By Archdeacon Alexander Pryor
Every few years, someone comes out with a shiny new “church growth strategy”. Maybe it was replacing the organ with a rock band, then it was putting away the sound doctrine of the Prayer Book for something a little easier to digest. We run programs to get people in the door, maybe we even use the community hall to host a revival service, and then we look for programs like Alpha or Christianity Explored to teach non-believers about what it means to be a Christian… and sometimes it even works.
…But it usually doesn’t.
That’s a fact. It’s not a pleasant fact, but it’s a fact.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve personally used Alpha and Christianity Explored and have seen them to be a very effective tool in discipling those who want to know what it means to live as a Christian.
But here’s the problem: it’s not doing much to grow the church. Alpha is a great discipleship tool, but is it a church growth strategy? No, not at all!
Why? That’s simple: the people who need to hear the Gospel aren’t there to hear it!
Times have changed.
Evangelism coach and mentor Ron Bergonon puts it this way: in Billy Graham’s time, everyone knew about Jesus. Everyone had a general idea of what the Church was about, even if they didn’t go. So it didn’t take much to encourage them to come out to a special event like a revival service or a parish mission, and since they already had a general idea who Jesus was, it wouldn’t take much for them to respond to the Gospel.
But that’s not the case today. The average person today doesn’t have any idea what the Bible has to say about Jesus, doesn’t know why they should even care, and all they know about the Church is whatever negative ideas they’ve seen on TV. Worse still, most people’s view of Christians and the Church adds up to something negative that they wouldn’t have any interest in being part of anyway. That’s sad, but there’s no sense being sad about it. It’s simply a fact. If anything, we should confess it, because it condemns us Christians by proving that we haven’t done our God-given job!
I’ve had the privilege of leading two people to submit to Christ as Lord in the last 3 years. In that time I’ve preached over 100 sermons, led over 150 services, ran I don’t know how many weekly Bible Studies and other programs. I’ve had the great joy of walking alongside several dozen believers as they grew in amazing ways and stepped up to be leaders through that preaching and teaching.
But guess what? Those two people who came to know Christ as Lord didn’t do it through any of those official programs of the Church. It also didn’t happen because they heard me speak to them as “Rev. Alex” or “Fr. Pryor”, or “Archdeacon Alexander” in my professional role.
Both accepted the Lordship of Christ over hours of talking and chatting on my couch with me, an ordinary guy who has answered Christ’s call to follow Him and learn to live as He does.
The Great Commission is yours
Special events are fun. Discipleship programs are great. Having professionally-trained preachers and teachers is important But, none of those are the centerpiece in God’s plan to reach the world with the life-changing hope and healing that is found in Jesus.
No, God had an even better plan:
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age”
Matthew 28:19-20
Jesus didn’t give us Alpha. Jesus didn’t tell us to have a revival service or a parish mission. But he did give us a very straightforward four-step plan.
I know some people won’t like it. I’ve had beloved, faithful bishops disagree with me on this. They’ll say “oh, well that doesn’t make sense, the order is wrong!”.
But what if we just took Jesus at His Word?
First, we Go. If we are disciples (which just means “apprentices” in Greek), then we are sent out to do work. That’s the point of being an apprentice. An apprentice electrician or plumber will do some time in the classroom, but their real apprenticeship isn’t done at school; it’s done getting their hands dirty in real-world situations. We want to be trained first, but we need to accept that’s just an excuse. The apprentice plumber can’t stay in a classroom, they need to go to the job-site; the apprentice of Jesus can’t hide away in the church, they need to go out to a hurting world.
This is why we can’t expect a church-run program or even a well-planned Bible Conference with nice bands and good teaching to do the work of church growth. That simply isn’t God’s will! No, God’s plan is that those of us ordinary, sinful people who are still learning to follow Jesus would already be going to share the good news with others.
Make Disciples. Our work isn’t to be experts. Thanks be to God, our work isn’t to have answers to all the questions. That’s where clergy and church discipleship programs come in handy, as a resource to follow up after someone has encountered Jesus. But let’s be clear: our job is to sign up more apprentices, not to follow us, but to walk alongside us as we follow Christ, learning as we go!
Baptizing them. Baptism is a big topic for another day, but as Anglicans we believe that it is God who does the work. Whether we are baptized as babies or as adults who finally open and unpack that gift of faith, it’s only by the grace of God that anyone is saved. But let’s remember what “baptism” (Greek “baptizo”) means. It means “to submerge”. Even if someone was already baptized as a baby, there comes a time when they need to submit to the Lordship of Christ. As Anglicans we’d say that yes, what God did at their baptism was certainly effective; but there comes a time when we need to really accept it and choose to live as those who have been washed – submerged – in the Blood of the Lamb. There’s never a need to re-baptize someone, because baptism is God’s work, and God doesn’t make mistakes. But there’s often a need for people to publicly re-affirm their baptismal promises and re-commit themselves to Christ after they have agreed to be Christ’s apprentice!
Teach them. Now this is where we get it wrong. If we take Jesus at His word, it goes like this: someone first decides to be a disciple, then they are baptized, and then they continue to be taught as a lifelong commitment!
I’ve known otherwise faithful bishops who get this wrong. I’ve known clergy who want to baptize everyone first and then hope to make them (or their parents) disciples later… if they continue to show up after the baptism. That sounds like a good plan, but it isn’t scriptural.
In the same way, we can’t expect that discipleship programs will make disciples. I must confess, I’ve gotten this wrong before, when I used to think that something like Alpha is supposed to lead someone to Christ.
No, those discipleship programs are great, but they’re for after an ordinary Christian like you or your sister or the person who sits in the pew behind you has done their part in fulfilling the Great Commission. They help us grow as disciples, but they will never take us off the hook for our God-given task of inviting others to follow Jesus with us.
As Ron Bergonon also says, there’s no sense offering a discipleship course to someone who isn’t a disciple. If they haven’t already been led to Christ by a fellow believer, then a course can only lead them to Church-ianity instead of Christ-ianity. …and that would be a real shame.
The Bad News
We need to quit expecting any program to lead to real, vibrant, sustainable growth in our churches.
Missions and revivals are fun, but they won’t reach the people who haven’t yet been introduced to Jesus.
Instead, we need to confess our own sin. Lord, have mercy on me, because I’ve been too scared and too distracted to do the work you told me to do.
Then we need to do it. Lord, I know you’re working in my neighbours lives, and you are calling them to a relationship with you. Let me be a part of that today. Amen.
The Good News
I have to confess: I find this stuff terrifying. I’d rather preach 100 sermons than work up the courage to speak to a non-Christian about Christ.
But Jesus had a solution to that, too.
“… And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age“. Matthew 28:20.
When we do what Christ commanded us to do, we don’t do it alone. He goes with us. Yes, it still takes courage. Yes, it still requires some work on our part. But, if we’d stop cooking up our own church growth ideas and just go along with the plan that Jesus gave us from the beginning, then in reality He’d be with us doing most of the hard work!
My hope, my prayer is that the growth we’re already seeing in the Arctic would not only continue, but explode. Many of our churches have been slowly adding members; but with God’s help, we can switch from addition to multiplication.
It’s a shocking realization: if you’re a disciple, then the Great Commission applies to you. But give it a shot. Take Jesus at His Word. You just might find that it’s the most rewarding thing you’ve ever done!