Rethink Success for the Church

If you are a church planter or any type of pastoral leader, then you understand the tension and pressure that is felt to GROW the church numerically. It is a crazy pressure that is felt not from one person or from anyone specifically, but just a pressure that is present. It creates a stress that tells you that if you do not have this thing growing FAST, then you are not very good at what you do. This pressure will try to define you and steal your joy. Hear me out that I am not saying we should be satisfied if your church is not growing. I am a 100% believer that we need to be doing everything we can to have numerical growth, but have we created an UNHEALTHY system of defining success in the American Church?

I am probably one of the most driven people on the planet, so sometimes I wrestle with this a lot and sometimes I even wonder is this whole numerical growth thing about GOD or is really about ME? I know we would all say it is about God, but is it really? I believe that we need to rethink success for the church moving forward. I think that we need to change the pressure that is felt to go from growing "converts" to a pressure to actually building people into authentic disciples of Jesus Christ. If we choose to move away from the pressure of how many "butts can I get in the seats" to actually creating a culture where disicpleship can happen, then I think we will see a shift! The problem in America is that we always think whoever has the BIGGEST is doing it right and they are obviously doing something right, but the most important question is are we creating discipling cultures.

You might read this and say this guy is just someone who does not like large churches and the exact opposite is true, I have served in four Mega Churches and one of them was one of the fastest growing in America and I loved it. I just think that the pressure has been placed in the wrong area and it needs to go from just Growing numerically to really creating a culture that puts people into environments that is going to stretch them. If you read the gospels that is what Jesus did!

Remember: Consumers do not give their lives away for the sake of God's Kindgom, but disciples do! If we are going to see revival in America it is not going to be through consumers, but rather disciples. Jesus got this! He invested His life in a few because He understood to create a movement it was about investing and relationships. (that is discipleship)

I will write more later about creating that culture and what is looks like for our church. www.northridgejackson.com

Eric Smith