The Disciple Makers Blog

Multiplication Ministries | Church Dynamics International

Month: May, 2010

Good News About the Church in America

Planting New Churches is Making a Difference

“Is it Easier to Give Birth then to Raise the Dead?”

I have often heard regarding churches that “it’s easier to give birth then it is to raise the dead.”  Of course that phrase is referring to “planting or giving birth to new churches” and apparently from this article by Lillian Kwon a Christian Post Reporter, there is a lot of truth to that statement.  As good as this news is, I still have some concerns about the number of churches closing.  I will raise those concerns at the close of this great article for your consideration and comments.

Andy
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Total U.S. Churches No Longer in Decline, Researchers Say

We often hear about churches closing their doors in the U.S. But some may be surprised to hear that the total number of churches is not in decline anymore.

An important shift happened in recent years, according to researchers Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird. After decades of net decline, more U.S. churches are being started each year than are being closed.

The credit largely goes to the recent increase in enthusiasm for church planting. Stetzer, who leads LifeWay Research, says church planting has become the “it” thing right now and the new evangelism.

So many new churches are springing up that Stetzer and Bird believe the U.S. is on the edge of seeing a major breakthrough in church multiplication, they write in the newly released Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers.

“Church planting is on the mind of North American Christians at unprecedented levels,” they write.

Despite the aggressive increase in church launches, a massive church planting phenomenon hasn’t happened yet and the co-authors are hoping to help Christians move past certain obstacles in order to orchestrate a viral movement.

That means, church planting must move from being a fad or “the next big thing” to a “passionate pursuit of the lost.”

Another obstacle is getting past the “don’t we already have enough churches?” mentality.

There may be a hesitancy to having a church planting emphasis because “the thinking seems to be [that] there’s a church on every corner and most of them are empty,” state the authors, who have led and studied church plants.

But research shows that new churches fare better when it comes to drawing new people and they have a higher ratio of conversions and baptisms compared to more established churches, according to Viral Churches.

“The only way to increase the number of Christians in a city is to plant thousands of new churches,” said Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, according to Viral Churches.

Growing churches make up only about 20 percent of all U.S. churches today. The rest have reached a plateau or are declining.

“Studies have shown that, in general, churches typically plateau in attendance by their fifteenth year, and by about thirty-five years they begin having trouble replacing the members they lose,” the book states. “[A]mong evangelical churches, those under three years old will win ten people to Christ per year for every hundred members. Those three to fifteen years old will win five people per year for every hundred members. After age fifteen the number drops to three per year.”

Plus, according to FACT2008, the healthiest churches are those that reproduce. Also, the authors emphasize that most new churches survive. After four years, 68 percent of new churches still exist and 70 percent attain self-sufficiency by the fifth year.

Every year, approximately 4,000 churches are birthed in the U.S. (500 more than are closed). But much of the church plants have been focused on addition rather than multiplication, the authors point out.

One church planting one new church a year is definitely something to celebrate. But to achieve an “out-of-control replication of new churches” kind of movement, churches need to move from church starting (a broad category that includes church splits) to church planting (focused on reaching lost people) to church multiplication (people self-initiating to go out into the harvest, and then passing to others a heart for multiplication).

In other words, rather than planting one tree at a time in an open fertile field, churches need to multiply and fill the entire field with healthy orchards.

Ultimately, Stetzer and Bird are hoping to see a multiplication movement, similar to what occurred between 1795 and 1810 among Methodist and Baptist churches. Within that time span, some 3,000 churches were started.

“If church multiplication like that happened again today, it would be characterized by a 50 percent conversion rate (new believers) and a 50 percent reproduction rate (new churches) sustained for at least three generations of churches,” they explain.

“The desired goal is to see lost people find new life through Jesus Christ – not at the rate at which the general population is growing (which isn’t even happening), not even at a rate that gains respectable ground, but at a velocity and intensity that is nothing short of explosively supernatural.

“All of us should settle for nothing less than a Pentecost event.”

The researchers acknowledge that too many Christians love Jesus but not his church, but they believe you can’t love Jesus and neglect his wife. Their goal is not only to evangelize but also to “congregationalize.”

“The Great Commission is not just a call to ‘make disciples’ but to ‘baptize,’” they stress. “In Acts and elsewhere, it is clear that baptism means incorporation into a worshipping community with accountability and boundaries. The only way to be truly sure you are increasing the number of Christians in a town is to increase the number of churches.”

