The Unacknowledged Factor in Most Growing Churches

 In my ministry as a pastor, I had the privilege of being a part of a growing congregation on two different occasions. Two out of the eight congregations I served, spanning fifty years, could be described as growing. By the word “growing,” I mean consistent numerical increase in worship and participation. A growing church is a rarity in today’s culture. Most churches are plateaued or declining.

Based on my experience, I identify the unacknowledged factor in most growing churches is location, specifically, a location in an area experiencing rapid population growth. A constant influx of new people in a church’s geographical area generally provides a steady stream of new people seeking a place to worship.

A growing population is not an automatic guarantee of growth. The steady stream of new people seeking a place to worship must find what it is looking for. If the new people coming do not find what they are looking for, they will keep looking elsewhere.

While a growing population in a church’s geographical area is the unrecognized factor in most growing churches, it is not the only factor needed for growth. Other factors are essential. A vibrant, authentic spirituality that permeates everything is foundational. Such spirituality is expressed in joy, openness, hope, and forgiveness.  It is inviting and welcoming, offering all who come an authentic warm welcome. Genuine acceptance (which is different from the welcome) provides each person a place to connect and belong (often through the creation of new groups). Vibrant spirituality is expressed in uplifting, God-focused worship that point people to the grace of God and connects people with God (as opposed to formal, repetitive, performance-oriented worship practices). Preaching that is biblically based, full of grace, free from judgment and condemnation, relevant to people’s daily lives while nurturing their spiritual journeys is the fuel that keeps the congregation’s spirituality vibrant and authentic. A spiritually vibrant congregation offers each person a way to use their unique gifts to contribute and serve. It follows the teachings of Jesus in dealing with conflict, pursuing reconciliation that maintains unity while avoiding division.

Having described vibrant, authentic spirituality as foundational to growing churches, I have to acknowledge many churches in areas of rapid population growth are able to grow without much spirituality. In place of authentic spirituality, they substitute programs that appeal to people’s interests — worship that is based on musical performance, music programs designed to support performance-oriented worship, programs for children and youth, preaching that reflects culture rather than the kingdom, etc. Such churches attract consumers who have little understanding of or interest in discipleship or authentic spirituality.

Many established churches do not benefit from the population growth happening around them. (Three of the eight congregations I served failed to grow although the population around them was growing.) Their failure to grow in the midst of a burgeoning population points to unrecognized barriers within their life. Most of those barriers are relational — people who don’t know how to genuinely welcome others, particularly those who are different, established groups that don’t know how to incorporate new people, power-blocs and power brokers controlling how things are done, rigidity regarding style of worship and beliefs and “the way we do things here,” conflict spawned by the rigidity and the control of power brokers, an unwillingness to change. (Growth cannot happen without change. Growth produces change.) An almost universal characteristic of churches that fail to grow is a lack of vibrant spirituality.

Population growth is not the only factor in growing churches. Growth in a static, declining, or transitional community is possible, but it is much more challenging. It requires much more intentionality and effort. Yet, when the factors related to authentic, vibrant spirituality exist, growth is possible. People will go where they experience the love of God and where that love is made real in their lives.

Test the Spirits

 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1).

Test the spirits. The biblical writer was calling his readers to exercise spiritual discernment.

Spiritual discernment is the ability to recognize that which is of God and that which is not. It is the ability to see through — discern — the surface appearance to the spirit that underlies what is being presented. It is the ability to see the deeper realities.

Spiritual discernment is a vitally important gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10). Without it, we are easily deceived and led astray “by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14). We are deceived by the persuasiveness of people who say things that “sound true,” often using the Bible to validate their position. We are led astray as others appeal to what we already believe and how we already think. Apart from spiritual discernment, we confuse our thinking (i.e., the way the world taught us to think) with the truth of God and the ways of the world with the ways of God. Without it, we get trapped in our old thinking and, consequently, stuck spiritually.  We remain spiritually immature, “children, tossed to and fro and blown about” (Ephesians 4:14).

The Spirit guides us in exercising discernment. (Remember, spiritual discernment is a gift of the Spirit.) Our ability to exercise discernment grows as we grow spiritually. The Spirit teaches us the ways of God Jesus taught (John 14:27), moving us beyond how the world trained us to think. The Spirit teaches us the deep things of God so that our thinking is shaped by the character of God and the ways of God (1 Corinthians 2:7-16). We take on the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). The more our thinking is shaped by the character of God and the ways of God (i.e., the mind of Christ), the more discerning we’ll be.

