This week’s contribution is from a guest blogger, Scott Lencke. Scott is an American pastor, lecturer, and theologian, currently pastoring and teaching in Brussels, Belgium. He holds an MA in Theological Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary, and blogs at ‘The Prodigal Thought.‘ Scott labors to reunite the life of the contemporary church with the deep truths of the scriptures.
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Over the past month or so, I have slowly been wading through a very interesting book. I’m thinking that is my motto with everything I read – slowly wading through it.
The book is entitled The Gospel-Driven Church by Ian Stackhouse, pastor of Guildford Baptist Church just southwest of London. In the book, Stackhouse has mainly taken up the task of challenging the more vibrant church of the UK, specifically relating to the newer churches and more established charismatic churches of the past few decades.
It’s not that Stackhouse is not a charismatic, for he is, or I can only assume he is by his words. But he has still taken aboard to pastorally challenge the church in a few areas. Having lived in the UK from August 2003 to July 2006, I am somewhat aware of the church scene in the UK, hence my interest in the work. I came across Stackhouse’s book soon after it was published in 2004-2005, but only read a few pages. Nevertheless, I liked those few words I did read. But I was never able to get back into the book, as I ended up giving it away to a friend.
But recently I re-bought the book and wanted to go through it. And, to my delight, the book has been an excellent read.
As I said, Stackhouse has taken up the mission of pastorally challenging some things within the church of the UK. One area where he really brings a challenge is into its over-obsession with fads and movements. So, we can see how this relates to the church wider than the UK.
The church, as a whole, has typically been enamoured with movements. Matter of fact, in some places, there is an outright obsession with such. We have the church growth movement, the worship movement, revivalism, church planting movement, and those are only a few to name.
Now, not one of these things are evil in and of themselves. Who doesn’t want to reach people and see the church grow? Who doesn’t want worship that is Spirit-directed and draws the people of God in? Who doesn’t want God to move with true renewal and revival? Who doesn’t want to see churches planted as a sign of the extension of God’s kingdom in the lives of others?
All of these things are good and not evil, right? Of course! But all of this becomes unhealthy when they become our obsession, our main goal. In all of this, we end up developing unhealthy ‘isms’. And these ‘isms’ can actually start to become anti-God if we are not careful.
But why are such movements bad? As Stackhouse states himself:
‘…fads have diverted attention away from the real challenges that face the church in the West, specifically the challenge of discipleship.’ (p18)
Thinking specifically about the church growth movement, if we get so caught up with wide-open front doors and a great musical experience, we can forget the bigger and yet simple picture of what Jesus asked us to stay focused on.
Not only that, but growth first starts with seeing the saints grow in maturity. If we are not looking to see this developed, then it doesn’t matter how many flood through the doors each Sunday, for when hard times comes, and they shall, the back door will be just as wide.
In regards to an obsession with church growth, Ian Stackhouse reminds us:
‘Churches that are committed to the programme of Church Growth cannot do this essential work, because the addictive character of the numbers syndrome effectively stifles any genuine attempt in spiritual formation.’ (p33)
If we are so focused on getting people in the door, we will forget to nurture, care for, strengthen and challenge the family of saints of which we are already a part. That’s dangerous. That’s unhealthy. And it might just be that those hungering for discipleship will leave even before the others leave in reaction to hard times.
Another problem that Stackhouse raises when we focus on church growth in numbers is that we end up with a dichotomy between pastoral care and evangelism. But this rips apart a holistic gospel:
‘When growth replaces qualitative Christian nurture as the rationale of the church, traditional notions of initiation into the gospel are sacrificed on the altar of expediency, and pastoral care of the saints, in the somewhat ambiguous and messy business of real life, is set in opposition, unnecessarily and unbiblically, to the call to evangelise.’ (p28)
When we shepherd (or pastor), we are to encourage our people to be salt and light in the world. When we challenge them to have compassion for the broken, the poor and disadvantaged, we are pastorally challenging our people to care for others. This all works together for a holistic training of the people of God.