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I am all for planting new churches and certainly it may just be easier then trying to breathe life into churches that have been around for sometime and by every appearance are dying on the vine.  But I’m not ready to give up on many of them.  Yes…some of them may need to simply close the doors for a number of different reasons, but for the most part I have a lot of hope for them as well.  After all, isn’t Jesus the Lord of “new life?”

4,000 new churches and 3,500 closing churches is encouraging and shows wonderful progress in the ailing American church, but I have to think deep in my heart that many of the 3,500 American congregations still  could have had hope to make a turn around if they were willing to do what it takes regardless of resistance that often comes from within.

If pastors, church leaders and members of churches that just seem to be passing time until they call an end to things would honestly seek God, repent of the things that may have made them ineffective and have a “willingness to change” then we could be on the brink of a major revival.

Think about it for a moment.  At the rate of 4,000 new churches every year…if we could make a difference in just 500 existing churches then we could write articles about a 1,000 church difference rather then 500.   Call me an optimist, but I am just not ready to just rely solely on new church starts.  Praise God for them, but praise God for pastors of existing congregations that catch fire for making disciples, leading with vision and zeal as well as being willing to stick their necks out to make changes that will once again fill their churches with growing Christians that love God and His Word.

One final thought.  Sometimes dying churches simply need to relaunch their church.  A new image, vision, process of ministry, reputation in the community and sometimes even a new name can make the difference.

Okay…there’s a lot to think about on this one.  What do you say?  As always…we welcome your comments.

Andy





23 Comments by Pastor Andy on May 25, 2010
filed in Church Planting
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Quotes from Preachers and other fine Christians

Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion – it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.

Billy Graham

Do you have a quote you’d like posted?  We can learn a lot from those that went before us.

Andy

No Comments by Pastor Andy on May 20, 2010
filed in Famous Quotes

This Young Pastor has got it Right

“Our Approach to Evangelism & Outreach” 

by Jeremy Lundmark – It’s all about what it takes to make disciples

This young pastor has got it right.  Jeremy Lundmark is only 26 and is pastoring his first church in Aplachin, New York.  I have the pleasure of working with him in helping this little fellowship to become an effective ministry in its community.  In many ways, Jeremy reminds me of young Timothy.   He isn’t like many today right out of seminary that want it all done for them before they pastor a church.  He is willing to take on a challenge, and sacrifice, build leadership for the future and make disciples, rather then look for a quick fix.  Notice the wisdom in his article that are far beyond his years.  I only wish I was as wise when I started.

Take a read and see what Jeremy has to say and as always we welcome your comments, encouragements as well as the things you disagree with.

Andy

“Our Approach to Evangelism & Outreach”

My wife and I just had our second child, a girl, nine days ago. It was a grueling 8 hours that culminated in intense suffering and pain but ultimately resulted in the delivery of our beautiful daughter Brionna Grace.

For those who haven’t been through the delivery of a child, it may be hard to relate. Those who have know exactly what I’m talking about when I say it’s a ton of hard work and pain, which results in the joyous entrance of new life into this world.

The Bible describes our conversion as a “new birth.” In John three Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be “born again.” What does all of this have to do with our approach to evangelism and outreach? Everything! When the Apostle Paul was reminding the Thessalonians how he approached them with the Gospel he used parental language to describe how much he cared for them. Read these words:

“But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.” ~1 Thess. 2:8

“…as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children.” ~1 Thess. 2:11

In both of these verses we see that when Paul reached out to the people of Thessalonica he did so with the care and gentleness of a mother and the correcting authority of a Father. For those who have children you know that the delivery is tough, but it’s only the beginning. Having a child may make you a mother or father biologically, but raising a child is what really makes you a child’s mother or father.

As I thought about these verses, and preached on them a few months back, I was struck at the stark difference between how Paul approached evangelism and outreach and how many churches today approach it. In far too many cases the focus is on the point of conversion, the new birth, or the decision. Once that happens the fact that there is a new life that needs to be taught how to live in this world is forgotten!

Imagine a mother or father who just made it through the delivery of their child. Nine months of waiting, eight or more hours in the delivery room, culminating in the intense pain of delivering a child. They celebrate! They rejoice! They’ve done it! They’ve brought a new life into this world! After it’s all over, the nurse brings the child to them and says, “Here’s your baby!” Confused they look at one another… and then back at the nurse and respond, “You mean we have to raise the child too!!!”

