103 Sermon Illustrations on Church Growth

The realities and challenges of America's religious landscape abound as Southern Baptists and other evangelicals review the mid-September 2002 release of a county-by-county, once-a-decade study of denominations and their members.

Robert E. Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board, noted that most Southern Baptist growth in the last few years has been among ethnic groups. "We cannot stay white and southern," Reccord added. "We have to look beyond our roots." Southern Baptists grew 5 percent during the 1990s nationally, according to the study, which was sponsored by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies; published by the Glenmary Research Center in Nashville, Tennessee; and largely financed by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. "We have to turn the burners up even more," Reccord said of a Southern Baptist growth rate that did not keep pace with 13.1 percent rise in the nation's population.

In Tarrant County, Texas, encompassing Fort Worth and its metro area, Southern Baptist growth reached 13.1 percent during the decade, compared to the SBC 5 percent national average. In metro Atlanta, Southern Baptist growth surpassed 17 percent. In Nashville, Tenn., and surrounding counties, it was 12.5 percent.

"The denominations that start new congregations catch a vision and come alive," said Daniel Sanchez, professor of missions and director of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's Church Growth Institute in Fort Worth, Texas. "It can be in a new geographic location or around a new ethnic group. Also, [growth can occur when] there's a good balance between meeting both physical and spiritual needs."

The evangelistic challenge posed by Mormonism also is evident in the study: Latter-day Saints were among the nation's fastest-growing faiths during the 1990s, up 19.3 percent to 4.2 million adherents in 11,500 congregations. (As defined in the study, "adherents" includes youth age 14 and above as a way of balancing totals both from churches that do not baptize infants as well as churches that do.)

Roman Catholics, the nation's largest religious group, also posted an increase, 16.2 percent, for the decade, to 62 millions adherents in nearly 21,800 parishes.

Southern Baptists factored into numerous findings in the study, including:

-- They encompass the largest number of adherents in 10 states, all in the South. Catholics have the largest number of adherents in 37 states and the District of Columbia. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the most adherents in Utah and Idaho, while United Methodists have the most adherents in West Virginia.

-- Southern Baptists are among the four largest religious groups in 28 states and the District of Columbia, while Catholics are among the top four in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. United Methodists are in the top four in 38 states. The Latter-day Saints and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America join the top four groups in 13 states, while Jewish adherents are in the top four in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

-- Southern Baptists have a presence in 85 percent of the nation's 3,141 counties or county equivalents, topped by United Methodists, the most widespread religious group in the study, in 96 percent and Catholics, at 95 percent. Percentages for other denominations' presence by counties include Assemblies of God, 83 percent; Churches of Christ, 77 percent; Baha'i, 77 percent; and Presbyterian Church (USA), 76 percent.

-- Of the 48 metro areas in the United States with 1 million or more people, Southern Baptists are the largest religious group in 10 of the areas, all in the South, while Catholics are the largest group in 37 and the Latter-day Saints are the largest in the Salt Lake City area.

-- For all metropolitan areas in the study, Southern Baptists are largest in 32 percent, or 89 areas, while Catholics are the largest in 63 percent, or 173 areas.

Among other findings in the study:

-- The 149 religious bodies which provided data encompass 140 million adherents, or 50.2 percent of all Americans.

-- There is no significant difference between metro and non-metro areas in the percentage of religious adherents. In metro areas, the 149 religious bodies encompass 50 percent of the population and 51 percent in non-metro areas.

-- Utah and North Dakota have the largest percent of people claimed by the 149 groups, at 74 and 73 percent, respectively, while the District of Columbia also measured at 73 percent.

-- Oregon and Washington had the lowest percentage of people in the 149 groups, at 31 and 33 percent, respectively.

-- Nevada has the highest ration of population to congregations. That is, there are 2,130 people for each congregation in the state. North Dakota and West Virginia have the lowest ratio of population to congregations -- one for every 426 people in North Dakota and one for every 437 people in West Virginia. Surprisingly, West Virginia, with so many congregations, is one of the five least claimed states in the study, with only 36 percent of the population claimed by any of the 149 groups.

-- In number of congregations by city, New York and Los Angeles rank first and second, with 9,586 and 7,079, respectively, while Washington, D.C., at 4,806, edges out Chicago, at 4,459, for third place.

-- More than three-fourths of the population in six metro areas were claimed among the 149 groups: Provo, Utah, 90 percent; Lafayette, La., 80 percent; Bismarck, N.D., 79 percent; Dubuque, Iowa, 78 percent; Las Cruces, N.M., 77 percent; and Houma, La., 75 percent.

-- Four metro areas in the report tallied less than one-fourth of the population among the 149 groups: Medford, Ore., 22 percent; Corvallis, Ore., 23 percent; Redding, Calif., 24 percent; and Eugene, Ore., 24 percent.

The survey data can be accessed at the www.thearda.com website of the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies in the "Interactive Maps and Reports" section.

The study is separate from than another Lilly-supported study also released in mid-September titled, "U.S. Congregational Life Survey," which, concerning Southern Baptists, noted that compared with worshipers in other congregations nationwide, Southern Baptists generally are more involved in their congregations, spend more time in private devotional activities, are more likely to be tithers and much more likely to hold a strong view of biblical authority and interpretation. See Baptist Press from 9/23/02 at www.bpnews.net.

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Erin Curry contributed to this article.

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Ninety-two percent of the unchurched will attend services sometime in a two-year period, but even when surrounded by believers, it still takes nearly 85 people to reach one person for Jesus Christ, according to a study by Thom S. Rainer, dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

While Southern Baptists fare twice as well, with a 39 to one ratio, the numbers are still alarming, Rainer said.

“People need to be reaching lost people for Jesus,” Rainer told participants at a church growth conference at Fleming Island Baptist Church in Orange Park, Fla. “There are 160 million lost people going to hell without Jesus Christ, and I ask you this night to say a prayer to God from your heart -- 'Lord, according to your will, allow me to come into contact with someone that I might share Jesus Christ.'“

Citing information from his latest study, Rainer, the author of “Surprising Insights of the Formerly Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them,” listed 10 criteria by which churches may understand how to reach people for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rainer said churches must have a clear understanding of what they believe if the unchurched are to be reached, and they must practice what they preach if they want to draw people.

“The churches that are reaching the unchurched are clear about what they believe and they have conviction -- clarity and conviction,” Rainer said. “The unchurched are looking for churches that will state clearly, 'This is what we believe,' and have the backbone about it too.”

Sharing from personal experience, Rainer illustrated the need for churches to respond to personal crisis, the single largest factor that causes most people to try church for the first time.

“We need to become intentional and strategic about reaching the unchurched in crisis,” said Rainer. One struggling California church, he said, budgeted $40,000 to buy gift baskets for new mothers; a ministry developed in coordination with a local hospital. That year they saw 25 baptisms.

Another aspect of evangelism easily overlooked might be the “relationship factor,” said Rainer.

By counting siblings, friends and co-workers among those who are intentionally included in outreach, Rainer said the chance to reach the unchurched multiplies rapidly.

Statistics show 93 percent of people polled would go to church if asked, but only 16 percent report being invited.

“What are we doing in the context of those relationships to share the gospel or simply invite someone to church?” Rainer prodded. “They are terrified of showing up by themselves.”

Rainer called the family the “most precious” relationship in connecting people to Christ.

Wives reaching husbands is the number one family relationship connection in reaching the lost for Christ, Rainer said. Children reaching parents is second, while in-laws are also a great influence on the unchurched.

An overview of four generations show the “Bridgers,” those born between 1977-1994, make up the numerically largest group of unchurched individuals -- with only 4 percent claiming a relationship with Christ.

“The church needs to say to the Bridgers, 'Young people, we know that you don't pay your way in the church, but we are more concerned about your life and your eternity than whether or not you contribute to the cause of our church,'“ Rainer said.

While there are about 160 million people in America who were not in church yesterday, according to Rainer, he said at least nine million, perhaps more, are waiting for someone to tell them about Jesus.

If they hear, they will accept Christ immediately, he said. Being blunt and asking a question that might seem rhetorical might lead a person to ask you to share your testimony.

“When was the last time you told someone how Jesus Christ forgave you of your sin?” Rainer asked.

He said that while the beliefs of the church are the most important factor in drawing a person to a church, the pastor and his preaching are also vital in keeping people in a church.

Churches where the pastors follow the biblical mandate of Acts 6:4 and spend a fair amount of time in prayer and sermon preparation show greater growth than those churches where the pastors skimp on this responsibility.

“You only get one opportunity to make a first impression on an unchurched person,” Rainer said. Looking at factors ranging from the more serious to the sublime, he told the story of a desperate young woman's visit to a Baptist church.

Newly divorced, the woman parked in the closest space, nearly a block away from a rural church. Clutching her four-year-old, who she was convinced needed to be in church, the woman braved a slick parking lot to try every outside door of the church.

Entering on the lower level, the woman could hear singing but didn't know which way to go. Turning a corner she encountered a crowded room full of unruly children with only one worker. After deciding not to leave her child there, she received instructions to follow the voices through a maze of hallways to the sanctuary.

After adjusting her child on her hip to open a door, the now bewildered woman fled in horror after finding herself the object of attention at the front of the church. Retracing the route back to her car, she wondered what possessed her to visit in the first place.

We need to look at the church through the eyes of outsiders to see if we make a good first impression, Rainer said.

A way to impact a person's first impression can begin with a “greeter ministry” that extends both inside and outside, according to Rainer. Greeters should not limit themselves to the church sanctuary or main doors but should also travel around inside the building and outside into the parking lot in order to be effective.

People who are excited about Jesus make the best greeters, Rainer said. They include new Christians who haven't gotten over Jesus yet.

Churches need to have an attitude of expectancy and outward focus to maintain an effective outreach to the unchurched, Rainer said. There must be a sense that God is up to something in the church and the people are aware of it.

Finally, Rainer said, churches that are reaching and keeping the formerly unchurched demonstrate a willingness to change. “We don't get comfortable until we have our ultimate rest,” he said.

What God requires of his people can become misunderstood in the day-to- day busyness of life, Rainer said, recounting a personal story.

While burning a candle at both ends in order to minister in a church and study for seminary classes, Rainer was brought back to reality late one night when his five-year-old son told him: “Dad, I forgive you and Jesus does too.”

“I was doing a lot of good things, but I wasn't doing God's best.”

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Joni B. Hannigan is managing editor of the Florida Baptist Witness.

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[Declining churches from a liberal perspective]

“As denominations become more liberal, they begin to die.” “Fundamental and evangelical groups are much larger and better attended, therefore, that proves they're more pleasing to God.”

Such reasoning is used to criticize mainline Protestant churches. Is it a valid criticism? Of course not! Size has nothing to do with validity. In fact, it's often the reverse. Christ himself said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).

It seemed the closer Christ got to the true gospel, the fewer followers he had. “As a result of this many of his disciples withdrew, and were not walking with him anymore” (John 6:66).

Why then are liberal organizations usually smaller and less visibly active then fundamentalist organizations? Well, there are many reasons:

1. Liberal movements aren't as sensational.

They don't give off an aura of mystery and intrigue. Devil worship and supernatural Holy Ghosts and visions of Christ in the clouds draw people to a religion like UFO's and monsters and werewolves draw people to the movies.

Which sells out faster and attracts more readers: a scientific journal or a tabloid magazine with “aliens” on its cover? The tabloid of course; but is that a true test of its worth? Is the tabloid actually more important and reliable than the scientific journal? Obviously not!

2. Liberal movements aren't as emotional.

They don't appeal to feelings only. It's much harder to persuade through facts and logic then it is through fears and guilts. Setting up a “confrontational” atmosphere creates fantasies. Making everyone who differs from us the “enemy” is a powerful manipulation device. This technique is used to enlist soldiers in war and whip up enthusiasm at pep rallies.

Which has better attendance: an academic lecture on interpersonal relationships, or a football game between two bitter rivals? The game of course; but it that a true test of its worth? Is the game actually more important and beneficial over the long term than the lecture? Obviously not.

3. Liberal movements aren't as simplistic.

Their teachings aren't as specific. Their agendas don't lend themselves to slogans. Their issues aren't as black and white. People are more comfortable with a defined purpose that can be easily grasped and repeated. Working to win a hot election is satisfying because the results are immediate and tangible. Working to increase the educational level of society is not as satisfying because the results are not as immediate or tangible. Which is easier to chant: “Kill, kill, kill!” or, “Now, let's try to develop a broader and deeper understanding of our basic differences?” “Kill” is much easier to chant, of course; but is that a true test of its worth? Is killing actually more constructive than developing broader and deeper understandings? Obviously not!

4. Liberal movements aren't personally oriented.

They don't depend upon charismatic leaders and sentimental rituals. It's much harder to perpetuate devotion to abstract principles like justice and truth than it is to a strong personality. Also, tokens and symbols are essential crutches to most people. These may include Bibles, crosses, baptisms or communion wafers. Which is more reassuring in a moment of crises: a rosary or a rational principle? The rosary, of course; but is that a true test of its worth? Are you actually more likely to solve your problem by fingering some beads than you are by facing reality and making a thoughtful decision? Obviously not!

5. Liberal movements aren't dogmatic.

A healthy religion seeks to develop autonomous individuals. If independence is our goal, then it's counterproductive to demand absolute obedience. You can't free people by tying them to some higher authority. Liberal groups don't require total allegiance. When their members can operate productively without them, then these institutions have succeeded!

That's the paradox. Is it easier to train a child to do exactly what you tell him to do instantly and unquestioningly, or to help a child mature to a point where he can make moral choices on his own without having to rely on you? The conditioning process is easier, of course; but is that a true test of its worth? Is a child whose been “brainwashed” to obey actually better off in the real world than a child who has developed the ability to decide on his own? Obviously not!

