What does it really mean to grow?
by Brian Jensen, Senior Pastor
As a minister, I’ve seen a lot of Church Information Forms. Church Information Forms, of course, are the documents Presbyterian churches put together when they are seeking a new pastor. Almost without exception, the churches say they are looking for a minister who can help them grow. All churches say they want to grow. It’s just that when it comes right down to it, growth necessarily implies change, and growth invariably incurs increased financial need. As you might suspect, this is where a lot of churches run aground. They don’t want to change and they don’t want it to cost anything.
This begs the question, "What does it really mean to grow?" Loren Mead, in his book, More Than Numbers: The Ways Churches Grow, outlines what growth really means. Utilizing the research of a man named Ted Buckle, Mead believes there are four specific categories of church growth. They are: Numerical growth, Maturational growth, Organic growth, and Incarnational growth.
Numerical growth is exactly what you think it is. It is growth in the ways we ordinarily describe it: growth in Sunday worship attendance, growth in the size of the budget, growth in the number of activities and programs, and growth in active membership. Maturational growth has to do with growth in the stature and spiritual maturity of church members. This has to do with growth in the faith. Organic growth is the growth of the congregation as a functioning community. In other words, the community grows as a living organism. (What happens when a living organism ceases to grow?) Incarnational growth is growth in the ability to take the meanings and values of the faith-story and make them real in the world and society outside the congregation. The congregation grows in its ability to enflesh in the community what the faith is all about.
Mead points out that numerical growth is very difficult in communities where the population is declining. Unfortunately, that is what people generally notice. Among the goals established by this congregation are an increase in membership, an increase in worship attendance and an increase in Sunday school attendance. Some of those things have been happening, but let’s not overlook the other kinds of growth. Let’s begin also to focus on maturational growth, organic growth and incarnational growth. Let’s become the community of faith God designed us to be.
Peace!
Brian