It seems to me that many churches have forgotten that the main thrust of evangelism and outreach is discipleship. We are called to make disciples. The work isn’t done once someone makes a decision, gets baptized, or even when they are added to the membership roles! The church needs to be training disciples so they can, in turn, make more disciples.

Evangelism and outreach have become commitment-less with the use of quick, packaged ways of getting people to reach their friends and neighbors with the gospel without having to build any relationships. People know how to share their testimony, preach Christ and Him Crucified and even how to lead someone to a point of decision. However, in many cases, they’ve never been discipled or taught how to disciple! In other words no one ever told them that they had to take the kid home (metaphorically speaking!)

This results in believers who never experience the challenge, and blessing of caring for, and living in, relationship with a new believer. It causes them to grow cold toward outsiders, and stunts their own spiritual growth. They feel they’ve reached the apex of Christianity… Going to church every week, reading their Bible every day, praying, and leaving a tract or inviting a friend to church from time to time. What more is there to Christianity… Right? Wrong!

If you have done all these things and have yet to reach the ultimate goal and obey Christ’s final commission to the church, to make disciples, your only dancing around what Christianity is all about. Those who’ve had the joy, and challenge, of discipling a new believer know exactly what I mean. There’s very little that holds a candle to the joy that is experienced when a new Christian asks you some silly, everyone should know that, question or when they call you up to say that they realized something they were doing wasn’t pleasing to God so they’ve decided to stop. That’s the apex of Christianity, in this life anyway. Listen to what Paul says of his disciples in Thessalonica…

“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His Coming? For you are our glory and joy” ~1 Thess 2:19,20

So what’s your approach to evangelism and outreach? Let me quote one more passage that might help this all sink in:

“So affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.” ~1 Thess 2:8

When we commit to sharing the gospel, we also need to be prepared to impart our own lives to those with whom we share the gospel. We need to approach evangelism and outreach the same way we approach having children; With the expectation that when the baby is born we’re ready to take it home, so to speak, and train them to “walk worthy of God.” ~1 Thess 2:12

Jeremy Lundmark is the pastor of Community Baptist Church, of Apalachin NY and a graduate of Davis College, Johnson City, NY, and Baptist Bible College, Clarks Summit, PA.  He and his wife Alison are excited about the prospect of taking a small group of believers on an adventure of outreach and disciple making while watching lives change and the church grow in the process as well as raising their two children in Apalachin.

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OK…so what do you think of young Jeremy’s comments?  Would you add or challenge anything?  Or…would you just simply wish to offer a word of encouragement?

Andy

2 Comments by Pastor Andy on May 20, 2010
filed in Discipleship, Evangelism

Most Discipleship Programs Don’t Work! Why not?

R. Dwight Hill at factsofthematter.org helps to expose why most discipleship efforts in churches are not working.  His insights are right on, yet I tend to think that there are a number of reasons why church discipleship programs fail and often just stop and forgotten about in churches.  Read this great article and then let me know why you think that discipleship programs often don’t succeed.  Andy

WHY IS IT MOST CHURCH DISCIPLESHIP PROGRAMS DON’T DELIVER THE GOODS?

The Great Commission: “[Jesus] told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this–that I am with you always, even to the end of the world’.” (Matt. 18:18-20 LB)

After 45 years of discipling, it seems to me that the most common mistake made in the discipling process is the assumption that informing people of truth will probably change their lives.  How many of us have enrolled in a discipleship program with great expectations and hope.  Generally, the people appointed to lead those programs have not themselves been discipled.  So the approach is relatively ineffective, as usually less than mature and victorious believers take their charges through material in a notebook.  So after the program is completed we all get back to normal, left with a taste of the blahs, simply because the “program” didn’t deliver the goods.  That is, our carnal, vacuous spiritual lives remain unchanged.  So we wait until another exciting program – purportedly designed to revive and train our sluggish lives – arrives in town.  Again we sign up once again, hoping… And so it goes, year in and year out.  So, what is missing?

What is missing is a true discipler/mentor appointed to lead a group.  A discipler/mentor who himself has been discipled by another mature disciple over an unrushed period of time.  This mature discipler’s character reflects that of Christ.  He is equipped in the word of God to intelligently train another person to walk with God and apply Biblical truth to daily living in the home and in the work place.

