Page 15 - Ecclesiology Textbook Masters

the ability and experience in creating huge performances throughout the year to attract new people to
the church. Churches host sporting events, boy or girl scouts, men’s fellowships, or older folks’ meetings
and during these events no consideration is given to God’s Word or sharing the Gospel. The focus of
many community events is totally humanitarian: feed the hungry but don’t offend them with the
Gospel. Meeting the physical needs of the poor to the neglect of their spiritual needs is missing the
focus of what the church is called to do.

John Macarthur shared this story in Grace to You from I Corinthians 12. “Some churches use amazing
gimmicks to fulfill what they assume is their responsibility:

a. Gospel Birds - One ad said to attend a certain church because that coming Sunday they
were featuring the Hanson Gospel Birds. The ad said, "These birds eat with a fork, fly
backwards, open padlocks, ride airplanes, and swallow small swords." Those were the
Hanson Gospel Birds.

b. Gospel Bottles - Another ad advertised a service on a Sunday night where a converted
alcoholic was going to play gospel music on converted booze bottles to illustrate the
transformation in his life. Instead of drinking out of the bottles, he was going to blow
gospel music back into them.

You say, "That is ridiculous!" Of course, it is, but it does illustrate the fact that the church
has lost the concept of what it is supposed to be. The church is not a place to go to watch gospel birds. It
is not a place to go to hear a man play the converted booze bottles. The church was never designed to
be a gimmick to attract people.”

3. Focus on Church Growth and not Evangelism. If people are coming to Christ as a result to the
activities of the believers in a church, the church obviously will grow in numbers. Church growth as a
result of evangelism and discipleship is healthy. But today, churches emphasize church growth and the
methods to achieve it are for the most part man-centered efforts. According to the Barna Group, 73% of
born again Christians believe that they have the personal responsibility to share their faith with lost
people they know, but in reality, only about half of those do. Only 52% of Christians in the US actually
shared their faith with someone else ONCE in a year. So since the majority of Christian are NOT sharing
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their faith, church growth has to come from “attracting the lost” to the church. As mentioned in point
#2 above, churches tend to focus on what they can do to appeal to the world to bring them in, just to
say that their church is growing, and to provide funding for further growth.

To illustrate, in a recent article on steps to grow your church by a renowned pastor and leader in the
church-growth movement suggested the following ways to grow your church. Among the 8 steps, here
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are five suggested:

1. The pastor must lead, not minister to his congregation.
2. Have multiple services appealing to people who have various music preferences and
choices of worship styles.
3. Hire specialized staff that can help grow your ministries.
4. Plan big days and big events around Easter, Christmas, etc.

6 Is Evangelism Going Out of Style?, Research Releases in Faith % Christianity, December, 2013.
7 8 Steps to Grow Your Church by Pastor Rick Warren, Pastors.com.

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