So, are the largest churches with the highest attendance more pleasing to God? Not necessarily! Sensational tabloids are not better than scientific journals. Emotional football games are not better than educational lectures. Simplistic slogans are not better than profound purposes. Charismatic personalities are not better than moral principles. Dogmatic conditioning is not better than independent maturity. In short, popularity is not a true test of worth! Even so, is an articulate, flashy, exciting TV evangelist's ministry more valid than a quiet, unassuming, unexciting local pastor's or teacher's ministry? Not necessarily!

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[Original illustration here was a duplicate in HolwickID 25837-26027]

The water bill at First Baptist Church was so high, the water department came by to look for a leak, but the pastor had another explanation.

“We realized the baptistry holds 900 gallons, and we've been seeing souls saved,” explained Steve Amos, pastor of the Littleville church. The only “leak,” he said, was the love of Christ leaking into the community.

When Amos came to Littleville in 2000, the church was withering. “Months passed, and we weren't seeing anyone saved,” recalled the bivocational pastor and farmer. “I prayed God would work in someone's life,” Amos told the Alabama Baptist. “Two weeks later, 10-year-old Gabe came forward and asked Christ to come into his life.”

Since then, attendance has swelled from 25 to more than 125, and the baptistry has stayed full. The church has baptized 120 new Christians -- many of them children who followed Gabe's example -- and started ministries to shut-ins and those in retirement homes and jails. The youth group has grown from averaging 10 to more than 40.

“I've been there 20 years and I love what God is doing -- I'm enjoying it,” said Dusty Daniel, deacon chair. “I was there when only 11 people were in services.”

Daniel credits Amos' leadership and dedication for the newfound success, but the pastor has another explanation -- it's the “living” water. “God just used me as a vessel,” Amos said.

*

The key to church health is that a church must grow larger and smaller at the same time, said Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church.

“Larger through worship and smaller through small groups,” the California pastor said. Warren cited a 750,000-member South Korean church, Yoido Full Gospel Church, in which each member is in a group of only 10. The small groups allow the church body to minister to the needs of everyone in the congregation, Warren said.

In the case of Yoido Full Gospel Church, when one member of a small group is sick, everyone in his small group brings him an apple. This simple custom helps create a spirit of support, in which each person is known intimately and is carried by the group through difficult times. It keeps members from falling through the cracks.

Lance Witt, Saddleback's discipleship pastor, said a critical element to the success of small groups involves the affinity of the members. “Something must cause them [the group members] to say, 'We want to meet with them' [other group members],” Witt said, adding that having things in common naturally draws people toward each other, helping build satisfying relationships.

Churches should stress the many benefits of being in a small group, said Witt, including the feeling of being part if church family, gaining a better understanding of God's Word and maintaining accountability for one's Christian walk.

“Where in church can people be totally real?” Witt asked, noting that it is in the small group setting where members can share their struggles and their hurts in a way not possible across the larger congregation. They're able to feel at ease with their difficulties, he said, because of the care within their small group.

“Small groups offer the greatest pastoral care ever,” Witt said.

Dave Holden, pastor of Lake Gregory Community Church in Crestline, Calif., testified that “40 Days of Purpose,” a campaign that takes an entire church through Warren's latest book, “The Purpose-Driven Life,” ignited an explosion of small groups within his congregation.

“When we announced the start of our '40 Day Small Groups' -- the place went crazy,” Holden said. “I'd never been able to get more than seven groups going all at the same time, but we immediately [grew] to 55 groups, topping off at 72!”

Before long, there was no space left in the existing groups, but then members of the congregation began launching their own small groups. One new member told the church staff, “I was going to join a group, but I think that I can start one on my own. I used to sell encyclopedias door-to-door, and I'm not afraid to go out and get all of my neighbors.” Holden said the man talked to everyone on his block and successfully launched his own group.

“Our attendance climbed each week to a new level: 588 - 615 - 680 - 710 - 762 - 803,” said Holden, noting that the numbers peaked at 850. “People were getting saved every week and the word-of-mouth excitement throughout our small-town community was positively contagious.”

With 72 small groups meeting during “40 Days of Purpose,” more than 100 people accepted Christ, Holden said. “We baptized 30 last December, which was good for us,” the pastor said. “However, during the next three months we baptized another 64! Our attendance has stayed at about 800 a week, and our small groups have leveled out at 58 but still growing!

“The 40 Days of Purpose changed everything for us,” Holden said. “We will never be the same.”

*

“Our problem is that we are capable of running a religious organization, and we have learned to do it well. But too often our standard for evaluation the success of our church is to observe how large it has become. Church growth is not the biblical standard to evaluate the health of a church. A church can grow through effective marketing, but Christ may not have anything to do with it.

Jesus said, “I will build My church.” Yet we run around to church growth conferences to discover how we can build a successful church. Most conferences do not tell us how to recognize the activity of Jesus as He builds His church. Jesus, in this passage, gave two criteria: (1) the gates of hell will come down, and (2) we will be using the keys to the kingdom of heaven to free people from the bondage of sin and bring them into the presence of God.”

A Southern California minister reports, “A neighboring church has just completed a large addition, including a new sanctuary, to house their growing congregation. Last week they discovered that 250 housing units were going in right behind them - they will share a property line.”

Their pastor said he had two conversations within a three-hour time period. The first individual said: “We need to build a fence so their kids don't wander onto our property.” The second person asked: “Do we have the money to build a sidewalk and steps up to our church so their kids can come to our ministries?”

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Source unknown; submitted by Craig Watters, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Louisville, Colorado

In Acts 1:1-8, Jesus challenged His first followers with five bold new ways of thinking and behaving to change their world. They lay the foundation for a strategy many missions leaders today are calling the Acts 1:8 Challenge. Is your church considering it? Is your class or small group studying it?

I admit that sometimes my church feels pretty small and insignificant. We rarely have all the workers or money we seem to need, and sometimes we even lose track of why we’re really here. But, as I studied the first chapter of Acts recently, it dawned on me that the “first congregation” in the New Testament probably felt much the same way when Jesus spoke to them just before He left earth.

It was a momentous occasion but with modest beginnings. Only about 120 Christ-followers met in a rented room, and -- while these early disciples were no doubt excited about the resurrection of Jesus -- they had little idea what to do next. But in the first eight verses of this amazing little history, we discover five bold attitudes and actions Jesus challenged that first little Jerusalem congregation to embrace which would turn them inside out and allow them to change their world.

A WORLDWIDE PRIORITY

Jesus challenged the first church to understand that His primary focus as the risen Christ is on the Kingdom of God.

During the 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection, the Bible tells us that He appeared to His followers and spoke to them with laser-like focus about one thing: the Kingdom of God. His primary purpose on earth -- and now their primary purpose as a church -- was to invite the Jewish people and ultimately all the lost peoples of the world back into the loving lordship of their Creator. The good news is that all is forgiven because of the sacrifice of Jesus. We are invited to run back into the arms of God just as frightened, lost children would run back into the open arms of their Father. This one thing, this “mission” that led Jesus to the cross, is still to be the one thing that the first church -- and now my church -- is commanded by Jesus to keep in the forefront of its vision.

Surprisingly, even after the resurrected Jesus spoke to His followers for 40 days about the priority of the Kingdom of God, they asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Their question conveyed an attitude still prevalent in churches today, where there seem to be two main perspectives among Christians. One simply says, “The church is for me. This is where I enjoy friendship and spiritual growth, and this is where I connect with God and find fulfillment in serving Him.” The other perspective says, “The church is for the world. These wonderful things that take place within our church’s walls are not ends in themselves but are designed to propel us out into the world where so many are lost and outside the Kingdom.”

Announcing the Kingdom of God to the lost is still the worldwide priority of Jesus for churches like mine today.

A WORLDWIDE PERSPECTIVE

Jesus challenged the first church to see history and the world from God’s point of view.

Jesus’ second challenge and patient answer to that first church when they asked about “the kingdom being returned to Israel” was that God was ready to do something much larger than the nation of Israel. When Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority,” I believe He was inviting His followers to step back and look at God’s redemptive pattern throughout all of history and His loving heart for all the world’s lost.

Consider the “times and dates” that God already had revealed to His young church. God’s glory -- the glory reflected in His marvelous creation and His ultimate creatures, man and woman -- had been tarnished and corrupted by sin. At the Tower of Babel the rebellious peoples had scattered into the world, their confused languages a judgment by God for their own empire-building sin. Yet God had continued His loving, redemptive mission by initiating relationship with a man (Abram), a family (Abraham’s family) and ultimately a people (Israel) who were invited again to reflect His glory and show the world what it meant to be the people of God. Israel had proven it could not return the lost peoples of the world to God, but in the fullness of time Israel had been used by God to bring the world its Savior, Jesus. That Savior had accomplished His redemptive purpose on the cross of Calvary, and He now stood before that first little church promising to send them Someone who would lead them and empower them to reclaim the lost peoples of the world as worshipers of the King.

Jesus reminded that first church and my own church today that our little slice of history is only one link in a long chain of God’s history -- His long, worldwide mission. He was saying, in effect, “Regardless of your current situation or challenges, step back and realize the bigger picture of what God is doing! God is not going backward to Israel at its zenith or to your church’s better days. God’s epic, redemptive plan has been moving steadily forward since the beginning of time. Now are you ready to discover the next chapter and your part in it? Are you ready to see how great God’s salvation will be, even compared to your past experience?” And then Jesus gave them, and us, these “final words,” this “Acts 1:8 Challenge” before He ascended into heaven: “But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere -- in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

A WORLDWIDE POWER

Jesus challenged the first church to rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit for boldness and effectiveness.

Jesus must have looked at that first little church and seen a room full of gunpowder that was about to meet its match. He had already told them that those who believed in Him would do the works He did and even greater, because Jesus was going to be with the Father (John 14:12). Later Jesus even said that His followers would benefit from His departure, because His going would mean the coming of the Counselor that would convict the world of its need for God (John 16:7-8).

He must look at my little church today the same way sometimes, wondering if we are ready to stop doing our own thing and rely on the Holy Spirit to lead and empower us back on the track of His mission to the world.

It reminds me of my friend Bob, who told me about the hours he spent trying to blow the leaves in his yard on a windy day. His little gas blower could not move the leaves west as long as the wind was blowing to the east. Finally his wife came out and suggested, “Why don’t you work with the wind, dear?” When Bob changed his own plan, sought the direction of the wind and utilized its power, his task was finished in minutes! With his newly discovered power, he was able to make quick work of his neighbors’ yards as well.

I don’t understand everything about the Holy Spirit, any more than I understand everything about the wind. But every time I experience His power, I wonder why my little church and I don’t stop and adjust to His movement more often.

A WORLDWIDE PLAN

Jesus challenged the first church to radiate the Gospel to its own Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and ends of the earth.

In His “final words” to that little church in Jerusalem, Jesus makes clear that even little churches like mine are designed and commanded to have worldwide influence. And He maps out a plan for at least four types of mission fields where we are to have plans for that redemptive influence:

• a plan for my church’s ends of the earth. While new people groups are being reached with the Gospel every year, more than 1.5 billion people in about 5,000 people groups still have little or no access to the Good News about Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. So thousands of people groups in the world are waiting for my church and yours to bring them the Good News.

• a plan for my church’s Samaria. For today’s church, as for the early church, Samaria is “a close-by place that we rarely visit,” and Samaritans are “those who live relatively near us, but who are not like us.” It’s estimated that in North America three out of four people do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. North America’s lostness is as deep as the world’s lostness is wide. Today God still calls churches like mine to personalize the Gospel for the diversity of people in and near our homeland.

• a plan for my church’s Judea. For today’s churches, as for early churches, Judea can be seen as the surrounding state, region or province in which people share or adapt to a predominant language, culture and regional identity. If Samaritans are seen as “those who live relatively near us but are not like us,” then Judeans can be seen as “those who live relatively near us and who, in many ways, are like us.” The Judea mission field of the first century reminds us that a more homogeneous culture and some religious familiarity can provide bridges as well as barriers to the Gospel. Yet one great challenge of the Judea mission field is the barrier of “presumed familiarity” that people have with the Gospel. Those who were lost in a works-based religion in the first century were likely to declare, “I’m Roman” or “I’m Jewish,” just as those lost in the Judea mission field of the church today might declare, “I’m Baptist” or “I’m Catholic.” Those depending on a works-based religion ! rather than a grace-based relationship still don’t understand the Gospel. And God calls Christians to nearby people who may share regional identity or religious familiarity but not real fellowship with Christ.

• a plan for my church’s Jerusalem. The Jerusalem mission field is the community where we live, work, shop, play and go to school. And it requires as much intentionality as the mission fields of Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. Every week Christians drive by countless people who, for a variety of reasons, might never set foot in their church building. Just as the Holy Spirit compelled that first little church out into the streets of its Jerusalem, God calls my church -- and me -- out into our local community, even to people who need a new or different church.

A WORLDWIDE PARTICIPATION

Jesus challenged the first church to be witnesses -- personal participants in the worldwide mission of God.

I suppose that first little congregation in Jerusalem could have affirmed Jesus’ challenge and then chosen to stay within their rented room, waiting for their resources to increase or their problems to be solved or their strategy to become clearer. But they didn’t. Every one of them became not only a worshiper but also a witness. Every one chose to participate in the worldwide mission of God and to tell what they had seen and heard. They spilled out into the streets of Jerusalem and beyond with such boldness that the world was changed, not only then, but throughout history and for eternity.

And like that first church, my little church should be out gathering worshipers from the peoples of the world as if gathering treasure to present to our beloved King.