Think of how you train your children. For two decades you mold their attitudes, teaching them discipline, priorities, and values.  Yes there is information and truth mixed in.  But it is primarily your example, your authenticity and your training and disciplining that forms their character into becoming responsible, healthy and productive adults. You must have the transmission of information inter-woven with character building to get the desired results:  Godly, mature, equipped laborer/disciplers of Christ.

The most brilliant Person who ever walked this earth chose to invest 3 out of his 3 ½ years of ministry into the lives of 12 select, but very average working men.  What Jesus did was live with these 12 men 24/7.  By precept and example he modeled true godliness, molding them into his likeness. That is, He taught and tempered them by His truth and example.  He got down inside them and dealt with core issues – character issues – that would in the long term either make or break them.  At the end of that training period, Christ, speaking to His heavenly Father about them said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” (Jn. 17:4) The Book of Acts states that these men  (Judas excepted)  “turned the world upside down.” (17:6)  We are here today because the Master invested deeply and personally in the lives of these men, who in turn multiplied it on to succeeding generations.

The Matthew 28:18-20 passage – “The Great Commission” – is simply His command that we replicate the process He lived and demonstrated.  Why are we in such a hurry that we refuse to simply do it His way?  And on His timetable?  One reason, I believe is that we fail to grasp the power and significance of spiritual multiplication.  Another reason is the incredible personal cost of such an investment.  We’re not really sure it will pay the dividends.  And a third reason is because we are caught up in the pride-driven game of numbers (“bigger is better”), so endemic today in the Body of Christ.

If we are serious about equipping the laity to become effective disciple/laborers for a lifetime (Eph. 4:11-16), the element of personalized, in depth, unrushed life-on-life discipling that involves teaching the truth, training in spiritual disciplines, and building character must be at the very core of our approach.

The question is, are you willing to pay the price of investing your life in another at that level? My prayer is that you are having a great week!

R. Dwight Hill

Mr. and Mrs. R. Dwight Hill have invested the past 45 years of their lives in discipling men and women to follow Jesus Christ, and apply Biblical principles to daily living. Their primary focus has been to equip lay people to multiply their lives spiritually, thus helping to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:18-20)

For the past 25 years the Hill’s have concentrated their discipling efforts on leaders in the business and professional community, in the United States, Asia and Europe.

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So what do you think?  What are some reasons that you think discipleship programs fail in many churches today?  Is it the materials?  The person doing the discipling?  Problems already existing in the church?  What do you think?  I can think of one main reason that is hinted at in this post, but I will hold my thoughts on that until I hear what you have to say.  This matter is way to important in the church today and we can’t ignore it.

Andy



5 Comments by Pastor Andy on May 16, 2010
filed in Discipleship

Is there trouble with ‘Christian America?’

The trouble with ‘Christian America 

In  May of 2009, Andrew Thompson at GenXRising.com posted his comments on Jon Meacham’s cover story in Newsweek.  Here’s what he said.

A couple of weeks ago that was titled, “The Decline and Fall of Christian America.” A title like that is meant to be a little sensational. And Newsweek probably got just what it wanted when Meacham’s piece sent Christians all over the country in a tizzy.

The article itself, though, really wasn’t sensational at all. Meacham is a liberal Episcopalian, and he was mostly just relishing the decline of the so-called Religious Right – a catch-all term for the politicized evangelicalism that came to prominence under Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority in the 1980s. Meacham is also the editor-in-chief at Newsweek, and under his leadership over the past couple of years the magazine has drifted left noticeably. A part of that comes out in a particularly left-leaning religious view, which shows up in reporting of all types but is best seen on a regular basis through Lisa Miller’s BeliefWatch column. So in that sense, Meacham’s article was just standard Newsweek fare.

But Meacham did cite statistics that are troubling beyond his connection of them with the decline of a politically muscular Christianity. A recent survey shows that the number of professing Christians as a percentage of the U.S. population has decline from 86% in 1990 to 76% today. Any position piece is strengthened by hard numbers, and those were Meacham’s. (For a different take on them, go to Michael Gerson’s recent column in the Washington Post.)

So is ‘Christian America’ really dying? Is it not just the Religious Right that is fading away, but is the generally Christian character of our society fading as well?

With a little fear and trembling, I take this subject up in my current column in the United Methodist Reporter. My editor at the Reporter was gracious to give me more space than usual, and with the complexity of this topic I used every bit of it. I won’t repeat my whole argument here but instead invite you to check out the column on the Reporter’s site.

