I have a fondness for many subjects and things that deal with the time of the Romans. While studying not only the culture and history of the Romans for their own sake it also parallels with the time that the New Testament was written and the early Church existed. The Romans were great strategists and very innovative and efficient in establishing and building whatever they put their minds to. So with that in mind Ecclesia Ipsum simply means “Church Strategy”. Should churches have strategy? Should we simply sit back and let the Lord control all things? I would say both yes and no. The Lord is always in control and we should always wait on his direction, but I believe it tells us many places in scripture that we are to “go and make”, we are in spiritual warfare, we are to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, etc. These statements are the heart of strategy and within lies the ability to display our passion for building God’s Kingdom.
As we are venturing out on our scouting trip I have noticed a few things about the communities and the churches that are involved with them. This main topic I want to address is the number of good churches and their effectiveness. Now in addressing this issue I know there will be definitely a difference in the theoretical/hopeful aspect and the practical reality. I have come to notice in these very large communities that I can find only one or two “Good” churches. I also have to wonder with these “Good Churches” is there really any strategy and passion or have they simply slinked back to be content with their current church body and the essentials of running the church.
I will first define what I believe to be considered “Good” Churches. I believe they should hold to 3 distinct characteristics which are the following:
1. They put their faith in Jesus Christ alone for Salvation. (Not Works/Baptism/Speaking in Tongues, etc.)
2. They are Evangelical and bearing fruit (Disciple Makers)
3. They are seeking to mature themselves in the faith through God’s Word, His Spirit, and suffering (Suffering- Enduring Trials/Persecution and/or sacrificing & giving of time and material goods)
Note- understand that just because it meets my points to qualify as a good church does not mean that I agree with everything they do or teach or would I choose to attend there myself, but they are for the most part involved in the Kingdom Building Process in a correct Biblical way.
Now that I have defined a Good Church I will define my issue with the communities and their “Good Church Presence”. The issue is not with the Good Churches necessarily, but with the situation as a whole. It seems when a church gets to be 400+ members that they begin to fizzle out. What does that mean? Well, it is not “Sin” for a church to have more than 400 members, but it seems to be the pattern when there is a church of this size or larger that they tend not to focus on personal direct evangelism, but more on event and casual evangelism. So what I see out of a lot of “Good Churches” is even though they hold to these 3 characteristics in some fashion they have become somewhat ineffective in their ministries.
Ok, now you are saying what about the churches that are 1000 or larger how can you say they are ineffective? Ok, let me address that…First I am not saying this is true of EVERY Large Church, but here are some potential reasons of what we find in these larger churches and they are not necessarily wrong:
1. Watered down message- They change the gospel to make it more palatable
2. They are reaching a densely populated area and/or a large geographic region fueled by a “personality preacher” or by hosting “exciting programs for the family”
3. They have a lot of High Quality Events and resources
4. Little to no accountability
So now let me try to clarify the potential ineffectiveness of a large church. Obviously the watered down message point is wrong there is no arguing that. Number two, however, is still good… do not misunderstand me, but in order to reach the people again relying on “gimmicks” in a sort and having to reach out to a much larger population area in order to obtain those numbers. OK please don’t take the word gimmick wrong either but if they are relying on programs, personalities or events then they are not being as effective as they could be. Secondly they are reaching a larger population area which is fine but that usually accounts for their large numbers not the fact that they are effectively ministering to the area immediately surrounding them. The biggest problem with a large church though usually is the fact that there is little to no accountability. It is much more difficult to mature the congregation, weed out the false disciples, provide direct spiritual support and train effective disciple makers in that church. Note- There can be smaller churches who do this also
So here is the part that is more theoretical/hopeful but it is still obtainable. I believe that in order for most churches to be in their prime effective range it will be 300 or less in number. Now of course that number is not in stone, if the church has 310 I am not saying they automatically lose some of their effectiveness. But I believe that when you have a lower number church that you will see its effectiveness at its peak. I think that you should have 1 good church in a community for every 1000 of its population. (Again not in stone but a general estimate) All right, so you have a city with a population of 50,000 people. You would then have 50 Good Churches. And if every church had its max efficiency number of 300 people you would have 30 percent of the population in a good church. But here is the part that brings this strategy into reality- You start a church of say ten people and grow it in that community to 300 people then the church would split in half (in love not out of strife) and procreate and they then continue to grow until they have 300 people and so on. But you would have many more churches that are directly focused on their immediate areas reaching people through word and deed. The other great thing would be that these “50 Good Churches” would all work together for bigger events and causes allowing them to draw on each other for resources and help. Now is one church per thousand people with 300 in attendance obtainable? It is if God wants it to be, but if we are going to be reaching people regardless of the numbers we need to be optimizing our efficiency and efforts for the sake of Christ and getting away from the “Social Setting” of Church where we attend for our own personal benefit. Personally I love a big church (in my flesh) because it can be very comfortable and permissive, but if I want to truly serve Christ I believe the smaller church is more effective for His glory.
Well, now you want scripture to back up this theory? I am sorry but I really don’t have any. I just know what the Scriptures expect from us who are disciples and as I said before I don’t see it happening much in the larger churches. But let’s think of it strategically…what is more effective in warfare? Four small heavily trained groups of 300 soldiers strategically placed in amongst the enemy or one large group of 1200 inefficient partially trained soldiers just sitting in one place waiting for the enemy to come? I also see this in the format of the early church, when the church was most effective was when they were meeting in smaller groups in people’s homes, catacombs or in the small synagogues and temple courts.
Now just to bring this issue into reality we are in Petaluma, CA as I am writing this and their population is 55,800. Yet, I can only find one to two good churches in this area…. so you do the math. San Francisco to the South of us has a population of over 800,000 and after searching the internet and driving the streets I have found (maybe they have eluded me) MAYBE one or two “Good Churches”. I bet in Indiana where we are from you could find at least 10 good churches for every 50000 people. So when I see, for instance, two good churches in a community of 50,000+ we can assume that these churches are over the 300 number margins and are in a phase of being less effective. Now here is the problem… if they do not become more effective and directly reach their immediate community and no other good churches are established to help them in the Kingdom Building Process then this community will grow stale from lack of the Gospel.
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