Church Growth 101, Jesus Style

As a pastor I’m constantly bombarded with information about how to get my church to grow. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. I believe God wants churches to grow, because it’s kind of hard for a church to be very successful at reaching people far from God and not grow, and statistics show that the Church in the West has been stagnant or in decline for some time now, meaning we need all the help we can get. But as I dig into Scripture I’m intrigued by the method of church growth Jesus seemed to model.

If Jesus had a three step plan for growing the Church, it might have looked something like this: Step 1. Say lots of crazy, painfully honest things that make lots of religious people (i.e. the ones who would seem most interested in all things churchy) mad enough to kill you. Step 2. Say lots of crazy, painfully honest things that make most of the irreligious people run the other way like Roadrunner busting it when Wile E. Coyote was in hot pursuit. Step 3. Watch the ragtag handful of nobodies (and believe me, I mean that in the most affectionate way possible), who were passionately devoted in spite of the hardships, grow through the Spirit’s power like rabbits on fertility drugs into a massive movement that is still going strong after a couple thousand years. Check out some of these passages: Luke 12:33, Luke 9:59-62, and Matthew 10:37.

I know what you’re thinking. Surely Jesus didn’t mean for us to take those statements seriously! No way he would really expect any of his followers to leave behind the most important people in their lives to follow him. And that whole bit about selling your possessions and giving the money to the poor? That’s just silly. Nobody would actually do that. Jesus would never ask that from us!

Or would he?

Hmm. What if he really DID mean those things? What if he really WAS serious? What if he had EVERY INTENTION of us living our lives with that kind of radical passion and devotion and obedience?
If hearing those words grates on your ears like the sound of 42,328 sets of fingernails scraping their way down a giant chalkboard, you are not alone. The ears of most of our fellow Americans are ringing in harmony with yours… and, ahem, mine. We don’t like to consider the possibility that Jesus really did maybe, kinda, in a manner of speaking mean what he said… a little… maybe.

Something I’ve been realizing more and more over the past couple of years is just how much thought and work we put into trying to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ more easily digestible. Like running a gristly piece of meat through a tenderizer, we take what Jesus said, run in through the filter of our 21st century American way of seeing the world, and end up with a nice little Americanized version of the Gospel. The only problem with that, though, is… well, what we end up with isn’t really the Gospel at all at that point. But hey, at least it’s tender.

My recent trip to the other side of the world has really opened my eyes to this even farther. Why was it so eye opening? Well, because the brothers and sisters in Christ I got to know there haven’t been domesticated and indoctrinated by the 21st century American version of the Good News (that Jesus loves you and longs to be the missing piece to your American dream without requiring much of anything from you other than nominal church attendance and dropping a few bills in the basket). They never got the memo that Jesus didn’t really mean those things he said, so they are *gasp* living as if he was serious. They don’t try to decipher what Jesus really meant or explain away the harsh, radical nature of Jesus’ teaching. They just live as if the Kingdom of God really is the most important thing there is, worthy of giving up everything for. If only they were more educated, right? Seriously, I’m sure they have their fair share of struggles and plenty of areas where they are weak, but I am amazed by their faith and passion and dedication. Far from a tenderized, easily digestible version of the Gospel, they teach it and live it in all its radical, counter-cultural, everything-must-change-ness. And you know what the result is? The Church is experiencing incredible growth. Kind of like when Jesus tried it back in the day.