I admit that sometimes my church seems pretty small and insignificant. We rarely have all the workers or money we seem to need, and sometimes we lose track of why we’re here and what God’s purposes are for us. But when I read again what the Holy Spirit did through that first little church, I pray that He will do it again and again, beginning with little churches like mine.

*

A new book uses the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as part of a larger argument that Americans are leaving liberal churches for conservative congregations.

In the book, “Exodus: Why Americans are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity” (Sentinel), journalist and author Dave Shiflett spends a chapter on Southern Baptists and Southern Seminary in showing how the denomination has benefited from the numbers who have left liberal mainline churches.

Shiflett details the conservative resurgence, showing how it cut across the grain of contemporary wisdom that says once an organization becomes liberal, there is no turning back. Shiflett interviewed Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land.

In analyzing the growth of conservative churches, Mohler warns against polls that show nine in 10 Americans as having some positive relation to Christianity. “The number of people actually living the Christian life is pretty low,” Mohler said. “Only one in ten Americans are regularly involved in church, so I don’t think the number of committed Christians could be any higher than that.”

While Mohler points out that secularism seeks to rub out every trace of theism from contemporary culture, the president tells Shiflett that he sees encouraging signs on the campus of Southern Seminary.

“The students on this campus are not only more conservative than their parents,” Mohler said, “but they are more conservative than their grandparents. There is no longer any social value in saying you’re a Christian. These students’ parents and grandparents came up in a time when Christianity was a social convention.

“The same was true of marriage. For their grandparents, marriage was culturally and socially acceptable, and divorce and adultery were bad. Homosexuality was off the radar screen. But their parents, the boomers, threw out sexual morality. They grew up and got married, which made them a little more conservative, but they also engaged in serial divorce.

“As so the boomers’ children -- students who are now on our campus -- were impacted by a lack of stability in their family life. They want their children to have what they didn’t have. They are living the biblical vision. And they are very conservative.”

Both Mohler and Land agree on the fate of liberal Christianity, Shiflett writes.

Liberal Christianity's rejection of the inspiration, inerrancy and authority of the Bible is to blame for its demise, Land said, adding that is the reason the mainline denominations are losing members and conservative churches are drawing them in.

“...Once you embrace liberal Christianity, you cut loose from your anchor,” Land said. “And you keep drifting. Liberal Christianity had totally abandoned biblical authority by the late 1950s. They said they had ‘moved beyond’ Scripture.”

Mohler says the mainline downgrade is perhaps seen most clearly in its views of sexuality.

“[Liberal churches] make no demands, including demands on sexual behavior,” Mohler said. “Why should, for example, a sixteen-year-old boy and girl bother to go to a liberal church? What does this church have to offer that’s any different from what they get from the culture? The church tells them that if they want, they can have sex. They already know that. That’s what society tells them. The church needs to tell them that they can’t have sex, and has to explain why.

“The mainline denominations have decided that the most basic human drive, sex, can be permanently separated from the most basic human institution, marriage. There is no room for Christianity in that equation.”

Land believes the alliance between Protestants and Catholics in opposing abortion will one day topple the core doctrine of Roe V. Wade. He calls the alliance the “liberals' worst nightmare.”

“We are winning the abortion issue,” Land said, noting that 2002 polling indicated a majority of Americans now believe Roe V. Wade was a bad decision. “The most pro-life group is eighteen-to thirty-one-year-olds. They know that one-third of their generational cohort was killed by abortion. They know that they could have been. Lots of them take that personally.”

While the author of “Exodus” uses statistics and research to make his case, he also employs first-hand reporting to prove his thesis; Shiflett crisscrossed America interviewing both conservatives and liberals to find the reasons behind what is happening within American Christianity.

The Presbyterian Church USA has experienced a decline of 11.6 percent over the past 10 years, the United Methodist Church has lost 6.7 percent of its membership and the Episcopal Church 5.3 percent of its parishioners.

“Americans are vacating progressive pews and flocking to churches that offer more traditional versions of Christianity,” Shiflett asserts.

“Most people go to church to get something they cannot get elsewhere. This consuming public -- people who already believe, or who are attempting to believe, who want their children to believe -- go to church to learn about the mysterious Truth on which the Christian religion is built. They want the Good News, not the minister’s political views or intellectual coaching. The latter creates sprawling vacancies in the pews. Indeed, those empty pews can be considered earthly reward for abandoning heaven, traditionally understood.”

*

If your church nursery was unnervingly quiet this past Sunday, you are probably a member of a liberal Protestant church. So says a new study about population decline and mainline Protestantism by sociologists from the University of California at Berkley, the University of Arizona and Indiana University. Mainliners are hailing this survey because it places the blame for Protestant denominational decline not on theological liberalism, but on the churches' acceptance of delayed childbirth, small families and an extreme contraception culture.

“For most of the 20th century conservative women had more children than mainline women did,” the sociologists wrote in Christian Century.

Oh, so it is not that old-line Protestantism has adopted the sterile ideologies of modernism. It's just that they have adopted the idea that children should be delayed, and procreation downplayed. So, in other words, they've adopted the sterile ideologies of modernism.

Is the connection here not obvious? For years, conservative Protestants have attributed their growth, and the liberals' decline, to the fact that liberal churches are, first of all, not evangelistic and, second of all, not distinct from the surrounding culture. The mainline Protestant view of children is interwoven into the fabric of both of these problems.

First of all, churches that don't celebrate and exult in children aren't going to celebrate and exult in evangelism. After all, the “fruitful and multiply” clause in Genesis is echoed back in the Great Commission of Christ, a commission that also seeks to fill the entire earth. Jesus links procreation to new creation by speaking of new converts as newborn babies, and through His apostles of the community of faith as the household of God. Moreover, He announces to His Father that He stands before Him with the redeemed of all the ages, “the children you have given me” (Heb 2:13). Churches that mimic (even if by default with silence) the culture's view that life is about possessions or sentimental romance or self-advancement are not going to produce men and women committed to giving up these things for the cause of evangelism and global missions.

Also, if conservative churches are growing because their theological convictions are counter-cultural and thus distinct from the blob spirituality of contemporary Western civilization, then what is more counter-cultural than the embrace of children as gifts from the Lord? In an era when a mom with five children receives snide comments from her neighbors (“Don't you know what's causing that?”), a congregation that celebrates from the pulpit and within the fellowship new life is a congregation that causes onlookers to ask why.

Old-line Protestantism may take comfort that their downfall is declining birthrates, not liberal theology. But, don't be fooled, the two go together. And evangelical Protestants and traditional Catholics should take note, because we are only a few steps behind. As a free-church evangelical Christian, I don't believe in inherited regeneration or in some covenantal status for the children of believers. But I have a biblical mandate, with all Christians, to share the Gospel with all persons, and to equip the saints to do the same. I also have the responsibility to recognize that evangelism often includes raising up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If we miss that point, our churches will absorb the message of the culture, a message that presents the self as central and children as a nuisance.

So the growth of Christianity means calling sinners to repentance and showcasing the Gospel: in the revival tent, and in the church nursery.

*

What next? That seems to be the question that we regularly attempt to answer. Sometimes it is asked in relationship to the next paradigm for the church. For a period of time, “paradigm” was the buzzword, and we were all looking for a new one -- whether we understood what “paradigm” meant or not. At other times, when we asked “What next?” we were simply wondering about the next program or study that would engage our hearts and minds for a time and, hopefully, impact lives and churches.

So, we began to debate whether the church should be organized in “cells” or in “traditional Sunday School classes.” We then debated musical styles to the point that books were written addressing the “worship wars” that were splitting churches. We've debated whether the church is to be seeker-friendly, purpose-driven or Kingdom-focused. But the truth is we are not seeing the results we have been praying for in terms of people being saved and discipled and the culture being transformed by the impact of the “salt and light” community.

The church growth movement has certainly had its impact, but one wonders if it is not time to move beyond the emphasis on “church growth” and focus on “Kingdom expansion.” Perhaps such an emphasis will bring an absolute dependence upon God and lead to the spiritual awakening we so desperately need.

THE CHURCH GROWTH MOVEMENT

I have been privileged to pastor local churches for about 20 years. If you threw in the numerous interim pastorates, it would be over 22 years. I have pastored churches from small rural to mega-metro. I have been both a student of church growth and have attempted to be a contributor through my writing ministry. If you are interested in a simple but intriguing book on the various strata of the church growth movement, you might enjoy “Like a Mighty River” by Delos Miles.

In recent years, I have begun to reflect on the impact of the church growth movement and to ask the question, “What next?” These are simply “musings” on my part from having studied, practiced and taught church growth for most of my ministry. My thinking also has been influenced by the privilege God has given me to preach in churches in virtually every conceivable context across the Southern Baptist Convention. I have been challenged and enriched in my thinking by talking to fellow pastors who are asking similar questions.

The church growth movement's positive contributions include:

• It caused us to look seriously at the mission or purpose of the church and to ask whether we are actually fulfilling that mission.

• It challenged us to look at the effectiveness or the health of the church. We were forced to look at the statistical evidence and ask the hard questions. Are we growing? Are we making a difference?

• It required us to look at the components of effective churches -- such as leadership, small groups, homogeneity, receptivity and worship style.

• It required the pastor and/or staff to look at their leadership style and ask about effectiveness.

• We were forced to ask questions about “relevance” in terms of whether we were actually communicating effectively to those sitting in our pews and those we were trying to reach.

• We were challenged to think about the different age groupings in terms of their learning styles and preferences. Thus, we had books and conferences on boomers, busters, bridgers, etc. These contributed to a greater sensitivity in both ministry and outreach.

The church growth movement certainly has taught us and challenged us to look, evaluate, think and change. But when we are forced to ask the hard question -- has it produced substantial results in terms of “growth?” -- most have generally concluded that it has not done so.

If we look at our own denomination, we must confess that we have been virtually stagnant for 45 years. We have not experienced substantial growth in terms of baptisms, Bible study or worship attendance since the '60s. One could certainly argue that there are other criteria by which a church's health could be measured. While that is true, these are the very criteria the church growth movement focused on and, thus, by our own criteria, we have not seen the results we were seeking.

The downside:

• I believe that certain aspects of the church growth movement led to theological compromise. The question asked was “Does it work?” rather than “Does it please God?” When one looks at the large numbers of people who are reported as joining our church by “statement of faith,” we must ask whether we have been willing to compromise our understanding of believer's baptism for growth statistics.

• Much of our thinking became “mechanical” in terms of church growth. We began to seek the right method or strategy, depending on “it” to grow our church, rather than expecting God to fulfill His promise to grow His church.

• It often led to the “cloning of models” rather than the application of principles. We saw an effective model and tried to plug it into our church without a due consideration of our context, gift mix, history and heritage.

• It often bred a spirit of competition rather than a strategy of cooperation. This “myopic” vision impacted both pew and pulpit. As we “marketed” the church, people wanted to know “what's in it for me.” Pastors, in turn, often focused on “growing my church” and ignored cooperative strategies such as those provided by the association and the convention. Decisions were made based on “what's in it for me” rather than “what can we do together for the Kingdom.”

• In some cases, the church growth movement bred a CEO mentality among pastors and led to a lack of pastoral concern that saw the laity in terms of “what they can do or provide” to help me grow my church.

• The greatest practical weakness of the church growth movement was that it prioritized the least significant issue in terms of church health. It suggested that we needed to change structure, style or strategy to see the church grow. If you attempt to change one of these elements first, you will generally split the church. While some or all of these elements may need to be changed, you must first change the heart of the church so that the passion of the church is to please the King and be used by Him in His Kingdom activity. This will lead to a change in thinking which will in turn allow you to evaluate and change the structure where necessary.

KINGDOM EXPANSION

I believe we are seeing a movement of the Spirit which is producing a spirit of Kingdom expansion. We are being called to rediscover the power of prayer and supernatural empowering. We are being called to look beyond our own needs and desires to seek “Kingdom vision.” The enormity of this task has required us to look at the absolute necessity of “Kingdom partnerships.” No single church, however large, can reach “Jerusalem” (our localities, according to the Acts 1:8 framework) much less the “ends of the earth,” and therefore, if we are to be pleasing to the King, we will join together with likeminded churches to accomplish this task.

When I was called to lead Southern Baptists in the Empowering Kingdom Growth emphasis, I determined first to assist our churches in seeking the heart of God. In other words, we must align our heart with His. My prayer has been that the “EKG: The Heartbeat of God” material would be used by the Holy Spirit to help produce this change of heart.

Early in this ministry, I had the privilege of visiting with Nate Adams, who was in the process of writing the doctrine study titled “The Acts 1:8 Challenge.” I was profoundly moved to see that God had already been at work preparing the next step in the process we were calling Empowering Kingdom Growth. The change of heart must lead to a transformation of our thinking. The Acts 1:8 study provided a tool that allowed the church to study through the Book of Acts to see how the Holy Spirit empowered the early church to reach its Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

The final part of the strategic plan began to come together as I traveled across our great convention of churches. Each state and region has its own distinctives and, therefore, Kingdom-expansion principles must be contextualized. The best partner to work with our churches in this contextualization process is our state conventions. I am pleased to tell you that I have been privileged to meet with numerous state convention staffs that have developed, or are in the process of developing, materials to assist churches in discovering the tools they need to be effective for Kingdom expansion. This strategy will allow us to link heart, head and hand for Kingdom effectiveness.

________

Ken Hemphill is the Southern Baptist Convention's national strategist for the Empowering Kingdom Growth initiative.

*

When Thomas Hammond led a workshop eight years ago on how churches can become more visitor-friendly, he had no idea he would stimulate an ongoing series of sessions that continue today.

“I’m amazed at the ride because people have heard about it,” said Hammond, who estimates he has traveled to 20 states to present the workshop. “It’s meeting a need that we’ve neglected.”

The former pastor developed the lesson after he took a job as director of church evangelism with the North American Mission Board and began the search for a new church. Although he had been a Southern Baptist for a long time, Hammond said he and his wife were ignored, ostracized or treated like outsiders when they visited churches in the Atlanta area.

“We hear preaching on the Word of God, but we don’t experience it,” said Hammond, who left NAMB to become director of missions for the Metrolina Baptist Association in Charlotte, N.C.

His unpleasant experiences prompted an effort to educate churches on how to prepare for visitors -- he prefers calling them guests -- on Sundays.

One reason churches fail to make a good impression on first-timers is because they focus on the wrong things, he said.

At a church training seminar sponsored by the Kentucky Baptist Convention, Hammond noted that pastors devote considerable time to preparing Sunday morning sermons.

But he cited past research that shows most visitors decide whether to return in the first 10 to 12 minutes, long before the sermon’s delivery.

The decision is based on such factors as building appearance and the friendliness of greeters, Hammond said, and the truth is most Christians aren’t prepared to be welcoming.

“We tend to stop brotherly love within the four walls of the church,” he said. “What if we treated everyone who came to our services this Sunday as an angel, a special guest? Not necessarily for what they’ve done to this point, but for their potential.”

Hammond noted visitor parking as one area that shows whether a church is serious about welcoming newcomers.

While at NAMB, Hammond visited one church that had dwindled from 500 to 300 despite double-digit population growth in its area. When he surveyed the property and asked if they wanted visitors to come, leaders nodded yes. But Hammond said he didn’t believe them because they only had two visitor parking spaces.

After Hammond recommended they increase that number to the level of guests they wanted, the church set aside 20 prime spaces.

Over the next two and a half years, attendance doubled not just because of increased guest parking but because they gained a more hospitable outlook, he said.

“It’s a change of vision, of re-understanding your purpose,” Hammond said. “It wasn’t just that. But once they got it all straightened out, God blessed them. When people get focused on something besides themselves, their arms are open to whoever God brings to them.”

Another change that can create a more welcoming atmosphere is exchanging the term “visitor” for “guest,” he said.

Nobody wants to be labeled a visitor. While visitors don’t come back, you can’t keep guests away, Hammond said.

Despite the truth that churches can’t grow without guests and they won’t grow if guests don’t return, most spend little time preparing for company, he added.

“How much time do you think the average church spends getting ready for people who don’t come to their church?” Hammond asked.

“Our focus on Sunday morning is on us,” he said. “What would happen if we spent 30, 40 or 50 percent of our time getting ready for guests? Would their experience be different?”

Hammond said some factors that create a good impression include:

• An attractive campus.

He said this means a clean, well-maintained building that is landscaped outside, is inviting cosmetically and has plenty of directional signs in the parking lot and for such key facilities as the nursery and the front entrance.

• Guest parking.

The parking lot should have an adequate number of guest spaces that are easy to identify. Not only must they be the best spaces, it helps to have greeters in the parking lot in addition to the front door, Hammond said.

• Friendly greeters.

These people should be the best of the best, he said. They should wear nametags, escort guests to the welcome center and understand the value of this time.

Training all greeters in maintaining a cordial nature is a must, Hammond said. He recalled a visit where a greeter snarled at him to make sure he wasn’t a member using visitor parking.

“Preachers, it would scare us to death if we knew how people are treated in our parking lot,” Hammond said.

Some other steps Hammond outlined:

• Maintain a central location where guests are welcomed and receive information.

He said this information should include such items as a campus map, newsletter, information on upcoming events, summary of all ministries and information on discipleship classes and recreation opportunities.

• Offer a clean, bright, cheerful and secure nursery.

• Teach members to make guests feel valued, have everyone who speaks introduce themselves, and provide a post-service reception where guests can meet the pastor and staff.

Churches need to be attuned to the fact that the main reason guests show up on a Sunday morning is that they are hurting or have some kind of problem, even though they won’t share that initially, Hammond said.

“Most of the time when people come they’re treated like an annoyance because they’re messing up our gig,” he said. “They don’t know how to act; they’re not like us. They’re lost. Show them some love and they’ll want to listen to what you have to say.”

*

Over the years, I've learned that –- contrary to popular opinion -– the bigger the vision, the easier it is to reach that vision, and, ultimately, the size ofa pastor'svision should be determined by the size of God.

How big do you think God is? The issue is not who do you think you are, but who do you think God is? In your dreams foryour ministry, don’t limit yourself by saying, “What can I do?” Instead ask, “What can God do in this place?”

• Determining the size of your vision.

When determining the size of your vision,you need to keep three factors in mind. The first factor is the ultimate population of your ministry area. Obviously, if a church planter is going to start a new church, he doesn’t plan a church of 2,000 in a town that only has 500 people in it. Be pragmatic.

I tell people: Go get a map of your community, draw a circle that would include approximately 15 minutes' driving distance to your church and find out how many people are in that area. Then you say, “Ultimately, we want to try to reach everybody. We know we can’t reach everybody. But we assume the responsibility for reaching everybody. We pray that other churches will reach people, but we want to assume responsibility for that.”

• A lifetime investment.

The second factor is a question only you can answer: How long do you intend to stay there? There’s an old saying: Inch by inch, anything is a cinch.

Most of us overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate what we can do in 10 years or 20 years. The trouble with most goal-setting is we set our goals too low and try to accomplish them too soon.

Instead, we need to set big goals, huge goals, enormous goals, but plan on plenty of time in getting there. I tell everyone who comes on staff with us, “We don’t expect a miracle overnight.Let’s build.” We’re not interested in building a mushroom. We’re interested in building an oak tree. A mushroom takes 12 hours to grow; an oak tree takes 60 years. But an oak tree is going to last.

To reach big goals, you have to plan for the long haul in ministry. There are lots of flash-in-the-pan churches. There are churches that have grown larger than our church in a shorter amount of time. There was a church once near Saddleback Church that started with 1,200 people within the first month, but a year later the church was dead. It didn’t build the structure. It didn’t build the roots. It didn’t build all the other factors. Everything rises or falls on leadership.

So how long will you stay there? If you don’t plan on staying someplace for the long haul, don’t go there. You must plan for time. Persistence is the key in reaching a large goal. Conversely, the size of your goal will be determined by how much of your life you plan to spend in reaching it.

• Vision and your giftedness.

The third factor for determining the size of your vision is a frank appraisal of your own gifts. The Bible makes very clear that there are one-talent people and five-talent people and ten-talent people.

Some pastors will never have more than 150 in their church because they insist on doing everything themselves. They do all the prayers, all the visitation, all the counseling, all the marrying and burying. They want to know everybody by name, every kid by name, every dog. This shepherd-type of pastor loves the personal contact of getting involved with people in that area.

There’s nothing wrong with having a shepherd’s heart. God loves people with shepherd’s hearts. That’s why he made so many of them. There are about 400,000 churches in America and the overwhelming majority of them run less than 300 on a weekend.

Most of those are led by men who have a shepherd’s heart. But if a church is going to grow, one of the prices of growth is you must be willing to stop being everybody’s pastor.

In other words, you’ll have people who do not come to you, personally, for counseling. They won’t come to you for weddings. They won’t come to you for funerals. I’d say that is a price I’ve had to pay. I can’t do everything anymore. I can’t meet everybody’s needs individually as much as I’d like to; I have to give most of that over to other pastors and lay ministers.

The same thing is going to be true of your area. If you have a vision to grow a large church reaching people from across the spectrum, you’ll have to change the way you think. That’s why you have to do an honest assessment of your gifts.

Not everyone can walk away from the shepherd model. If that’s you, plan your vision accordingly. Your own gifts and abilities will determine your style of ministry and the size of your vision.

*

Some of our most profound events are the least expected. During the early days of my first full-time pastorate, I was standing outside the doors of the church under the drive-through portico. I had stationed myself there to open the car doors and welcome our people to church. My attention was soon drawn to a car a few cars back in the queue. It contained a young man about twelve years old and his dad.

As I watched them approach, it became obvious to me that they were having a very animated conversation -- one might have even called it an argument. I began to speculate to myself concerning the nature of their conversation. I had a few visual clues that helped. The young boy had on a suit that was too small, a shirt that was too tight in the collar, and a clip-on tie. I could tell the boy believed the shirt was too tight, because he was clawing at the collar as if he were about to suffocate. His dad, on the other hand, was quite relaxed in his open-collared, knit shirt and golf hat. I began to surmise that their “conversation” had to do with their various destinations. The boy was being dropped off at Sunday school while his dad was headed to the golf course.

When I opened the front door of the car, the little boy was turned toward his dad. I found I had been correct when I overheard the last three volleys of the conversation.

“Dad, do you promise you had to go to Sunday school and church when you were little?”

“Son, how many times do I have to tell you? I never missed a Sunday, so get out of the car and go on in.”

“I'm going, Dad, but I bet it won't do me any more good than it did you.”

That singular event caused me to ask several questions. While I didn't know what was going on at the boy's home, it was obvious that his father's behavior was not compatible with what the boy was learning at church. Why didn't church do this man any good? Why didn't it change his life? What was not happening at this church I had been called to pastor that had caused this young man to drop out? What is the church? Who does it belong to? What is its purpose?

We can actually answer all three questions with a single definition. The church is a covenant community of born-again believers accountable to Christ and designed for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. But how many of our churches function like they are accountable to Christ? How many have a passion to fulfill the Great Commission. I think we would all agree that a Kingdom-focused church should exhibit these characteristics, so let's look at the book of Acts to see if we can glean some guidelines for the Kingdom-focused church.

• The Kingdom-focused church proclaims the Gospel with boldness.

If you look at Acts 2:41 you will discover that the great Jerusalem church was birthed through the proclamation of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit doesn't want us to miss this point, and thus He has Luke virtually bracket the description of the church with the emphasis on bold proclamation. Listen to verse 47: Praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved.

When Peter is brought before the mighty Sanhedrin, he sees his questioning as nothing more than a witnessing opportunity (4:10-13). When the early church was scattered by persecution, we are told they went on their way proclaiming the Gospel (8:4). If you look further at Acts 11:19-20, you will find that bold witness was consistently practiced by those early believers. We are not going to see baptismal statistics change until we allow the Spirit to fill us with boldness for witness. Every church should have some strategy for equipping and mobilizing all church members for sharing the Gospel.

• The Kingdom-focused Church has a global vision and cooperative mindset.

The Acts 1:8 challenge is the focal point and outline of the book of Acts. Strategically the local church is the hub of a global church planting movement. Believers from Jerusalem planted the church at Antioch (11:19-30), which, in turn, sent Barnabas and Saul of Tarsus into the neighboring regions (13:2-3). This characteristic means that the Kingdom-focused church values cooperation and seeks partnerships with other like-minded churches. No single church has the resources to reach its Jerusalem, much less the ends of the earth. Thus, when the church becomes serious about the Kingdom, rather than their own limited agenda, it will work with a cooperative mindset in Kingdom partnerships.

• The Kingdom-focused church shatters prejudices and unites people.

The church at the center of much of the mission activity in the book of Acts is the church at Antioch. Luke gives us an interesting insight into this church. In Acts 11:23 he tells us that when Barnabas arrived from Jerusalem, he “saw the grace of God.” What did Barnabas see that convinced Him that God was at work in this community? If you read the entire text, you will discover that it was in Antioch that the early believers first witnessed to the Gentiles.

I think Barnabas saw Jews and Gentiles in fellowship with one another. This inner wall of partition that had existed for generations had been broken in an instant. What inner wall of partition does your church face? Some churches are divided over age distinctions, which often create problems related to styles of worship. The Kingdom-focused church will allow the Spirit to break down these walls for the sake of the Kingdom.

• The Kingdom-focused church teaches sound doctrine.

Acts 2:42 indicates that the early Christians were “devoted” to the apostles teaching. In Acts 11:26 we learn they taught new converts for an entire year before they were called Christians. If we are going to be obedient to the Great Commission, we must teach “them to observe everything I have commanded you.” Some church growth “gurus” argue that the church can't reach today's generation if you are strong on doctrine. This is neither true nor biblical. Every church must have a strategy for discipling believers. We cannot leave this to chance. The Kingdom-focused church needs to rediscover the impact of small-group Bible study. Pastors need to focus on biblical exposition from the pulpit.

• The Kingdom-focused church practices authentic fellowship.

According to Acts 2:42, the early Christians spent time together. We can't experience fellowship without spending time together. It is tragic to see the number of persons who give one hour a week, often on a somewhat irregular fashion, to attend a preaching service, and then complain that the church didn't provide fellowship. If the church is to function like extended family, it must prioritize spending time building family relationships. Furthermore, Acts 4:34 indicates that there was not a needy person among them. Fellowship is not simply a pat on the back and an occasional pot luck meal. The Kingdom-focused church is a family of faith that enjoys one another's company and meets one another's needs. Kingdom churches are generous churches, because they know everything belongs to the King.

• The Kingdom-focused church prioritizes worship.

True worship is active and life-changing. The idea of commissioning Barnabas and Saul was given by the Spirit as they were “ministering to the Lord” (13:2). The word translated “ministering” is the Greek word from which we get the English word “liturgy.” Have you ever viewed worship as “ministry to the Lord?” I sometimes hear people indicate that a certain style of worship “didn't minister to me.” Get a grip — worship is about God, not about you. We come together to minister to the Lord. Kingdom-focused people are passionate about ministering to the Lord, because they understand who He is and what He has done for them. Does your worship service reflect the desire to minister to the Lord? Or does it reflect the desire to appease a particular group of worshippers?

• The Kingdom-focused church experiences supernatural empowering through powerful prayer.

Acts 1:14 tells that the life of the early church began with continuous, united prayer. Prayer was the life and breath of the early church. After Peter and John were released from jail, they have a prayer meeting (Acts 4:31) — and some prayer meeting it was! The place was shaken, and the Holy Spirit gave them boldness for witness. We sometimes forget that the task to which we are called requires supernatural empowering. If the Son realized He could accomplish nothing apart from the Father, why would we be so bold as to believe we can do anything apart from prayer and the Holy Spirit? What priority is given to prayer in your church?

• The Kingdom-focused church practices generous stewardship.

We have already looked at the text that indicates the willingness of early believers to sell property and meet the needs of those who had less. When we read the story of the church at Antioch, we discover that they spontaneously took a love offering to meet the needs of the saints in Jerusalem. Paul challenged the churches in Macedonia and Achaia to join in this generous offering. Kingdom churches are marked by generosity. Perhaps it is because they have discovered that they own nothing, but the King whom they serve owns everything.

How is your church doing in these areas? I suspect most churches struggle in one or more of these areas. However, by God's grace, and through a commitment to becoming a Kingdom-focused church, every one of our churches can be transformed into bodies that reflect the heartbeat of God.

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Kenneth S. Hemphill is the Southern Baptist Convention’s national Empowering Kingdom Growth strategist.

*

Every month there's a cheering, weeping, air-horn-tooting celebration at First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, when the Rev. Rod Loy immerses new believers in the baptismal tank. “This is a sign that someone understands the ideas of sin and Christ's sacrifice and willfully chooses to be a lifelong follower of Jesus,” says the pastor. “So we celebrate it big.”

For believers, baptism is modeled on their savior, who the Bible says waded into the water to consecrate himself to God.

They may be sprinkled, washed from a flowing pitcher or immersed, as faith rituals vary. But all forms point to beliefs: rebirth in faith, salvation from sin, acceptance of God's promises and charges.

For parents who bring a baby before their church, baptism is a pledge of their faith, a shield against evil, a wrapping of communal arms around a defenseless soul.

For Christians of all denominations, “even if they never darkened the door of a church any other time in their life ... there's a tendency to hold onto this life-cycle marker,” says the Rev. Paul Sullins, a sociologist at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

Yet, this Easter, the holy day of resurrection, statistics find Americans slowly drifting away from the ancient baptismal ritual.

The Catholic Church has more than doubled in size in the past half-century, but its rate of infant baptism steadily has fallen, Sullins says. Methodists and Lutherans have seen both baptisms and their membership numbers slide for years. Even Loy's denomination, the Assemblies of God, which has had a boom in membership since 1980, saw its annual baptism numbers peak in 1997, then inch downward.

The Southern Baptist Convention has seen a half-century decline in baptisms and stalled growth in membership. In response, the Rev. Bobby Welch, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is leading a national campaign to reverse the trend.

Behind the drop, experts see pressures ranging from fewer babies since the postwar boom, to increased secularization and interfaith marriage, to more “seeker churches” that downplay tradition.

Among Catholics, Sullins says, the rate of baptisms has fallen faster than the rate of decline in births. Baptism isn't the only source of new members. The church's U.S. numbers - up from 31.6 million in 1954 to 67.8 million last year - also have grown through immigration. And at Saturday's Easter vigil, the church will receive tens of thousands of adult converts.

The sociologist also links fewer infant baptisms to two trends involving marriage. Fewer Catholics are choosing to marry in the church, and Sullins says they may be less “attached to the sacraments.” And, since a change in church law in 1983, Catholics who marry non-Catholics no longer must promise to baptize and rear their children as Catholics.

INTERMARRIAGE SLOWS BAPTISMS

Now the church requires only “a general recognition by the couple that the Catholic partner's faith will be respected.”

“The more you see more inter-faith marriages or couples where one partner is lukewarm or hostile to organized religion, the more you will see baptism taper off,” says the Rev. James Martin, associate editor of the Jesuit magazine America and author of My Life with the Saints

“I know friends who themselves are strongly Catholic but who married people inimical to the church, and it's hard to agree on what they should do with their baby. At the very least, it delays baptism. The more delayed, the less likely it is to happen at all,” he says.

All the denominations that emphasize infant baptism, such as Catholics, Methodists and Lutherans, struggle with a contemporary culture that rejects the very idea that humanity is born into sin or that parents should steer children's spiritual development, says the Rev. Gayle Carlton Felton, author of the United Methodist Church's statement on baptism theology and practice, This Gift of Water.

Methodists “no longer literally believe that baptism removes the burden of sin that would send a child to hell,” Felton says. But it's still essential because “it's God's claim on the child's life. “Something real is happening in a baptism,” Felton says. “For mainline liturgical churches, the actor here is God, claiming that child for his own. It doesn't matter if the child remembers it. God does.”

Denominations that baptize only believers - older kids and adults who profess change of heart and want to witness this with an outward sign - also are seeing a decline. The Southern Baptist Convention has seen its rate of baptism fall about 35% from 1972 to 1985, midway through a decade when the denomination was torn by dissension over an ultra-conservative leadership takeover.

Then the rate stalled for the next 20 years, even though Baptists are pledged to heed the Bible's “great commission” in Matthew 28:19-20: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. ...”

When religion columnist Terry Mattingly caught up with Welch's baptism campaign bus last fall, Welch told him just 40% of Southern Baptist Convention converts were truly unchurched before. “What that means is that we're not reaching the pagan pool. ... We're just rearranging the furniture inside the church.”

Unlike the slow-growing Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God's number of adherents grew from nearly 1.8 million in 1980 to nearly 2.8 million in 2004. But the total number of baptisms by immersion in water or by the Holy Spirit - experiencing the gift of speaking in tongues, one of the denomination's distinctly Pentecostal beliefs - has hovered from around 175,000 to 200,000 yearly.

If baptism is the door into a faith, where did all those people go?

Like Welch, the Rev. George Wood, general secretary of the Assemblies of God, sees Christians play musical chairs, looking for the right fit in theology, worship style and ministry services. “At the church where I pastored years ago in Orange County, we had to grow 30% every year just to stay even with the mobility in the culture,” Wood says. And, he adds, not all new or reborn faith takes root.

Today, some parents refuse to plant it at all.

There are now baptism-style ceremonies where God is never mentioned by parents seeking to initiate their children into a world of all faiths, says Ema Drouillard of San Francisco, who runs the website Ceremonyway.com.

She conducted such an event for Kirsten and Farnum Alston of Marin County, Calif., for their baby, Greer, in 1998. “We just wanted a larger spirit to guide our daughter, but we didn't want to get specific. I wanted all her bases covered,” says Kirsten Alston. The couple grew up Presbyterian, but now “we just do Christianity L-I-T-E” for Greer, who “believes in angels and fairies, leprechauns and Santa Claus.”

NON-TRADITIONAL PATHS TO GOD

Churches in the '90s began actively courting church-wary people. These “seeker” churches often de-emphasized strict theology and practice, and gave a less prominent role to baptisms.

“We focused so much on the personal decision, the big deal of turning your life over to Christ, that the public, external identification - baptism - was less important in practice,” says the Rev. Brian McLaren, who co-founded the non-denominational Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Md.

Yet McLaren, who retired in January to write and lecture, sees change in the air, particularly when he looks at young church leaders such as the Rev. Rob Bell, 35, who Christianity Today once said “puts the hip in discipleship.”

At Bell's non-denominational Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., where 12,000 worshipers gather weekly in a former mall, they roll in a portable tank every few weeks so baptismal candidates can witness their conversion to the whole congregation. “We are baptizing more people than ever,” because “people are desperate for something ancient and lasting and meaningful,” Bell says.

Even if baptisms aren't rising in numbers, they're on the rise in significance, McLaren says. Baptism is “a commitment to a lifelong spiritual practice, a discipleship, not a one-time event.”

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© 2006 America Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved

*

“We have figured out your problem. You're the only one here who believes in God.” That statement, addressed to a young seminarian, introduces Dave Shiflett's new book, EXODUS: WHY AMERICANS ARE FLEEING LIBERAL CHURCHES FOR CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANITY. The book is an important contribution, and Shiflett offers compelling evidence that liberal Christianity is fast imploding upon itself.

Shiflett, an established reporter and author, has written for THE WASHINGTON POST, THE WEEKLY STANDARD, NATIONAL REVIEW, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, and INVESTORS' BUSINESS DAILY, among other major media. He is also author of CHRISTIANITY ON TRIAL and is a member of the White House Writers Group.

Shiflett's instincts as a reporter led him to see a big story behind the membership decline in liberal denominations. At the same time, Shiflett detected the bigger picture -- the decline of liberal churches as compared to growth among the conservatives. Like any good reporter, he knew he was onto a big story.

“Americans are vacating progressive pews and flocking to churches that offer more traditional versions of Christianity,” Shiflett asserts. This author is not subtle, and he gets right to the point: “Most people go to church to get something they cannot get elsewhere. This consuming public -- people who already believe, or who are attempting to believe, who want their children to believe -- go to church to learn about the mysterious Truth on which the Christian religion is built. They want the Good News, not the minister's political views or intellectual coaching. The latter creates sprawling vacancies in the pews. Indeed, those empty pews can be considered the earthly reward for abandoning heaven, traditionally understood.”

Taken alone, the statistics tell much of the story. Shiflett takes his reader through some of the most salient statistical trends and wonders aloud why liberal churches and denominations seem steadfastly determined to follow a path that will lead to their own destruction. Shiflett also has a unique eye for comparative statistics, indicating, for example, that “there may now be twice as many lesbians in the United States as Episcopalians.”

Citing a study published in 2000 by the Glenmary Research Center, Shiflett reports that the Presbyterian Church USA declined by 11.6 percent over the previous decade, while the United Methodist Church lost “only” 6.7 percent and the Episcopal Church lost 5.3 percent. The United Church of Christ was abandoned by 14.8 percent of its members, while the American Baptist Churches USA were reduced by 5.7 percent.

On the other side of the theological divide, most conservative denominations are growing. The conservative Presbyterian Church in America [PCA] grew 42.4 percent in the same decade that the more liberal Presbyterian denomination lost 11.6 percent of its members. Other conservative denominations experiencing significant growth included the Christian Missionary Alliance (21.8 percent), the Evangelical Free Church (57.2 percent), the Assemblies of God (18.5 percent), and the Southern Baptist Convention (five percent).

As quoted in EXODUS, Glenmary director Ken Sanchagrin told the NEW YORK TIMES that he was “astounded to see that by and large the growing churches are those that we ordinarily call conservative. And when I looked at those that were declining, most were moderate or liberal churches. And the more liberal the denomination, by most people's definition, the more they were losing.”

Any informed observer of American religious life would know that these trends are not new -- not by a long shot. The more liberal Protestant denominations have been losing members by the thousands since the 1960s, with the Episcopal Church USA having lost fully one half of its members over the period.

In a sense, the travail of the Episcopal Church USA is the leading focus of Shiflett's book. Indeed, Shiflett states his intention to begin “with the train wreck known as the Episcopal Church USA.” As he tells it, “One Tuesday in latter-day Christendom, the sun rose in the east, the sky became a pleasant blue, and the Episcopal Church USA elected a gay man as bishop for a small New Hampshire diocese.” How could this happen? The ordination of a non-celibate homosexual man as a bishop of the Episcopal Church flew directly in the face of the clear teachings of Scripture and the official doctrinal positions of the church. No matter -- the Episcopal Church USA was determined to normalize homosexuality, even as they have normalized divorce and remarriage. As Shiflett explains, “It is commonly understood that the election of the Reverend Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, to be bishop of the diocese of New Hampshire was undertaken in clear opposition to traditional church teaching and Scripture. What is often left unsaid is that this is hardly the first time tradition has been trounced. The Reverend Gene Robinson's sexual life was an issue and was accommodated, just as the Episcopal Church earlier found a way to embrace bishops who believe that Jesus is no more divine, at least in a supernatural sense, than Bette Midler.”

What makes Shiflett's book unique is the personal narratives he has collected and analyzed. EXODUS is not a book of mere statistics and research. To the contrary, Shiflett crossed America, interviewing both conservatives and liberals in order to understand what is happening within American Christianity. Shiflett's interviews reveal fascinating insights into the underlying realities and the personal dimensions of theological conflict. EXODUS is written in a very direct style, with Shiflett providing readers anecdotes and analysis of his personal interaction with those he interviewed.

One of Shiflett's interviewees was the Reverend Bruce Gray, Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. In an interesting comment, Shiflett recalls that this was the very church where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech in 1775 -- the speech in which Henry cried: “Give me liberty, or give me death!” As Shiflett notes, “The Episcopal Church, by freeing itself from many of its traditional beliefs, sometimes appears to be well on its way to achieving both.” Revered Gray supports the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, and he told Shiflett that the biblical condemnations of homosexuality had been considered by thoughtful people who had decided that the texts do not mean what they appear to mean. He cited his own bishop, who had issued an episcopal letter arguing, “Many people believe any homosexual activity is purely prohibited by Scripture .... But other Christians who take Scripture seriously believe that the Biblical writers were not addressing the realities of people with a permanent homosexual orientation living in faithful, monogamous relationships, and that the relevant scriptural support for those relationships is similar to the expectations of faithfulness Scripture places on marriage.” That is patent nonsense, of course, but this is what passes for theological argument among those pushing the homosexual agenda.

In order to understand why so many Episcopalians are leaving, Shiflett visited Hugo Blankenship, Jr., son of the Reverend Hugo Blankenship, who had served as the church's Bishop of Cuba. Blankenship is a traditionalist, who explained that his father must be “spinning in his grave” in light of developments in his beloved Episcopal Church. As Shiflett sees it, the church that Bishop Hugo Blankenship had served and loved is gone. In its place is a church that preaches a message Shiflett summarizes as this: “God is love, God's love is inclusive, God acts in justice to see that everyone is included, we therefore ought to be co-actors and co-creators with God to make the world over in the way he wishes.”

Shiflett also surveys the growing list of “celebrity heretics” whose accepted presence in liberal denominations serves as proof positive of the fact that these groups will tolerate virtually anything in terms of belief. Shiflett discusses the infamous (and now retired) Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, John Shelby Spong. “When placed in a wider context, Spong is simply another character from what might be called America's religious freak show.” Yet, the most important insight to draw from Spong's heresies is the fact that he has been accepted without censure by his church. As Shiflett explains, Spong's views, “while harshly criticized in some quarters as being far beyond the pale, are present not only throughout the mainline but throughout Protestantism, even in churches that are assumed to maintain traditional theological rigor.”

In Shiflett's turn of a phrase, these liberal theologians believe in a “Wee deity,” a vapid and ineffectual god who is not much of a threat and is largely up for individual interpretation.

On the other side of the divide, Shiflett spent time with conservative Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, Southern Baptists, and the larger evangelical community. In considering Southern Baptists, Shiflett largely drew upon interviews he conducted with me and with Richard Land, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Shiflett understands recent Southern Baptist history, and he takes his readers through the denomination's “conservative resurgence” that defied the conventional wisdom that denominations can never be pulled back in a more conservative direction.

More importantly, Shiflett understands that doctrinal beliefs are the crucial variable determining whether churches and denominations grow or decline. He deals with the statistical data honestly, even as he points to the larger context and the underlying factors at work.

Shiflett's opening story about the seminarian who was confronted by his peers underlines the importance of theological seminaries as agents for either the perpetuation or the destruction of the faith.

In this case, seminarian Andy Ferguson, who had questioned the anti-supernaturalistic claims of his seminary professors, was confronted by a fellow seminary student who said, “We've been talking about you. We know you're having a rough time, and we've finally figured out what your problem is .... You're the only one here who believes in God.” Andy Ferguson decided that his fellow student was right. “They believed in things like the redemptive power of the universe, but I was the last one there who wanted to defend the biblical God -- the God who makes claims on us, who said we should do some things and not do others, and who put each one of us here for a purpose.”

In the end, Andy Ferguson left the liberal seminary, converted to Catholicism, and went into the business world. He told Dave Shiflett that liberal Protestantism is doomed. “Mainline Protestantism will reach a certain point where it will appeal only to Wiccans, vegetarians, sandal-wearers, and people who play the recorder. No one will feel at home there if they believe in God.”

EXODUS is a book that is simultaneously brave and honest. Refreshingly, he eschews mere sociological analysis and points to the more foundational issue -- TRUTH. No doubt, this book will be appreciated in some quarters and hated in others, but it is not likely to be ignored.

I can’t remember when or where I first heard the following suggestion, but I’ve seen similar versions over the years, and it remains one of the best ways to evaluate a church’s ministry to outsiders.

As you think about how your church prepares for Sunday services, you should follow a similar procedure that you typically would in preparing for company coming to your home for dinner. For instance, if you invited someone over, you:

1. personally and warmly invite them, telling them how much you are looking forward to them coming.

2. give them clear directions to your home, possibly providing a map. Of course, MapQuest, the online service has made this easier, but there are still people who prefer getting directions from the host, particularly if it might be hard to spot your house in a large neighborhood. Or perhaps you have a number of people coming to your home, and you need to provide special parking instructions.

3. might check to see if anyone in the family you are inviting has any food allergies. Perhaps one of them is on a low-fat diet or a vegetarian. You want to be certain that you offer a meal that will satisfy everyone you’ve invited.

4. begin to clean, inside and outside your house. You want everything to look as nice as possible. Inside, you vacuum and dust. If small children are invited, you might put breakable items up high and plan to have some toys or games to entertain them. Outside the house, you mow and edge the lawn. You might double-check to be certain your house numbers are easily readable from the street. Some hosts put balloons or similar attention-getting items on their mailboxes.

5. might tell the company ahead of time how to dress for the get-together. You might say that dress is business casual, or if you’re having a summer cookout, you might suggest T-shirts, shorts and tennis shoes. You want everyone to feel comfortable with no surprises.

6. greet them at the door with a warm handshake or hug. You invite them in and show them around the house. You make them feel at home.

7. might plan some activities, in addition to the meal, to “break the ice” and build relationships.

8. walk with them to the door after the meal, and possibly to their cars. You thank them for coming and let them know that you hope to see them again real soon.

Every week you have “company” visiting your church. Do you show them the same courtesies you would if they were visiting your home? Let’s look back at the list and think about what you might be missing at your church when you greet new people for the first time.

1. Each week are you and your church personally and warmly inviting families to worship with you, telling them how much you are looking forward to them coming?

2. Are you giving clear directions to your church, through brochures, ads, answering machine messages and on your church website? Are there special “visitors only” parking spaces near the church in case parking is crowded?

3. If your church has a weekly dinner for visitors or new members, are you sensitive to the needs of those with special diets? Are there simple foods for children to enjoy, too?

4. Is the church well-maintained, inside and out, as people come to visit on Sunday? Are all the lights on the church sign working and is the church name and address clear to see from the street?

5. If you invite people to church, do you tell them how most members dress each Sunday? If Wednesday night or other worship activities are more casual, is that information clearly conveyed, too? Remember, you want everyone to feel comfortable with no surprises.

6. When people arrive, does someone greet them at the door with a warm handshake or hug? Some churches even have greeters in the parking lot to help families with children to gather everything they need. Or, when weather is bad, your greeters could be outside with umbrellas to assist people. Once you invite them in, do you show them around the church? Do they know how to find the nursery, the bathrooms, Sunday School classes? Most importantly, be certain there are no “regular” agenda items to your service that the members have become accustomed to, but that might confuse new worshippers. For example: If you sing the same doxology at each service, don’t stop printing the words, or fail to reference the hymn page number in the bulletin, just because you sing it all the time. Make sure every visitor feels at home with what is happening in your service.

7. During your visitors’ time there, do you offer any activities to build relationships? Is there a time before, during, or after worship to meet and greet everyone?

8. When your church guests leave, does someone walk with them to the door, and possibly to their cars? Do you thank them for coming and let them know that you hope to see them again real soon?

Show your church guests at least the same courtesies you would show to guests in your home. In fact, look for ways to greet church company that go beyond what they might expect. Make worship at your church a uniquely warm experience that “company” will want to enjoy again and again.

*

[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #21515]

At least 80 percent of evangelical American churches are plateaued or declining, Ken Hemphill said, noting that the only true church growth is occurring in Asia and Africa today, not in the United States or Western Europe.

“We have had 30 years of church growth emphasis and, based on statistical evidence, the church growth movement has failed,” Hemphill said during a leadership summit for the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s missions staff and a number of local church leaders in early June, focusing on the revitalization of the local church using Empowering Kingdom Growth principles.

“My dad was a pastor. He went to every [Southern Baptist] Convention. If the Sunday School Board sold it, he bought it,” Hemphill, national strategist for the SBC’s EKG emphasis, reminisced. Near the end of his life, Hemphill’s father asked what part of his library his son wanted. Hemphill selected the shelf with the little blue and gray study course books written by the pioneers of the Sunday School movement among Southern Baptists.

“Washburn, Burrows and Flake wrote nothing more than church growth books. But it was the laity that studied these books,” Hemphill noted.

“My generation focused on training pastors,” he continued, “but something was lost in communicating to the laity. We spent a lot of resources and energy with pastors’ seminars and the like, but somehow what the pastors learned didn’t translate to the laity.”

Hemphill said he began to study the dynamics of “change movements” in history and saw that the cultural movements that changed the heart of a nation and mobilized the people always had a great leader. “God uses leaders to advance His Kingdom on earth. God always begins a great work in the hearts of leaders.

“Look at the Old Testament pattern: From the patriarchs to Moses to Joshua to Nehemiah to Paul -- God always begins a great work in the heart of leaders.”

Great leaders all had passion -- and passion is contagious, Hemphill said; because of that passion, people wanted to join the leader’s cause no matter what it cost them.

In the 1950s, those study course books became the tools to ignite a passion in the hearts of people, Hemphill said, but the church growth movement of the 1970s-1990s, however, invested too much time and energy in the mechanics of church growth.

“The church growth movement went at it backwards,” Hemphill stated, focusing first on strategy, style or structure -- “cells or Sunday School classes; hymns or choruses; worship or small groups; words in a hymnal or on the screen.”

“But if you change structure without changing passion, you will split the church. The heartbeat of the church must be changed first.”

David E. Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, added, “I believe virtually all of our pastors have a heart for God. We want, first of all, to help them prepare their people to have a heart for God. Our second goal is to help them develop an Acts 1:8 strategy. Then we want to help our church leaders show their people how to be faithful stewards and how to be engaged in reaching the world for Christ through sacrificial missions involvement.”

“How do you change a church?” Hemphill asked. “We can’t. If we get the right Scriptures in the hearts of the right people, the Holy Spirit will do the rest.”

With one of the greatest needs for revitalization of Southern Baptist churches being Kingdom-centered leaders, Hemphill listed seven characteristics of such leaders:

1) Kingdom-centered leaders always point to the activity of the Lord.

God has been at work in every church at some time in their history, Hemphill said. Instead of taking credit for practicing the mechanics of church growth principles, or for some program that has some measure of success, Hemphill reminded pastors to give God the credit. The same God who worked in the past desires to do a great work today, he said.

2) Kingdom-centered leaders must learn to give ministry away.

Exodus 18 tells the story of Moses trying to do it all, Hemphill said, but Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, counseled that he give his ministry away instead of being possessive. Sometimes pastors think that giving ministry away will lessen their authority, Hemphill said, but the bottom line is that the reverse is true.

3) Kingdom-centered leaders stand in the gap for their people.

While God was giving the law, the people were making an idol, despite God’s warning that He would wipe them out for doing so. Moses interceded to the point of laying his own life on the line before God. “Do I love my church people that much?” Hemphill asked. “I cannot imagine giving up my inheritance of ‘eternal life’ the way the Apostle Paul was willing to do,” he said, referencing Romans 9:11-13.

4) Kingdom-centered leaders provide for generational leadership.

Citing the Numbers 11 account of the Israelites’ complaining about their hardships, Hemphill asked, “What do you do when the people rebel?” He answered that the godly leader nevertheless must continue to cast the vision, pray for the people and train the next generation.

5) Kingdom-centered leaders serve the people and speak kindly to them.

In 1 Kings 12, Hemphill recounted, Reheboam rejected the counsel of his father’s advisers, who warned the young king that the people were tired. The advisers encouraged Reheboam to speak kindly to the people, but he refused the counsel. Too much of today’s preaching is not very kind, sometimes failing to communicate to people their value and their worth, Hemphill lamented, calling Baptists to rediscover who we are in Christ.

6) Kingdom-centered leaders model and mentor.

Citing the Matthew 10 account of Jesus sending the disciples out two by two, Hemphill inquired, “How many of our deacons have ever seen someone born again in a home they were visiting in with their pastor?” Leaders cannot just teach people what to do, Hemphill said. “We must demonstrate to them what to do.”

7) Kingdom-centered leaders find a ministry partner or coach.

Leaders recognize their limitations and seek partners, Hemphill said, then asked: How can a local church find better partners than a state convention or the Southern Baptist Convention to help them fulfill the Acts 1:8 mandate?

“God advances His Kingdom by revitalizing and multiplying local churches. All the work of associations, state conventions and the national convention is for the purpose of serving the local church. Planting local churches is the way God expands his Kingdom.

“Revitalization must begin with a heart transformation,” he continued. “You can’t make change without a DNA change in the heart of the church. Many people do not perceive change as ‘good’ unless their heart is changed. In far too many churches, the DNA of the church or the reason the church exists is to ‘make me happy.’”

A problem within many churches, Hemphill suggested, is that too many members think of the church as the “Love Boat” -– soft music and “bring me tea at the right hour and do not move my deck chair.”

“That is not what we are about. The ship of Zion is like a hospital ship. We are bringing in the wounded. The church is not the Love Boat to make me happy. It is designed to be the effective tool of God to advance the Kingdom in a dark world. We may move the deck chairs and the music will be generational to speak to the heart. The package will change but the message is the same. The message needs to be spoken in the language that people understand.”

The heart of the church must be changed to a biblical perspective, Hemphill continued. Then renewal of the mind is possible. “If we don’t capture this moment, we are in trouble,” he said. “God begins with a crisis to move us out of apathy.

“Will the church permeate our culture? Only if the heart and mind are changed to a biblical orientation,” he said, noting that the heart and the mind “are inseparably linked together.”

The EKG principles Hemphill set forth in his book and 40-day study, “EKG: The Heartbeat of God,” reach the heart, he said, while principles taught in Nate Adams’ similar resource, “The Acts 1:8 Challenge,” reach the mind.

Changes in the structure, strategy or style are possible when the heart and head are aligned with God’s Kingdom agenda revealed in the Word of God, Hemphill said. God works through the principles of Scripture to address spiritual problems that in turn provide lasting and meaningful solutions for churches and their members, he said.

Local churches must focus on the entire world if they are to be effective in reaching their own communities, Hemphill pointed out. If a church seeks only to reach its local area, or its Jerusalem in an Acts 1:8 perspective, the target likely is too small to hit, he said, noting, “We must challenge our pastors and churches to aim for the world and then they will hit Jerusalem.”

Hemphill added that “financial resources follow obedience and vision.” Most statistics confirm that Southern Baptists are at the lowest level ever in per capita giving. Hemphill noted research from George Barna that the most generous churches in America usually are liberal in theology. The same study found that the average layperson wants to know about stewardship.

If you have read earlier columns by me, you know that I am deeply concerned about the American church. Evangelistic effectiveness is waning. Biblical illiteracy is growing. And many of the 400,000 churches in the United States seem to be caught up in activities with little purpose of meaning.

You may therefore be surprised that I would even begin to suggest that the American church has reasons for optimism. Indeed, I must be careful in making such claims. Our initial work at the new entity, LifeWay Research, indicates that the American church is still in a mess. I cannot for one moment claim that significant negative trends are reversing. To the contrary, the overall path of churches in our nation is not good.

But what compels me to write about reasons for hope are the exceptions we are discovering in our research. Some of the stories are just too good to neglect. Please allow me to categorize these exceptions as three signs for optimism.

The first sign is that we are finding more churches that are focusing on conversion growth rather than total growth. For years the most heralded churches in America have been those that are growing the fastest numerically. But, upon closer examination, these churches are often growing at the expense of others. This transfer growth, rather than conversion growth, is the source of the large numbers reported by the churches. Still, we are seeing hopeful signs as many church leaders are asking serious questions about their methodologies and theology. They have a growing desire to impact the world of the lost and the unchurched rather than gaining members from other churches.

Though their numbers are relatively few now, I am gratified to see a greater concern among these churches for the lostness of our world. If more church leaders begin to move in this direction, we may truly see a significant evangelistic impact.

Second, in a growing number of churches we are seeing a concern for both meaningful membership and evangelistic outreach. The more common pattern we documented in the past focuses on one at the neglect of the other. In other words, some of the churches with the most focused resources on evangelism have done little to develop new converts into fruit-bearing disciples. Or, in the desire to see decisions, these churches have sometimes produced unregenerate members, or members who are not really Christians.

Yet other churches are focused on regenerate and meaningful membership while neglecting evangelism. The result is a small church of non-evangelistic but otherwise dedicated disciples.

The early findings of our research are encouraging. Imagine what a church could be if it had the fires of evangelism and the devotion to produce true disciples.

A third and hopeful sign is a growing desire for more significant and deeper teaching and preaching. I was recently visiting a church where the pastor of 15 years lamented that many members sitting under his preaching for his entire tenure were still, by their own admission, woefully ignorant of biblical doctrine. I commend him for stating his very clear decision to change the ministry of the church and his preaching ministry so that the riches of God’s Word would be consistently taught and preached.

My lamentations of the past are still valid. The American church as a whole is hardly evangelistic at all. Membership is so inconsequential in many denominations, including my own, that a “good attendance day” is when only half of the purported saints show up. And biblical ignorance among evangelicals is pervasive and worsening.

Yet I have taken careful note of the exceptions. And I do not believe that I am the only person noticing these incredible churches. As more take note, more will emulate them. And in doing so, they will not simply be copying yet another church growth fad or idea. Instead, they will be emulating a healthy New Testament church.

The trends are not significantly sufficient to declare a new direction of the American church. But these exceptions give me hope. Perhaps God is not yet done with our churches. Perhaps the exceptions will become the rule. Perhaps the best is yet to come.

Such is my prayer....

Through years of defending the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the world, at times in hostile environments, Ravi Zacharias has drawn much comfort from an essay written by English writer F.W. Boreham. The essay is titled “The Candle and the Bird,” and in it, Boreham proposes that God’s presence is more like a bird than it is a candle. When a candle is extinguished, the light goes out. But when a bird is driven away, it only leaves to sing its song on another branch. With this metaphor in mind, Boreham traces the mighty moving of God throughout history and leaves his readers with the sacred reminder that God is near to those who call on Him.

Today, China is one of the many places where we can hear the stirring song of God at work within a nation crying out to Him. After fifty years of repression and suffering, the Chinese church is thriving. In an interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY, international director of Asia Outreach, David Wang, called “growth” too tame a word. When asked what the greatest challenge is for the church in China today, another pastor replied with a smile beaming across his face, “Too many believers.”(1)

What is it about the rumors of God’s glory steadily humming throughout land and time that stirs and comforts the soul? As the name of Christ is vehemently silenced in various settings, the sounds of God at work remind us that we have a reason to sing even in the darkness. THE LIGHT IS NOT OVERCOME. The Spirit of God can be driven away but He will not be rendered ineffective.

Thus, we find God moving amidst the persecuted church of China, among hearts and nations throughout history; we see his hand in unlikely places and the message being preached to the ends of the earth. We see that God has a plan weaving throughout nations and individuals, history and the present. We hear whispering of a purpose and a hope that embraces not only the possibilities of the present but also the sufferings of the past and the expectations of the future. We see astounding evidence for the Christian hope in the whole story; a story, in the words of the psalmist, reviving the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart, enlightening the eyes, enduring forever (Psalm 19).

In a world where most people live as if they have to achieve the final fulfillment and satisfaction of their human lives before they die, the Christian message sounds as bold today as it did to those who first heard it. Yet all around us is the murmuring that there is something different about this good teacher; He speaks as one with authority. And his influence echoes a promise that has not been forsaken: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Since the beginning of time, the beautiful sounds of God at work can be heard unto the ends of the earth. May his song also rise from our lives until it is the cry the prophet heralds: Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: HALLELUJAH! FOR OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY REIGNS. The kingdom of God is near.

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1. David Neff, “Chinese Puzzle,” Christianity Today (7 March 2003), www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/003/21.9.html.

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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Dr. Wilbur Chapman often told of his experience when, as a young man, he went to become pastor of a church in Philadelphia. After his first sermon, an old gentleman said to him, “You’re pretty young to be pastor of this church. But you preach the Gospel, and I’m going to help you all I can.”

Dr. Chapman thought, “Here’s a cranky old guy.”

But the man continued: “I’m going to pray for you that you may have the Holy Spirit’s power upon you. Two others have covenanted to join with me in prayer for you.”

Dr. Chapman said, “I didn’t feel so bad when I learned he was going to pray for me. The 3 became 10, the 10 became 20, and 20 became 50, the 50 became 200 who met before every service to pray that the Holy Spirit might come upon me. I always went into my pulpit feeling that I would have the anointing in answer to the prayers of those who had faithfully prayed for me. It was a joy to preach! The result was that we received 1,100 into our church by conversion in three years, 600 of whom were men. It was the fruit of the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer!”

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Source: The Timothy Report, Copyright (c) 2007 Swan Lake Communications, http://www.timothyreport.com

“Mom, my knees ache!” I can still remember what my mother called “growing pains.” Like most early teens, my physical growth was not gradual and manageable -- it was sudden and explosive. For mom and dad the pain of my rapid growth was felt in the wallet as I outgrew my clothes before I would break them in.

Yet I can still recall with painful detail the physical pain that kept me from sleeping as my stretching joints and muscles cried out for relief. Dad’s salve for my pain was the simple promise that I would be bigger in the morning. For an aspiring athlete this was sufficient and I naively marked the door jam to record my “overnight” growth.

Growth is always a two-sided coin. It is a sign of health and vitality, and thus desirable. Nonetheless, it is painful. The same is true about growth in the church. Growth creates physical symptoms such as the lack of parking or space. It may mean that people must adjust their schedule to accommodate a second service. It may mean that the pastor and staff often will be stretched beyond their ability in their attempts to care for the needs of the congregation.

I pray that we all want growth. No one wants their church to die. What most of us want to know is: Can a church grow and yet maintain a personal, caring connection to all its members?

Everything we read about the church in God’s Word makes it clear that God designed the church to be the primary instrument for Kingdom advancement until the Good News of the King penetrates the darkness to the ends of the earth. Can we be faithful to this task and still nurture those whom God has placed in our immediate care? Good news, God has biblical solutions for our growth pains -- one is called “deacons.”

AS THE DISCIPLES WERE INCREASING IN NUMBER

An inaugural baptismal service of about 3,000 persons was a pretty good beginning for a new church. It is likely that many of those persons baptized on the Day of Pentecost returned to their homeland. Yet, the Acts account makes it clear that the disciples that remained in Jerusalem continued to grow. “And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). I love verse 14 of chapter 5: “Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers -- crowds of both men and women.” With many of our churches plateaued or declining, we have become so accustomed to “no growth” that we think it is the norm. God designed your church with the potential to invade the earth with the Gospel.

Exponential growth did not dilute the deep level of fellowship experienced by the early believers. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers” (Acts 2:42). Great fellowship creates a natural climate for evangelistic outreach. The depth of fellowship need not be diluted by the numerical growth that naturally occurs when the church becomes Kingdom-centered.

A COMPLAINT AROSE

It is no surprise that the impetus for the expansion of the ministry structure of the early church was “growth pains.” “In those days, as the number of disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution” (Acts 6:1).

If you have been in church for more than a few months, you may have heard a few complaints. When complaints occur because of growth, our natural reaction is to ease the pain at all costs. This application of a shallow topical ointment may give temporary relief, but it fails to address the underlying problem in a biblical way. This will lead to compromise and often result in stagnancy as the church loses its focus and its vitality.

The particular issue that caused growth pains in the early church was the inability of the apostles to meet the pressing needs of providing for the widows and still maintain the quality of the ministry of the Word and lead the church in prayer. The specific issue was the distribution of food provided for by the common funds generously given by the early believers (Acts 4:34ff). The Jewish community placed a premium on ministry to the widows and orphans (Psalm 82:1-4), and this same concern was embraced by the early church. It is possible that the cause of the initial complaint was a simple oversight caused by too much work and too few hours. But then the prejudice card was played and tempers flared. Fingers were pointed and the harmony of the church was threatened. Sound familiar?

A SOLUTION OFFERED

The apostles neither ignored the complaint nor allowed it to deter the church from fulfilling its mission. They sought a solution that would resolve the tension, preserve the fellowship of the church and allow the church to continue unabated in its Kingdom agenda. The solution had to be one that would not require the apostles to ignore their God-given tasks. Growth had created a situation where it would have been physically impossible for the apostles to be faithful to their own calling and give hands-on attention to the distribution of food.

The church elected seven Spirit-filled men to handle the task of serving the widows. The meeting of the practical needs of the congregation was vital and, thus, it was brought to the attention of the church as a whole. The issue here is not one of status or authority; it is one of calling and function. The apostles (pastoral leaders) of the Jerusalem church could not do everything -- nor should they have. A law of diminishing return affects any leader who attempts to spread himself too thin. Unless ministry is shared, dissension reigns and Kingdom growth is halted.

We generally look to this text for the beginning of the ministry of the deacons. The English word “deacons” is virtually a transliteration of the Greek noun “diakonos.” The original idea was “waiting on tables,” but this meaning was extended to mean “serving” in a general sense. I think it is likely that this particular word was chosen for these early “growth ministers” because of Jesus’ emphasis of greatness through servanthood. It is not clear from Scripture when these words were used to speak of the office of deacon, but 1 Timothy 3:8 refers to an order of deacons who were clearly recognized for their service. This passage should be carefully studied to determine the qualifications for diaconate service.

DO WE WANT TRADITION OR SCRIPTURE?

What is the role of the deacons in the church? At this point, tradition may create a problem for some churches. We may have grown up with the idea that the pastor and staff are called to do the ministry and the deacons are elected to administrate the church. This has led many churches to refer to the deacons as a “board” and look to them for all administrative decisions. We have actually reversed the biblical order, and it has adversely affected many churches.

It may have caused the mistaken idea among laity that one must have seminary training to effectively minister to people’s needs. Thus, most ministry roles and opportunities have been assigned to the professional clergy. This, in turn, led the deacons to assume more of the administrative tasks of setting the direction and vision of the church.

This reversal of roles can have many detrimental effects on the life and health of the church. First, the pastor who feels compelled to do the entire ministry will neglect his God-given priority of preaching and leading the church to become a praying community. The pulpit ministry will suffer and the discipling power of the Word from the pulpit will be diluted.

Second, the reversal of roles between pastor and deacons often creates a situation where the pastor is given no freedom to lead the church in developing a strategy for ministry. A fine line of balance must be maintained between pastoral leadership and congregational polity. The pastor is not a dictator who drives his people, but a servant who leads his people. Pastors must earn the right to lead by their consistent walk with God and service to the people. The members must encourage the pastor to lead, be willing to follow, and support his leadership through successes and failures. We often lose sight of the truth that we are on the same team and working for the same goal.

Third, and perhaps the most disconcerting effect of the pastor/staff doing all the work of ministry, is the loss of opportunity for the laity to serve according to their gifts. All believers are gifted for service, and thus, when deacons are deprived of the privilege of ministering according to their gifts, the church suffers. It stands to reason that churches should elect deacons who demonstrate gifts for service and then provide training and organize them to serve the body.

A PRACTICAL SUGGESTION

What is the biblical role of the deacon and how does the church organize itself to allow the deacons to accomplish their God-given ministry? Many would say, and I agree, that the Acts model and the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3 indicate the primary role is ministry, such as visiting the shut-ins and caring for church families. The ministry to the widows did require that the deacons have administrative ability since they were to oversee the allocation of food. Churches grow and the deacon ministry flourishes when deacons assume their biblical role as partners with the pastor in ministering to the congregation.

Many churches have found it helpful to organize their deacon ministry through the Sunday School or small group ministry. Each deacon would serve alongside the small group leader to provide for the ministry needs of a specific class. For this model to be effective it is important to ensure that everyone is enrolled in a small group Bible study unit and that deacons are assigned to each group. From my own personal experience, small groups that have deacons who take seriously their family ministry grow rapidly and maintain a high percentage of attendance to enrollment.

THE DRAMATIC RESULTS

I know that some of the changes suggested may require radical changes in our thinking, structure and priorities. Will it be worth it? Luke tells us the results in the early church: “So the preaching about God flourished, the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).

