Church Growth
“Don’t ever use the `E’ word with pastors,” I was advised by a
prominent Christian leader. “Evangelism is a dirty word in the
church. Use the `C’ word. Pastors like to hear about Church
Growth.” During the past decade, a lot of pastors read books on
Church Growth, attended seminars, and even hired consultants to
help their church to grow. Some advice was helpful. Some was
unscriptural. For example, they were told that churches that are
“racially and economically homogeneous” grow best. Many church
es, following this advice instead of James chapter 2, became
comfortable social clubs for rich white people.
I was very interested when two experts on Church Growth appeared
on the 700 Club TV show as part of a discussion of the
current state of the church in America. Here are excerpts from
their discussion:
C. Peter Wagner: “I think it is pretty obvious from the last election
that some of the things the church was praying for and desiring did
not happen in our society. The decade of the 80’s was a decade of
a great flowering of the church growth movement with books and conferences
and much interest….[It was] even featured in Time magazine. But
yet at the end of the decade, church attendance was the same and Protestant
church membership had decreased….Even the churches that had grown
were shown to grow through transfer growth not through conversion
growth. We haven’t seen large numbers of unsaved people come to Jesus
Christ in America since the Jesus Movement. And I think it’s time
that we move out and do what’s necessary to see unsaved people come
to Christ….The only the way we are going to change the face of the
church in America is to free the lay people, to get the lay people
ministering.”
Ken Hemphill, Baptist Center for Church Growth: “From 1960 to 1990
church membership rose by 28% but at the same time population increased
by 39% and thus we would have had to have 12 million more Christians
today to keep even….There are churches that are reaching large numbers
of unsaved people but by and large any growth that occurs is largely
a transfer, what I term the reshuffling of the evangelical deck and
it seems that every time we reshuffle the cards we drop some of them.”
I was amazed to hear two prominent experts on Church Growth say that
despite all the books, seminars and interest in Church Growth over
the past decade, church growth is not even keeping up with the population
growth in our nation. And the growth we are seeing is pretty much
people moving from one church to another. Wagner said that the last
time we saw large numbers of unsaved people coming to Christ was during
the Jesus Movement and that what we needed was to get the lay people
ministering.
The Jesus Movement took place from about 1967 to 1975. During this
time, large numbers of people involved in the drug counter culture
were saved and were actively witnessing to others in this lifestyle.
Most were saved through street evangelism, through coffeehouses and
concerts, and through new converts witnessing to their friends.
I was saved in 1970 as part of the Jesus Movement. We met in crowded
living rooms and storefront churches, not worrying about comfortable
chairs or parking lots. We didn’t read books on church growth, but
we did read and obey the Bible. Jesus, Peter, Paul and the other
apostles went to the streets and public places to preach the gospel,
so that’s what we did. We also witnessed to our family and friends, anyone we could. As a result, a lot of people got saved.
During the 1980’s, a lot of Christians who had been saved during
the Jesus Movement stopped witnessing. They were busy making money,
raising their families, and had a lot of excuses for not witnessing.
Perhaps they thought that church growth experts and TV and radio ministries
could do the job for them so they wouldn’t have to face possible rejection
in witnessing to people. It didn’t work.
We need to become disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Following
Jesus involves obeying His command to take the Gospel into all
the world. We need to sacrifice our money, our time, and our
pride. The hardest sacrifice is our pride. We need to be willing
to face rejection and opposition when we confront unsaved people
with their lost condition and need of a Savior.
Coming Events
Note: All outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325
the day before to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday November 5, 12, 19 7:15 PM. Witnessing in various S.F.
neighborhoods. (Call us for meeting location and directions.)
Sat. November 6 and 20. San Francisco Worship Rallies. 12-1 PM
Powell and Market St. 2:30-4:30 PM Union Square (Powell and Geary
St.)
Sat. November 13 Berkeley Outreach. 1:30 – 5:30 PM. Telegraph and
Haste St.
Internet Evangelism
I don’t know how many of you are connected to the internet. I
have found it to be a great source of information on just about
anything. It is also a convenient way to shop. There are web
sites that allow you to compare prices from many merchants on a
single item. Often, you can save $100 or more on a single pur
chase by shopping around.
Over a million people are now “online” and the number is growing
rapidly. The “Heaven’s Gate” cult recruited members from the
internet. Of course, it can also be used to bring the Truth to
many people. One way is through an evangelistic web site. Another
way is through use of chat rooms. A good book on the subject is
E-vangelism: Sharing the Gospel in Cyberspace. It is available
for $10 at (318) 237-7049. On the internet, there is a free
Online Guide to Web Evangelism at www.brigada.org. We hope to
have our own website up and running soon. Happy surfing.
On the Streets
Because our permit times have been restricted so severely, we
have been holding more than one outreach on Saturday afternoon.
We are allowed permits at Powell and Market only from 12 to 1 PM
and 5 to 6 PM. We are allowed permits at Union Square for only
two hours. On October 2 we tried to make the best of the situa
tion. We held a one hour outreach from noon to 1 PM at Powell and
Market. Then we moved our PA system to Union Square, where we
held an outreach from 2 to 4 PM. Finally, we set up our sound
system a third time at Powell and Market for a 5 to 6 PM out
reach.
The experience was quite exhausting, especially for Eric, who had
to set up the sound system three times that afternoon. Meanwhile,
the engine in our old van overheated so Eric’s wife Cammie had to
rescue us in their truck.
Still, we were able to minister to thousands of people through music, preaching, and personal witnessing that afternoon. Union
Square is a great location for larger church worship groups, and
we have had some wonderfully anointed groups recently–Calvary
Chapel (San Mateo), Father’s House (Vacaville) and Shiloh Chris
tian Fellowship (Oakland).
On Friday night, we ministered on Castro Street, the Tenderloin
and Haight Street in September. Most of our Friday outreaches
have been small, and we certainly need some help.
We continue to receive many responses from people who were minis
tered to during the SOS outreach. Andre, who came out of the
Mormon church, is now attending Glad Tidings Church. He witnessed
with us at two of our Saturday outreaches this past month. Last
month, I spoke with two people I have been ministering to for
twenty years–Shannon and John. Both have AIDS, but have now made
a commitment to Christ. Please pray for them. Also, please pray
for those who have written us this past month, including Lorene,
Charles, Amy, Cynthia, Timothy, Enetra, and Calvin (SF), Peggy
(Oakland), Kevin (Daly City), Pablo (Reprisa CA prison), and Qing
(Louisville, KY).
Ministry Needs
Last month, we purchased a new generator. Our old generator
weighed 100 pounds and required a sound-muffling board weighing
about 80 pounds. The new generator weighs only 30 pounds and
doesn’t need to be muffled. It cost $700 but is well worth it. We
would like to get two new speakers that are lighter than our
present speakers. They also cost about $700.
We also got a new radiator for our 1973 van, but the engine is
not working well. Please pray that it will keep running, or that
God will provide a new van.
Please pray that we will have more workers to help us on Friday
night and Saturday afternoon. We also need one man to live in our
ministry house in Oakland. We are looking for a mature Christian
with a calling in evangelism.
Our Tape of the Month is Effective Jail and Prison Ministry by
Johnny Moffitt. Over a million Americans are currently in jail or
prison. Many of them are hungry to know Jesus. They (and their
families) are a great mission field.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum