Outreach Magazine is out with its list of the 100 Largest U.S. Churches for 2007. No such list appears anywhere in Scripture. While it certainly could be argued that numbers mattered to the New Testament church, as is indicated by their citation in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the broader point is that churches in the New Testament are nowhere ranked in terms of their numbers. The opposite in fact may be true, demonstrated by Paul’s reminder of the danger of “measuring ourselves by ourselves, and comparing ourselves among ourselves” (2 Corinthians 10:12). “Let him that boasts boast in the Lord.”
Can you imagine any of the inspired writers of the New Testament ranking the church at Ephesus above the church at Philippi, and Philippi above the church at Thessalonica based solely on how many people were showing up each week? Forgive my provincialism, but it would appear that the level of faith, hope and love at work in each of these assemblies was a much more significant indicator to the Apostles than the number of people present for a weekend service (see any of Paul’s epistles and Gene Getz’s work on this subject, The Measure of a Church
Accompanying this year’s list of America’s largest churches was a piece by Kem Meyer, the communications director at Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana. Titled Top Ten Things You Should Know About Unchurched People If You Want Them to Hear What You are Saying, it included such insights as, “Talk about what makes life better for the guest,” and “People aren’t motivated by your need (the church’s need). They are motivated by theirs,” and “People relate when you talk about them or people like them.” In plainer words, the success of the church depends upon motivating unregenerate people to join your cause by enticing them with how satisfying and fulfilling it can be, in the same way ski lodges sell lift tickets. Could anything be further from a true presentation of the gospel?
Jesus said, “If any one would be my disciple he must first deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Motivating people by their own needs is like forcing a square peg into the round hole of Jesus’ call to abandon ourselves for His sake and the sake of the gospel.
Ms. Meyer also suggests that we have to be careful in our communication with the unchurched NOT to give the impression “they aren’t OK where they’re at and they’re not as good as they should be.” Really? I thought the whole premise of the gospel was that I’m not OK and you’re not OK and that’s why we needed the gospel in the first place. So to reach the unchurched the best thing to do is to NOT tell them what God’s word says about their sinful condition, the plight they are in, and the wrath they are under – as Paul did in the first three chapters of Romans? What’s the point then? What is Jesus saving them from if not their sin?
The point at which I had to wrap my head with duct tape to keep it from exploding was when Ms. Meyer suggested, “People feel left out and frustrated when you use insider’s language,” and “People aren’t impressed with your theological vocabulary and holy dialect.” In other words, a sure fire way to guarantee no unchurched person will ever become churched is to quote scripture to them. After all, if Scripture isn’t “theological vocabulary” and “holy dialect,” what is?
And yet, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” “It pleased God by the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” “My speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” It is the word of God that convicts and converts.
There is a reason the unchurched aren’t impressed by our theological vocabulary and our holy dialect. It’s not because they don’t understand it. It’s because they can’t. Refusing to speak to them in biblical terms only makes the problem worse.
Scripture is clear that “the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The unchurched are “dead in trespasses and in sins;” and “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbeliever to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel;” and “the preaching of the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.” We proclaim a senseless message, to blind and deaf people, who have no desire to hear it, let alone respond to it because they can’t unless and until the spirit of God breaks into their heart through the word preached.
The church has been called to communicate a message that, short of a miracle of the Spirit of God, is incommunicable! Rather than shrink back from proclaiming this message based on the measure of results (or lack thereof), we must be much more bold to speak the word without fear and leave the opening of ears and hearts to the Author of the word.
It’s not our creative packaging of the message that causes an unchurched person to truly hear. It’s not our words, our Power Point presentations, the lighting in the room, or the professional signage throughout the building. It is the Spirit of God working through the word of God that produces a response from those who otherwise couldn’t care less about what we are saying. Ms. Meyer’s list betrays a total dependence on human ingenuity to accomplish only what can be accomplished by our total dependence on the Spirit of God. Getting a response out of the spiritually dead is improved only by doing that which today’s market-driven church leaders refuse to hear. “He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15)
Do we sometimes fret too much?
The plan and schedule was unalterable by Satan; how much less by us?
I think today, I will just go sit at my Masters feet and absorb some glory.
1 Kings 19:18
Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
Romans 11:4
But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Let me be more specific, we should use all the (reasonable) tools at our disposal to try and communicate. And ultimately, we will depend on God’s power to enable us to do that. In fact, when Jesus says you will do far greater things than these, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that we CAN because of God at work in us.
But no doubt, it is in partnership with God. Jesus did not say, believe in me and stand back and watch what I do: he gave his church work to do, and never seemed to restrict us to a particular Bible translation, language, mode, or context when he charged us to announce the good news. Only people do that. People with their own kingdoms to protect.
No doubt that someone like yourself who feels for those in need of the real life that can only come from God, would want to find ways to communicate to folks so that they might see, as the old saying goes, their need for a savior. Being restricted to pointing out their nature, I daresay, will be not be the most successful approach.