To please the King and advance His Kingdom is worth all the pain!

A new study of the American religious landscape should call Christians to intensify their efforts in both evangelism and discipleship, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said Feb. 25, 2008, on his national radio program.

“When you look at these numbers, we have a huge challenge before us,” said Mohler, who serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “By any estimation, it means we’ve got a huge job out there in evangelism to reach this country.”

The study, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and released Feb. 25, surveyed 35,000 Americans about their religious preferences. The study found that:

• Most Americans (78.4 percent) identify themselves as Christians of some sort.

• America’s Protestant majority, which has been in place since the colonial era, has dropped to 51.3 percent and will soon become a minority.

• Evangelicals are the largest single group of American Christians (26.3 percent), followed by Roman Catholics (23.9 percent).

• More than a quarter of American adults have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of either another religion or no religion at all. If a change from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44 percent of American adults have switched religious affiliation.

Roman Catholicism has lost the greatest number of adherents, Mohler said, while mainline liberal Protestant denominations also have seen a mass exodus. Even though evangelical churches have grown, the growth has a discouraging side, he said.

“The bottom line is that if you look at evangelicals, we’re growing but not commensurate with the growth of the population,” Mohler said. “The reality is that less than half of Americans will soon be Protestant, which means that America’s Protestant majority, true from the founding of this nation, is about to disappear.”

Several callers on the show said they had switched religious affiliation because of theological convictions. Mohler said those callers are probably in the minority of those who switch.

“I think you may be in a minority who are making a change for what are clearly understood to be theological reasons,” he told one caller. “I’m sure that happens. But my guess is that for a lot of Americans, who are unfortunately less theologically minded, it might be something else that has led to this. And there certainly is a lot of church hopping and church shopping that’s going on out there.”

When it comes to responding to the new data, churches must step up their efforts to share the Gospel with lost men and women, Mohler said. Otherwise the Protestant worldview could soon disappear from the American landscape.

“The evangelical church and evangelical churches -- speaking of local congregations -- are not doing enough,” he said. “I also want to suggest that evangelism, in terms of this kind of missiological setting, often has to be reset in terms of our self-understanding. I think most American evangelicals simply have no idea, no idea that we’re about to lose a Protestant majority in this country.”

The data about Americans switching religious affiliations is not all bad news, he said. Such changes are a byproduct of religious liberty, Mohler said.

“Insofar as [religion switching] is theologically driven, it is a good thing,” he said. “It is the necessary outcome of what happens when you have religious liberty, when people can indeed make decisions other than the decision that would be made for them by their parents or by the state or by a state church or by some kind of external authority.”

The study should remind pastors to preach messages grounded in Scripture that help believers remain faithful to orthodox theology, he said.

“When people are deeply grounded in God’s Word, and in their convictions, they’re not going to switch,” he said. “Now they may make a move from one church to another, but it’s going to be on the basis of something other than they’re switching their theology.”

Mohler also posted comments about the study in his blog at www.albertmohler.com. In the blog, he concluded, “All this reminds us of the complexity of our context and the immensity of our challenge. We cannot look at this data with mere interest. These numbers represent real people who desperately need to hear the Gospel -- and to see authentic Christianity made visible.”

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More on the survey from Baptist Press, 2/29/08:

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey was released Feb. 25 and was based on interviews with 35,000 Americans. It showed that 6.7 percent of American adults say they are Southern Baptist, which makes it the largest represented non-Catholic denomination in the survey. Adults affiliated with the United Methodist Church are 5.1 percent of the population, while every other denomination makes up 2 percent or less of the population.

More than three-quarters of the population (75.8 percent) say they are affiliated with a Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox church. Protestants -- which in the survey include evangelical churches, mainline churches and historically black churches -- make up 51.3 percent of the adult population, followed by Catholics (23.9) and Orthodox members (six-tenths of a percent).

Evangelicals in America -- of which Southern Baptists are a sub-set -- comprise 26.3 percent of adults and outnumber Catholics and mainline Protestants (18.1 percent).

Pew compared data from the survey to data in past General Social Surveys (GSS, another well-known survey) and found that Protestants are declining as a share of the population. But that decline may not be among evangelicals, a Protestant sub-set.

“What scholars who have analyzed the GSS data have found,” Pew reported, “is that the proportion of the population identifying with the large mainline Protestant denominations has declined significantly in recent decades, while the proportion of Protestants identifying with the large evangelical denominations has increased.”

Both the Pew report and the GSS findings are in line with the results released in 2002 by the Catholic-affiliated Glenmary Research Center which showed growth among conservative evangelical churches and decline in liberal mainline denominations.

Among the study’s other findings:

• People affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Alliance of Baptists and a general “liberal/progressive Baptists” category make up less than three-tenths of a percent of the population. The survey lumped all three into one category and placed them under the mainline Protestant category.

• Mormons are 1.7 percent of the population, Jehovah’s Witnesses seven-tenths of a percent.

• Historically black churches make up 6.9 percent of all adults.

• Those who attend nondenominational evangelical churches are 3.4 percent of the population.

• Members of historically black churches (69 percent) and evangelical churches (68 percent) are more likely than those of mainline churches (55 percent) to marry someone from their own Protestant affiliation.

• Catholicism has “lost more people to other religions or to no religion” than any other religious group. The losses, though, have been offset by immigrants, 46 percent of whom are Catholic. Nationwide, half of all adult Catholics under 40 are Hispanic. There is a “significant ethnic shift that is occurring among younger Catholics.”

• Jews comprise 1.7 percent of the population.

• Four-tenths of a percent of the population are Muslim, a decrease from a figure of six-tenths of a percent found in an earlier survey. [Both figures are quoted in the Pew report.] Seven-tenths are Buddhist, four-tenths are Hindu.

• More than one in six adults (16.1 percent) are not affiliated with any religious group. But most of them are not atheist or agnostic. Atheists make up 1.6 percent of U.S. adults, agnostics 2.4 percent. The remainder of the unaffiliated group are those who say religion is “not too important or not at all important in their lives” (6.3 percent) and those who say religion is “somewhat important or very important in their lives” (5.8 percent) but nonetheless have no affiliation.

At Fellowship of the Rockies church in Pueblo, Colorado, baptism has taken on a new level of importance in the lives of people who have committed to following Jesus, and it began with a simple sermon on the meaning of the church ordinance.

The staff at the contemporary Southern Baptist congregation had noticed that a significant number of people were coming to them with questions about baptism, many of them unsure whether their infant baptisms or other such observances were biblically valid.

“We planted the church in 1995. The majority of our church came from an unchurched background, so we didn’t have a lot of transfer growth,” Charlie Jones, the church’s pastor, told Baptist Press. “In that process, we’ve reached a lot of people, and a lot of people have prayed to receive Christ. But they were unchurched, and they came from all different types of spiritual backgrounds.”

A large portion of the population in Pueblo has a Catholic background, and some are Methodists or from other denominations that don’t practice baptism by immersion, Jones said.

“There are many different reasons, but for whatever reason, we could get them to accept Christ and we could get them into the church, but they did not want to be baptized by immersion, whether because they had been sprinkled or baptized as a child and the emotion that was tied to that with their parents,” Jones said. “We just could not get them to move to baptism.”

So Jones planned to preach a sermon on baptism, and then he went a step further and decided to ask people to be baptized on the spot if they had accepted Christ as Savior and Lord.

“That’s the model that’s in Scripture. Many times, when people met Christ they were immediately baptized,” Jones said.

“As Baptists, we’re real good about wanting people to make an immediate decision about accepting Christ, but then we’re a little bit distant on ‘Whenever you want to get baptized, it’s up to you. You make that decision,’” he said. “So I decided to go ahead and call them to get baptized the same way we would call them to accept Christ.”

As the staff prepared for the baptisms, they anticipated about 30 people would accept the challenge. They bought T-shirts, shorts, towels and hair dryers to help with logistics.

“Then I gave a simple sermon on the meaning and the method of baptism and why they should be baptized,” Jones said. “We followed it up with a really strong call to get baptized. We took away all of their excuses by telling them, ‘We want you to get baptized right after the service. Really and truly the only thing that’s keeping you from being baptized today is you’re just not ready to be completely obedient to what Christ has called you to do.’”

The church was ready to offer DVDs and pictures of the baptisms so that people could distribute them to family and friends who wouldn’t be in attendance.

“We even told them, ‘If you’re busy for lunch and you’ve got plans after the service, then just come down front and give us a time when you’ll be back. Our staff will be here until 7 o’clock this evening. Just show up. We’ll baptize you.’”

Fellowship of the Rockies has a Saturday night service and two Sunday morning services. It turned out that on that February weekend, 110 people took the pastor up on his offer to baptize them immediately following a service.

“It was unbelievable chaos because we were expecting 30 and we had 110,” Jones said. “We had volunteers going back and forth to the laundromat. We bought more T-shirts. We bought Kmart out and then started working on Wal-Mart.”

But in the chaos, Jones said there was a marked sense of brokenness among the people.

“There were tears. People were confessing things...,” he said.

Jones said they would baptize a family at one service and “they’d go home and witness to their other family members and they’d show up that afternoon with family members to get them baptized.

“It was just an unbelievable movement of God. For sure I’ve never witnessed that many baptisms at once.”

Three different pastors took turns baptizing, and Jones was amazed that most of the people were adults.

“I think we had 20 or 30 youth and children, and then the rest were adults. I think our oldest person was 87 years old,” he said.

“We baptized 10 percent of our church on that weekend. It’s a huge percentage of people that got baptized,” Jones said, adding that Fellowship of the Rockies averages about 850 people in the worship services and another 200 children in a separate area.

Since then, the people have followed up on their commitments by diving deeper into their faith. On May 3, the church launched a class on doctrines, giving people the foundations they need for a solid Christian walk.

“Hebrews 6:1-2 talks about leaving the foundations of your faith, the elementary teachings -- baptisms, accepting Christ and those things -- and you need to move on to maturity because until you get a solid foundation you’ll never become mature,” Jones told BP.

Previously, people who accepted Christ were ushered into an hour-long membership class where they would sign a membership covenant and hear a brief overview of basic doctrines.

“The foundations class is 23 weeks. It’s really systematic theology, but it goes through the foundations of the faith,” Jones said.

More than 145 people signed up for the foundations class, and Jones characterizes the progress as “a huge movement of God.”

“The baptisms haven’t stopped. We’re up to 155 baptisms. It’s kind of moved through the church,” he said. “There’s also been a deepening in the church. Not only do they want to learn more, but we’re doing more and more community efforts as well.”

Last year the church baptized about 50 people in the entire year.

“The story that has stuck out is the unbelievable brokenness. This isn’t just something they did because everybody was doing it,” Jones said. “What got me the most was the tears, the confession of some stuff in their lives and then them following through. To put 147 people in a foundations class is pretty huge.”

“We’re a friendly church!” It’s a phrase heard regularly in most churches. Often, the more true statement is, “We’re really friendly with one another.” Is it possible that newcomers to your small group or your church perceive your sweet fellowship as cliquish?

Answer this question: Do you function more as a social club or an army of God? If your small group/Sunday School class is comfortably stagnant, or your church is plateaued or declining in attendance, perhaps it’s time to un-clique.

As the fall semester kicks off, try these simple ideas to un-clique your class:

* Stop and refocus. Teach members to pay attention. When a guest arrives, members immediately change their focus from chatting with one another to warmly welcome the guest.

* Every member’s a greeter. Train members to see every guest through God’s loving eyes, and connect personally. Learn their name. Listen well and introduce guests to others. Learn their name. Sit nearby guests. Have real conversation with them. Learn their name. Tell them about church events and ministries they might enjoy. Invite a guest to join you for lunch. Get to know them and share your own Jesus story. Don’t forget to learn their name.

* Add chairs, and move over. Anticipate guests. Provide plenty of seating so a guest never has to search awkwardly. Members can make guest seating less intimidating when they avoid “saving” seats in worship. Give up your end-of-pew seat rather than forcing newcomers to climb over you. For a Sunday School class, rearrange classroom seating often. Change from rows to a circle, or face a different direction.

* Avoid exclusive phrases. “Most of us are related.” “We’ve all been friends for years.” “We all grew up in this church.” Phrases like these inform guests that they’ll never be accepted. Show love for one another, but never at the expense of excluding others.

* Invite. Challenge class members to invite their unchurched acquaintances weekly. Print business-card-style invitations for members to carry with them. Teach members to be alert for guests in worship services and invite them to their class.

* Provide frequent entry points. Guests are always welcome, but intentionally plan special days to encourage members to bring newcomers. Use any excuse. A new Bible class or sermon series is set to begin. We’re going out for lunch after church together. Bring your neighbor early next week for coffee and tea. Keep members thinking of the lost people they know.

* Connect digitally. Guests feel welcomed when individuals send an email to invite them back next Sunday. Add guests’ names to your class or church email list immediately. “Friend” them on Facebook.

* State the goal often. Remind the group that we are organized to reach those who don’t yet know Jesus. Strive for second-time guests and new members. Small groups can set numeric goals for growth. Ask every guest if they’d like to join the class. They don’t have to be a Christian yet to join a Bible class. Church not a closed group.

* Un-clique leadership. Involve more people in large and small leadership roles. Many responsibilities are appropriate for newcomers, so offer a place of service as soon as possible.

* Plan for explosive growth. When members bring their lost friends, and the church warmly envelops guests with God’s love, growth will happen. Get ready for them. Mentor potential teachers and leaders. Intentionally create new breakout groups, or multiply your class. No one can accuse a growing group of being cliquish!

The Great Commission is too vast -- and eternity is far too important -- for us to sit in a huddle. Make a commitment today: Un-clique.