Until we hone our skills in exercising spiritual discernment, Paul provides us a simple tool to use. In his discussion about living by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26), the Apostle Paul drew a contrast between the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). His contrast guides use in exercising discernment. The works of the flesh are about self-indulgence, power, and conflict — “enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy” (Galatians 5:20-21). By contrast, the Spirit empowers us to love as Jesus loved — to be patient, kind, generous, faithful, and gentle with others. Anything that produces conflict and division is not of God … period. It is the result of living out of “the flesh” — our anxiety-driven, self-serving, what’s-in-it-for-me nature. Conflict and division are always fueled by a not-so-subtle sense of arrogance that says “I’m right; you’re wrong.” Paul said love “is not boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).

How much pain and destruction might we avoid in our churches if we understood this simple truth: conflict and division, along with the anger and sense of being “right” that drive them, are never of God; they are the product of our sinful human condition?

But, then, that would require us to grow up spiritually-emotionally-relationally. It would require us to talk through our differences, seeking common ground. It would require us to actually listen to and hear what the other said. It would require us to negotiate a way forward. It would require us to follow the guidance of the Spirit. It would require spiritual discernment.

Beloved, test the spirits — including those in our own hearts!

Trinity Sunday, 2022 - The Spiritual Truth We Cannot Hear

In his Farewell Discourses (John 13-17), Jesus made an interesting comment to his disciples. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” John 16:12.

The disciples were not in a place emotionally-relationally-spiritually to hear what Jesus wanted to teach them. They could not understand his teaching nor could they accept it, allowing it to shape their thinking.

It seems to me the disciples were not the only ones in this position. Not being able to bear — that is, hear, understand, accept, and embrace — what Jesus taught is a normal part of the spiritual journey. This inability is tied to an inherent characteristic of our human condition. Social scientists call this condition confirmation bias. It means we use how we already think and what we already believe to determine what is true. If what we hear aligns with how we already think and what we already believe, we accept it as true. If what we hear challenges how we already think and what we already believe, we reject it as not true. Consequently, confirmation bias is a barrier to learning anything new and to broadening our understanding. It keeps us stuck intellectually as well as spiritually.

How we think shapes how we live. Consequently, as how we think changes, how we live changes.

Learning to think differently is foundational to progress on the spiritual journey. It lies at the heart of any and all spiritual growth. The Apostle Paul said we are transformed “by the renewing of our minds,” Romans 12:2. We put off the old self and put on the new self by “being renewed in the spirit of your minds,” (Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:9b-11).

Our starting point on the spiritual journey is the way the world trained us to think. The world’s thinking is merit-based thinking. Merit-based thinking is built around laws, social norms, and expectations. It emphasizes conformity to those laws, norms, and expectations. It rewards those who conform and punishes those who don’t. As a result, it creates hierarchal relationships and hierarchal standings. Merit-based thinking fosters an earning and deserving mentality. It champions self-reliance and self-effort. It creates us-them thinking that divides the world into those like us and those not like us, those who conform and those who don’t, those who measure up and those who fail to measure up. It also fosters attitudes of being better than the other. It creates either-or, black-and-white, right-or-wrong thinking that reinforces our sense of being right and, therefore, better than the other. It cultivates a not-so-subtle attitude of arrogant superiority. The world’s thinking is how we were trained to think. It shapes how we live.

Spiritual progress involves moving beyond this old way of thinking. Spiritual growth happens as our thinking begins to be shaped by the character of God and the ways of God. As our thinking changes — is renewed, to use Paul’s term — our hearts are cleansed and our lives are transformed. How we live changes. How we live begins to reflect the ways of God that now shape our thinking.

This renewing of our minds and transformation of our lives is the work of the Spirit. Jesus spoke to his disciples of the Spirit’s work. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you,” John 14:26. The Spirit teaches us spiritual truth — the things of God Jesus taught. The Spirit teaches us the wisdom of God — the deep things of God rooted in God’s character (1 Corinthians 2:7, 10-13). The Spirit guides us into understanding those things we struggle to understand and accept. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth,” John 16:13. The Spirit leads us beyond our old ways of thinking into understanding and embracing thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God — what Paul called “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). As our minds are renewed, our lives are transformed.