I think these issues boil down to language. I doubt Ms. Meyer would say that she is okay with people staying where they are. What she seems to be saying is that they need to know that God (and I would say in a more practical sense we should learn this too…so WE) doesn’t love them any less for where they currently are. Any less than where anyone else might currently be in their journey towards him. But if our language makes them feel that the opposite is true (we’re IN and they’re unregenerate for instance…) then they will not stick around to find out, if we really are the light for the world…
I guess I have rambled a bit. Perhaps what I said wasn’t helpful. Who knows…
Mark,
I’ll say it again: the post is not about Kem Meyer or her heart. No where in the post is her integrity or love of God called into question. I specifically said, “Ms Meyer’s LIST…” and it is a list that represents the heart of Church Growth Philosophy. What I am challenging in the post is a PHILOSOPHY not a PERSON or a CHURCH.
Ms. Meyer may indeed have a heart dependent on God. Her LIST, however, does not reflect that dependence.
I understand that you and Ms. Meyer disagree – and that will happen among people. But statements like this one (“Ms. Meyer’s list betrays a total dependence on human ingenuity to accomplish only what can be accomplished by our total dependence on the Spirit of God”) assume knowledge about her heart that you can’t possibly know and are in no position to say.
The more appropriate comments would be limited to things like “I don’t agree with her statements” or “they don’t line up with God’s Word.”
Claiming that you know that she depends totally on human ingenuity rather than God is a statement far above your pay grade – or mine for that matter.
My limited exposure to her at conferences and through reading her blog indicate that she has a passionate love for God and a drive to help people meet Him and see their lives forever changed through a relationship with Him.
I am not challenged by your opposing her approach from a Biblical perspective because we are all obligated to hold our lives up to the Word as our standard.
I don’t know you at all, but I know from reading your writing that we don’t agree on everything. But what I also know about you is that you are passionately in love with God and His people. I think the same could be said for Kem.
But then again there is the other side of it:
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The emphasis on the ANY and ALL and LONGSUFFERING, regarding God’s will (not willing).
Wow I am here in the Dallas area and I drive past most of the churches weekly. What is even worse is that Olsteen has twice the amount of the next church. That is bad.
Doug,
Your argument that IF I am correct that man is dead in sins THEN we should use everything at our disposal to overcome that misses the point I’m making. WE have NOTHING at our disposal that can overcome man’s spiritual deadness, blindness and deafness. ONLY the word of God can overcome those obstacles, because the word gives life and CAUSES regeneration. But if Ms. Meyer is correct when she says we ought not use “theological vocabulary” and “holy dialect” in our conversations with the lost, we have NO HOPE of seeing them regenerated, as it is ONLY the theological vocabulary and holy dialect of the word of God that truly converts.
IF, “the unchurched are “dead in trespasses and in sins;” and ”the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbeliever to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel;” and ”the preaching of the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.” AND “We proclaim a senseless message, to blind and deaf people, who have no desire to hear it, let alone respond to it because they can’t unless and until the spirit of God breaks into their heart through the word preached,” THEN we should use everything at our disposal–much as Paul did–to live out the big job that Jesus gave to us that we call the Great Commission.
I find it funny and ironic that one of your commenters used contemporary idioms to make his point that we should use archaic terms. Or, as Ms Meyers puts it: “theological vocabulary” and “holy dialect.” (see “unregenerate” etc.
Plus remember, Jesus has already done the finished work that “makes us alive.” The job he gave the church was the next step after that… (making disciples – and all the fruit that disciples produce. Which is joining God in his mission and vision for new creation…
Dacia,
If I “didn’t read past the headlines of each section” how was I able to quote her? I recognize that her article is about communicating with the unchurched in the context of motivating them to get involved beyond merely attending the seeker service. But the principles she delineates MUST apply to her view of how to communicate the gospel t the unchurched as well, if her premise is true that in communicating with the unchurched we must be careful not to use theological words and holy dialect.
If you have difficultly with people being held accountable to the word of God for the methods they propose, you must also have difficulty with much of the New Testament where the Apostles held people to the standard of God’s word. Your response is more evidence that today’s believers have lost their will to discern and to allow the word of God to be the standard by which all things are judged.
My post is not an attack on any person or church. It is an exposure of errant philosophy (Colossians 2:8) that if left unchecked will destroy the church from within.
With this post, you have done the very thing that you seem to be all about telling others not to do. You have taken Ms. Meyer’s words and selectively used them to make them fit your agenda. After reading her full article, I am inclined to think that you didn’t read past the headlines of each section to even know what she was really communicating. I am ashamed for you that in trying to do what you think is God’s work, you have only helped to prove that the general view of Christians as hypocritical and disjointed is, in fact, correct. It is unfortunate that too many Christians do the most harm to the Kingdom in attempting to discredit others within the faith rather than building them up and remembering them in prayer. I hope that this is what you will do in the future rather than stirring up dissension among the body of Christ. 1 Timothy 2:8 – “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.”
Amen!
When, and why, the terms; “lost”, “unregenerate”, and “sinner” were replaced with, “unchurched” can be answered, then we will also find how we lost our way! I submit that there are many of the “ancient landmarks” worth keeping.
Like the old Virginia Slims commercial said,~~~ “we’ve come a long way baby”~~~ BUT THE WRONG WAY BABY!!!
Is it any wonder why the question; “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, SHALL HE FIND FAITH ON THE EARTH?” Luke 18:8
Even the professional prayers miss the target.
Do any of you remember the prayer of the old time evangelist:
“Father! Save the sinner nearest hell, in Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen!
(Oliver B Greene) How much clearer can a request of heaven be?
~~”Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life”.~~
Good response Paul!