The above quote is, doubtlessly, a common sentiment among brides and brides to be. Which man would, after all, even consider getting down on his knee to propose marriage and instead of pulling one diamond ring from his pocket he brings forth a bucket from behind his back filled with a thousand cheap pewter rings? Yet this seems to be the sentiment among many churches in America. Screw the quality of the disciples you create, we want MORE ATTENDEES.
It’s natural, after all, to look at the amount of people which attend a church as a sign of a successful ministry. It’s human nature to see a large crowd and assume success must be present. In the business world this — quite necessarily — is exactly how success is defined. How much profit (tithe) do you see? How much has your customer base (attendees, congregants) grown? Unlike the business world, however, insofar as Christian ministry is concerned, these are never indicators of success.
Were Jesus and His disciples concerned about sharing the Gospel of Christ with as many people as they could? Yes. Unabashedly, yes. However, it seems to me that they were concerned about creating quality disciples of Christ infinitely more than they were concerned about the sheer number of people they “converted.”
I see many churches in my area which are large in number. Lots of attendees. Yet I wonder, how many of those attendees will leave that fellowship over time and fall by the way side? How many, amongst the throng of people who flock to professionally orchestrated entertainment shows (a.k.a. Sunday morning church service), will follow Christ where ever He may lead? Few, I fear. Very few.
I would rather focus my energies on creating a few quality disciples, a few diamond rings, and see them all continue to live and grow in the Lord long after I’m dead and gone than spread my “ministry” out over a hundred people and see most of them live their lives as spiritually stunted hunks of pseudo-Christian metal.
12 Comments
Like I think I’ve said before, I agree with you completely. Thought I (ashamedly) am not a weekly member of any one church yet, I do plan to once I graduate and settle down some. In that case, and in the case of many of us I’d imagine, what ideas do you (or anyone commenting) have in order to do this? It’s hard to walk up to a Mega church and say, “Hey, ‘should probably do it this way!” While not so hard, it’s probably a task to even get changes like that happening within your own church. What ideas can we generate to help us get there?
I agree all the way Ben. My church has an average weekly attendance of 165 and we are a Bible teaching church which usually means that you typically only get people that are focused on their salvation or need for salvation. We do have an older congregation so we don’t have to many programs that look to attract the young adult crowd but I am planning on creating a few proposals to see if we can create more o a draw in that age group. Good stuff.
Ben,
I agree with you. I think all of us would rather have one diamond. But wouldn’t you also love to have a hundred diamonds? Now, I’m not saying all mega/big/normal/full churches are discipling everyone who comes through the doors, but what if some of them are? I think that maybe to an extent the percentages of strong disciples could be the same across the board. I could be wrong, though.
I am also against having big numbers for the sake of big numbers. I think the solution is found in the leadership. If the leadership is not just focused on the numbers but is also implementing programs or forms of discipleship than those numbers will turn into strong disciples. Will all of them? no, even Jesus didn’t get them all.
I just think the “problem” is in how we, ministers, approach the whole thing. I find myself focused on the numbers at times. Then on days when only a few show up for a small group, I’m reminded that that smaller atmosphere may go farther in developing a few disciples than the large groups who don’t grow.
just some thoughts. I hope they are coherent. Does it make sense?
Yeah, Mike, you make sense ;). I’d say, however, that it’s virtually impossible for one person to make hundreds of diamonds. I’d say that if, indeed, there is a mega church out there which does produce hundreds of diamonds then at least two things are happening: 1) the “ministers” are more like CEO’s or CFO’s or UFO’s or whatever they’re called. They organize other people who do the “diamond making” such as volunteers or small group leaders or what-have-you. A leader of 400 people can’t turn out 400 disciples. They can turn out a half dozen if they’re lucky. 2) they are glazing over hundreds more people who will never become “diamonds”. These people get lost (sometimes by their own devices) in the crowd of a large church.
So, I’m not disagreeing with you, per se. I’m just saying that seeing how Jesus made disciples, and the fact that He only made 12, shows that one man is going to be severely limited in how many disciples he can make in his lifetime.
Of course, this is idea is not anti-church. A church can (should?) function in such a way that though they may gather together on a regular basis to worship, the discipling is taking place on a more intimate level in smaller groups. Pulling off those small groups is really tricky though.
And then, as we see that it’s within the confines of the small group that real discipleship takes place, one begins to wonder why the need for a 40,000 member church. A 200 member church can have just as effective small groups as a 200,000 member church.
Just some more food for thought
i agree Ben
that is the really tricky part. The bigger church can “draw” a different crowd and sometimes even a bigger draw due to their diversified ministries. Thus it allows for more people to be reached, yet it misses so many (as you stated) in the process.
The “reached” part, too, is totally subjective. What do we mean by “reached”? If we mean simply that the Gospel of Christ crosses their ear drums then sure, a mega church “reaches” more people. But if by “reach” we mean “make disciples” as per the Great Commandment then I think that mega churches do not reach more people, they reach fewer.
by “reach” I mean there are more people who are exposed to the message of Christ, thus allowing for more opportunities to teach and disciple them. I think some ministries: car club, small group for moms of 3 year olds, are more likely to happen in a larger congregation (or when a group of congregations gets together to reach the community). This specialized form of ministry will be an open door to someone who might now otherwise want to be involved in a congregation.
Now, is that enough! No. It is not enough to just get them there. But I don’t think all “megachurches” get it wrong. And I know of quite a few “minichurches” (just wanted an opposite to mega) who get it wrong, too. Small congregations can become too focused on comfortability and doing things the same old way that they lose sight of reaching out to the community or the lost.
I don’t know what the solution is. but I have found, in my own experiences, that discipleship is not just a big congregation problem – it is a problem that most congregations struggle with. Is it much easier to “draw/reach/bring in” people than it is to disciple them.
I think you’re absolutely right on target
. Discipleship is exceedingly difficult to accomplish for any size church. I really didn’t mean to pick on mega churches, I should have thrown in there that many small churches are so comfortable that they not only do not disciple but they don’t reach either! 
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I agree, I don’t know what the solution is. I wonder, is creating disciples just something a church organization isn’t built for? By that I mean, I wonder if the making disciples part is something we individually have to do whereas the outreach/evangelism is something that the church as an organization is perhaps better suited for?
That is a good thought. Maybe the church organization is not built for discipleship, per se. But I think it should play a role in helping to facilitate that discipleship. Help by: training, providing resources, offering prayer support, accountability. (is there more?)
So, if that is true and the discipleship really lands on the individual then the problem is not with what size a congregation you attend, but rather with each of us as disciple-makers (who spend more time promoting a church service or event).
But then I come back to the thought that maybe its the “church’s” part to help train the people to make disciples. It seems like a vicious cycle on one hand. And a wonderful disciple-making cycle on the other.
just some thoughts…
I like that, a “wonderful disciple-making cycle”. I’ll have to steal that in a sermon
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stealing ideas, isn’t that what youth ministers do best
(would a disciple-maker steal ideas? Is that like stealing sheep from another church? hehe)
Ben – Fantastic post.
It’s true that nothing sells like success, but God’s definition of success is not numbers; it’s sermon on the mount. As pastors, teachers and preachers are we producing people that live a sermon on the mount lifestyle? And even more important: are we living sermon on the mount?
100 men that are 90% given to God will not do nearly as much as 10 men which are given 100%.