The more interesting challenge is that an obsession with church growth can actually get in the way of mission:
‘The comfort that comes from numerical increase is what makes evangelicalism so susceptible to Church Growth theories and the latest religious trends – tantamount in many cases to opportunism. And it is this obsession with growth that many are now realising needs to cease if, paradoxically, the church is seriously to engage in the task of mission.’ (p27)
How can church growth theories get in the way of true mission? Well our mission is not to get people into our buildings on Sundays, nor is it even to get them to raise their hand or walk an aisle. Our mission is about seeing truly converted disciples of Jesus and the kingdom be raised up.
So this might not mean that we keep our meetings (or services) to one hour. It might mean that we lay aside an action-packed morning of multi-media. It might mean that we actually let spiritual gifts operate in our gatherings and not relegate such to home groups. And there are a lot of other challenges that might come to us.
The problem is, when we see a method working, and by working I mean seeing hundreds of people in our buildings on Sundays, it’s hard to ever think change needs to happen. If the method works, who is to stand against it? It would seem outrightly foolish.
But, if we are not seeing people equipped and strengthened and built up and challenged, with fruit being produced in their lives, then we are actually missing the mark. We are actually not walking out the commands to seek first the kingdom of God, it’s righteousness, and to make disciples of those responding to the gospel.
Thus, we have got to lay aside our obsessions with certain fads and movements! Seriously!
At the end of my life, I know I won’t be wishing I had brought just a few more hundred through the doors. What I shall wish is that I will have given my life to better equip, mentor, train and disciple more people. As Paul said to Timothy:
…and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2)
I want to be raising up faithful disciples who know how to walk with God. If the numbers come, they come. If they don’t, they don’t. But we must not get wrapped up in a movement. Movements come and go. This has been so throughout history, and especially church history. But we know One who remains consistent. And we know He is calling us to the same consistency.
Scott: “growth first starts with seeing the saints grow in maturity.”
I think this is so important. We must grow quantitatively, but also qualitatively. While Jesus taught many crowds, he discipled only “twelve.”
“But all of this becomes unhealthy when they become our obsession, our main goal.”
I have a really wild story related to this.
I was at a friend’s house, and his mom came in and said, “Turn on the TV, they’re talking about the gemstones.” My buddy flicked to the Christian channel, and there was an interview with a couple. The couple explained that the latest manifestation of the Spirit (rather than gold dust falling from the ceiling) was precious gemstones appearing around rooms in meetings. The woman pointed out that their church was in “the gemstone state,” and so they prayed particularly hard that God would do this sign.
Prayed for God to do this sign? It’s called a “sign” because it’s pointing you toward your actual destination, people! I turned to my friend and said that this was a bunch of baloney, and he agreed.
The charismatic church may worship in “spirit,” but there’s a tremendous lack in worshiping in “truth.”
I am not opposed to ‘radical’ manifestations of things, but I would still guard our hearts. Whatever manifestations and movements take place, we have to stay Christ-centred and be focused on maturity of the saints. I long for a healthy church, not an immature and infant church.
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your site and wanted to say
that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. In any case
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!
Hi Mary,
Great to have you! How did you find our corner here of cyberspace? 0=)
Good stuff on the church growth stuff, I think you’re right on there. I am a little confused about what you mean about the church being ‘enamored’ with movements. I know that some of them have a negative impact, but there are a lot of movements that bring revelation to the church helping bring mature as a whole. I am probably just misunderstanding what you meant, maybe you can expand on that?
Hi Garrett.
Stackhouse, the author of the book, was mainly critiquing what he sees in the UK, and I was also speaking about what I have seen in America.
It is true that God uses movements, times of renewal, revival, or whatever one would like to label it. The Bible never uses those words, but Acts 3:19-21 speaks of ‘seasons of refreshing’. And, at times, those seasons do come, as history evidences.