The gist of it is this: There never was such a thing as ‘Christian America.’ And the Christians in America shouldn’t worry about that.

There cannot be such a ‘Christian America,’ in fact, because citizenship and discipleship can never be synonymous terms. Christians owe an allegiance to Jesus Christ above the allegiance to the nation. And that means that a Christian’s primary frame of social reference is not society at large but rather the church.

If we, as Christians, are really worried about declining numbers of the faithful in this land, we should practice a more robust form of discipleship. Ultimately, it is not by baptizing secular institutions or passing ‘Christian’ laws that we practice fidelity to God. It is rather by preaching the word of God, celebrating the sacraments, forming disciples of Jesus Christ, and witnessing to the love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through our works of piety and mercy in the world.

It is good when Christians exert an influence on the society in which they live. Their participation in the larger world can lead to greater civility in social life and more compassion in the legislation and execution of laws. But the telos of the practice of Christian faith is not to make the world Christian. That makes no Scriptural sense. It is instead to spread the gospel and build up the church. And yes, there is a real difference.

So we shouldn’t worry about trying to Christianize America. We should just be concerned with Christianizing the church.

The Rev. Thompson maintains a blog at www.genxrising.com. andrew@mandatum.org.

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So what do you think? Does the writer Andrew C. Thompson have a point here?  Do you agree with this statement that he made:

“There cannot be such a ‘Christian America,’ in fact, because citizenship and discipleship can never be synonymous terms. Christians owe an allegiance to Jesus Christ above the allegiance to the nation. And that means that a Christian’s primary frame of social reference is not society at large but rather the church”.

I do know this.  Both America and the American church seem to be in trouble and maybe it’s because the church is focusing more on political issues then on Making Disciples.  After all, Paul told us that ‘our citizenship is in heaven and not below”.  Jesus said that “His Kingdom wasn’t of this world”.  He also said that “we are the light of the world” and just maybe in order to reform things until He comes for us is to be that light and THAT will change the world…transform lives and make the country and the church strong again.

Those are my thoughts…what’s yours?

Andy

7 Comments by Pastor Andy on May 2, 2010
filed in Church Growth and Health, Discipleship

The American Church in Decline! (What now?)

Is the American church in decline?

According to a new Gallup poll eight out of ten Americans are “Christian in one way of another.”

(A quick note from our Blog Master)

This article on “The Decline of the American Church” is another that I plan on posting several over the next week or two.  Why?  Because something must be done.  This was not the plan that the Lord Jesus gave to us in Matthew 28:19-20.

In my work with Church Dynamics International www.churchdynamics.org I am doing all I can to help turn this tide and make a difference.  One church at a time.  But I’m only one person and I believe that as Christians we all have to take a part in doing something about the downward slide of Christ Church.  I need your input!

Andy (now back to the main event)

Hmmm? Before Christians get too excited about those numbers, let’s break down the stats.

That 82 percentile not only encompassed Protestants (51 percent) and Catholics (23 percent), but included “other Christian faiths” (8 percent) that many would categorize as unorthodox or simply non-Christian.

And those numbers are down from a 1948 Gallup poll when Americans were 69 percent Protestant and 22 percent Roman Catholic.

In a 1937 Gallup poll, three-fourths (73 percent) of Americans said they were church members. The number remained virtually the same through the turn of the century. Since 2000, however, that number has dropped to between 63 and 65 percent. (Wow, that’s a 14 percent decline in membership in just seven years!)

But simply being a “member” of a church is very different than actually attending church. Of the two-thirds who claim church membership, only one-third said they attended once a week; 12 percent they attend “almost every week.”

The number of Americans labeling themselves “Christian” is down from 91 percent to 82 percent in little over fifty years. Church membership is down from 73 percent to 66 percent over the same time. And only one half of those claiming church membership actually attend church once a week.

Despite the increasing numbers of mega-churches and TV ministries, the number of Protestants and Catholics in America has declined 19 percent. However, overseas, especially in Africa, South America and even Communist China, Christianity is flourishing.

So, why the decline in of the church in North America and increase in other areas of the world? I have some theories, but I’d like to hear yours.  What needs to be done about this disturbing trend?

10 Comments by Pastor Andy on May 2, 2010
filed in Church Growth and Health, Discipleship
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