The disciples could not bear — hear, understand, accept, or embrace — what Jesus had to teach them. I wonder what Jesus would teach us but we cannot bear it. I wonder what the Spirit would teach us if we did not resist it. I wonder what old way of thinking is blocking our spiritual growth. I wonder what it would take for us to be open to the Spirit’s work of guiding us into what we cannot bear.

Pentecost, 2022 - Pentecost: the Gift of the Spirit

Pentecost! The gift of the Spirit!

Pentecost is possibly the most overlooked, undervalued holy day in the Christian year. If we understood the gift of the Spirit, our lives as the followers of Jesus would be radically different.

Jesus had taught his disciples about the gift of the Spirit (John 14:15-28; 15:26-27; 16:7-15). As he ascended back to the Father, he instructed them to wait for the gift of the Spirit to be given. On the day of Pentecost, that gift was given. God poured the Spirit out on Jesus’s followers (Acts 2:1-4).

In the Spirit, we experience the presence of God. The Spirit is the indwelling presence of God in our lives as individuals and among us as a spiritual community. “He abides with you, and he will be in you” (John 14:17). “We (the Father and Jesus) will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23). Christ lives in us and through us through the indwelling Spirit (Romans 8:9-10).

In the Spirit, we experience the transforming power of God in our lives. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The Spirit empowers us to do what we cannot do in our own strength (Romans 7:15-20). The Spirit empowers us to live the ways of God. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do; by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4, emphasis added). The Spirit empowers us to move beyond the self-serving, what’s-in-it-for-me ways of our innate human nature (what Paul called “the flesh”) to live a Christ-like life. The Spirit empowers us to love as Jesus loves. As we learn to live in the power of and under the guidance of the Spirit, we move beyond trying-harder-to-do-better. We no longer settle for the mediocrity of as best I can.

The Spirit empowers us by transforming our hearts and minds. “All of us … are being transformed into the same image (of Christ) from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Spirit matures us into the likeness of Christ so that we love out of the Christ-like character the Spirit engrains in us (Ephesians 4:13-15). Through the Spirit, we grow spiritually into the likeness of Christ.

The Spirit grows us up spiritually by teaching us the ways of God Jesus taught. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:25). The Spirit teaches us the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-13) and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 2:7) so that we think with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). This Spirit-led change in how we think leads to a cleansed heart and a transformed life. “Stop being conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2, personal translation). The truths the Spirit teaches us confronts the attitudes we harbor in our hearts. As the Spirit cleanses our hearts of these old attitudes, our lives are transformed. Learning to think in line with the character of God and the ways of God, i.e., the mind of Christ, leads to a cleansing of our hearts. With our minds renewed and our hearts cleansed, our lives are transformed. We live with the mind of Christ, living the ways of God he taught. (This pattern of spiritual growth, rooted in the renewing of the mind, is expressly stated in Ephesians 4:22-24 and Colossians 3:9b-11.)

As we learn to think with the mind of Christ, the Spirit guides us in living out God’s ways of self-giving love in specific situations. We are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14-17, Galatians 5:18). Thus, we no longer depend on the law or need the law. Rather, we seek to keep in step with the Spirit as the Spirit guides us (Galatians 5:25). The Spirit leads us to love as Jesus loved (Galatians 5:22-23).

As the Spirit teaches us and empowers us to love as Jesus loved, we experience the peace of Christ (John 14:27). We live out of an inner spirit of joy and peace (Galatians 5:22) that results in patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and gentleness (Galatians 5:22-23). Living out of joy and peace frees us to love as Jesus loved.

The Spirit’s presence and work in our lives is evidence that we are the children of God, claimed by God’s grace in Christ Jesus (Galatians 4:4-7, Romans 5:5; 8:14-17).

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25, personal translation).

(To learn more about the Spirit and the Spirit’s work, see my books — Life in the Spirit: Reflecting on the Work of the Holy Spirit in Our Lives and The Fruit of the Spirit: the Path That Leads to Loving as Jesus Loved – available through pastorstevelangford.com)