But the problem arises when we try to turn these things into the point themselves, becoming ‘enamored’ with them. Movements come and fade, seasons of renewal come and fade. But Christ is unchanging (Heb 13:8) and the kingdom is unshakable (Heb 12:28).
The dangerous thing is that many Christians can live for these movements rather than Christ and the kingdom. But when these movements are not happening, the people either keep trying to make them happen in a manipulative way or they become very disillusioned.
But if we become grounded in the solid foundation of Christ and the kingdom, and His purpose of discipleship (Matt 28:18-20), then even when those things aren’t happening, we will still move forward in God and see fruit produced in disciples.
So a specific movement might come, but it will come and then go at some point. So we don’t put all our eggs in that basket. We follow Christ and seek His kingdom and righteousness (Matt 6:33).
In regards to the church growth movement, I am not a big fan of it, as I share in an article on my blog. Why? Because it is all about building upwards and not expanding outwards. I believe this is contrary to the purpose of the kingdom, especially as seen in the book of Acts.
Scott, do you feel that this ‘movement obsession’ is reflected in other areas of life? It seems to me that a fascination for ‘the new, the bright and the shiny’ is a general human tendency, but one which is typical of a certain shallowness and immaturity. For instance, you get it in academia with new theological, philosophical (etc.) schools of thought. Or when it comes to relationships and love etc., a lot of my friends are scared to commit to one girl, let alone get married, because they’re obsessed with the ‘feeling’ of being with someone new and different. And obviously the whole fashion industry functions on that kind of logic – quickly going from one trend to another to catch the ‘latest’ thing. One might even suggest that capitalist economies in general function that way, continually needing people to want the latest, newest most groundbreaking product to replace what is ‘old’ and ‘out of date’.
Kierkegaard actually talks about this kind of thing, and associates maturity with moving past this ‘fetish for the new’ to a more settled state of happy repetition (what he calls ‘non-identical’ repetition – the same thing, but different each time) which he likens to the marriage relationship.
So, if this is even partially the case, wouldn’t the solution to this kind of ‘movement obsession’ be proper discipleship: getting people to a place of greater maturity where they no longer feel the need to chase after the newest, latest craze, because they recognise the more profound and radical vitality of a life of repetitive, faithful obedience? (Obviously you hint towards this in your post).
Simon -
I agree with all that you have said. The ‘obsession’ does seem to span across all areas of life, especially for people in America and in some other western nations. And I suppose that this is more regular, or normal, for those in a capitalistic society. The philosophy of a free-market economy has invaded much of the church in the US, and in others places in the west, and I believe this is dangerous.
Of course God is a God of new things (i.e. Isa 43:18-19), but the church needs to more highly value such words as these: commitment, consistency, discipleship, maturity.
My local charismatic church has been though most the movements begining in the mid1970′s up until the present-charismatic, shepherding, signs and wonders, Paul Cain and the Kansas City Prophets, Toronto blessing.
Many by now are burnt out and have now joined a post-modern emerging type group which is the reverse of all that went before. I got out at the shepherding stage but the pain and scares that it left are sometimes still evident.
Beware many prophets will arise in order to lead astray!
My local charismatic church has been though most the movements, begining in the mid1970’s up until the present day-charismatic, shepherding, signs and wonders, Paul Cain and the Kansas City Prophets, Toronto blessing etc.
Many of the members are now are burnt out and have joined a post-modern emerging type group which is the reverse of all that went before. I got out at the shepherding stage but the pain and scares that it left are sometimes still evident.
Beware, many ‘prophets’ will arise in order to lead astray!
My local charismatic church has been though most the movements, begining in the mid1970’s up until the present day-charismatic, shepherding, signs and wonders, Paul Cain and the Kansas City Prophets, Toronto blessing etc.
Many of the members are now are burnt out and have joined a post-modern emerging type group which is the reverse of all that went before. I got out at the shepherding stage but the pain and scares that it left are sometimes still evident.
Beware, many ‘prophets’ will arise in order to lead astray!