When Did Church Growth Become the Focus?

I have spent most of my Christian life convinced that the most important factor in a church is growth. Everyone insists that numbers are not what is important, but it is all we care about. There is no way around the fact that ministers with congregations of 4000 feel better about themselves and their ministries than those with 40 people. Something must be wrong with the community if it is not growing, right? If there is not multiplication or growth then someone is not doing their job or some strategy or approach is not working, right? IF this is the case, it is time for a new pastor, right? Is that not the impression most people get? The pastor's job is to "get it done."

When did church growth become the focus of our Christian communities and, more importantly, of our pastors?

We are told to bear good fruit by Paul, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23). There is nothing in this list about more Christians or church growth. How do we get from this description of fruit to an understanding of fruit being people (see also Eph 5:9)?

What about the Great Commission, "As you are going make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded" (Matt 28:19-20). Make 2, 5, 500? When I think of Jesus' life I do not think of chruch growth. I can think of a number of situations where he was less than sympathetic to some who were interested in his message. Jesus seemed to be much more concerned with his 12 and especially his 3 than he was with growth. I have heard stories of whole stadiums of people being converted in a couple hours at evangelical rallies. Surely Jesus could have converted the whole world in the 3 years of his ministry or at the very least the 33 years of his life? Why didn't he?

What about the Great Commandments? “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39). Doesn't sound much like church growth to me.

Let me be clear, I am not saying that church growth is unimportant, nor am I saying that God does not care about an increase in the Kingdom. Of course he does. What I am asking is why our pastors and priests focus so much on strategies and methods and ways to grow our churches and why they (we) stress out so much about how many people are coming to church?

Maybe the question can be asked simply, "Why do we default to church growth as our litmus test?" If we are part of a loving, joyful, and peacful congregation, but are not seeing growth, why do we immediately think something is wrong? Do we leave room for God to be in control and consider that we do not see the bigger picture?

Control is at the heart of this issue I am conviniced. I can think of nothing more contrary to the gospel than control. If we are God's servants who desire God to be in control of our lives and the world, then any attempts by us to maintain or take that control is outright rebellion. Why are we strategizing so much about church growth and correcting the weaknesses in our communities that limit church growth? Why are we continually looking at the biggest and "most successful" churches to see how they do it? How does that have anything to do with being the church? (I am indebted to PZ on this point, thank you).

What if we believed that pastors and priests are called to the ministries that they are a part of? What if we believed that God was in control of our lives and our churches? What if we believed that church growth was his department? What if our desire was not church growth, but to be faithful in the little things of each day? What if we actually did not worry about tomorrow, but let it worry about itself (Matt 6:34)? What if we gave up on our 5 year, 10, year, 50 year strategic goals and instead focused on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control? What then?