Who Grows The Church?

"Preacher it is your job to grow the church?" Is that true? It seems that many in the church today believe that, even pastors. But it that true? For a good deal of the years of my ministry I believed that it was my job to grow the church. I would be asked by pastor search committees how I intended to lead the church to grow. I attended conferences and other meetings in which sure-fire ways of church growth were introduced and each time I was told that if I (the pastor) was behind this it would work. The church would grow. Of course, I am for church growth, so I would use those tools and apply the so-called church growth principles. And they would sometimes work. But often they would not. I would go home after a Sunday in which there were no decisions and seemingly nothing happened and beat myself up. I really thought that if I had worked harder or if I had been more faithful that week something would have happened. Try to carry around that kind of guilt!

One night a few years ago I was having one of those Sunday nights. Pastors know what I'm talking about. No decisions had been made for the umpteenth week in a row. The people just sort of look at you and are polite when they leave, but that's about it. I was blaming myself again. If I work harder and apply some principles smarter the church would turn around and the the aisles would be red hot with decisions, Sunday School would grow, etc etc etc. That night I had an epiphany. God surely had been trying to tell me this for a long time, but I just had not listened. In as clear a voice as I've ever heard, the Lord spoke to my heart—"Son, it is not your job to grow the church. It is mine! You just be faithful to preach my Word. That is all that is required of you. If the people respond they respond to Me—not you. If they rebel, they rebel against Me—not you." Since that night I have not worried whether or not decisions are made, attendance is up, giving is up, and so forth. I really don't look at attendance and giving reports that much. My response when someone asks how many were in church Sunday, "The number is exactly what God knew it would be." The spiritual burdens a pastor carries are always there, but the unnecessary guilt of having to cause church growth is not.

Acts 2:47 is instructive: "And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved." The Lord added to the church. The apostles did not. They were just faithful in what God called them to do. Jesus said the church was His and He would build it [Matthew 16:18]. The pastor doesn't, Jesus does. Paul reminded the Corinthians "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth" [1 Corinthians 3:6]. Paul was faithful to preach the Word, as was Apollos, but it was God who brought about growth.

The problem lies in the fact that we have brought the world into the church. We use business principles to determine whether a pastor is doing his job. And if a church is not growing in numbers or if it is losing budget dollars, many church members believe something is terribly wrong with the pastor's leadership. Pastors do the same thing. They often see a problem with their leadership when baptisms are down, membership is down, no decisions are made on consecutive Sundays, budget numbers are lower, etc.

Our denomination (Southern Baptist Convention) does not help. We tout the churches/pastors who baptize the most, who have the greatest increase in attendance, who give the most, etc. That kind of thing should stop. I would love one day to attend a pastor's conference and the featured speaker is a man of God who has proven himself faithful in a church where absolutely nothing visible has happened (attendance increase, baptism by the score, etc) or could happen.

The fact of the matter is that there is only one thing God requires of any person, including pastors—faithfulness. The pastor's responsibility is to preach the Word, and he is responsible only to attempt to lead the church into the presence and purpose of God. I use the word 'attempt' on purpose, because he is not responsible for the church's response.

By the way, proper spiritual leadership often does not lead to church growth. Depending on the circumstances, it may lead to a mass exodus. Also, there are church situations in which no numerical growth is possible, and the success of a pastor's ministry in that kind of situation should not be based on baptism numbers, Bible study attendance, etc.

Pastors—stop trying to grow the church. Church members—stop placing upon the pastor responsibilities that are not his. When both pastor and church members are faithful, God will do in the church was He deems necessary and proper. His will is done. Shouldn't that be the goal anyway?