 soils bears any lasting fruit. But the good soil bears fruit, some hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. Jesus relates the seed to the word of God. The first 3 are people who hear the Word and who, for various reasons, don't obey it fully. The last one is the one who hears and obeys. And they are fruitful, some hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. Not every believer will bring forth hundredfold fruit, nor will every church. "God will bring the increase."