Church Growth: Moderation

As we said in the preceding post, the Christian Chronicle has listed three key strategies for church growth: adaptability, moderation, and evangelism. We discussed adaptability in the previous post. This post is about moderation.

And just to be clear: I hate moderation. I’ll explain.

Here’s what the Chronicle‘s article said on the subject —

Most church leaders interviewed by the Chronicle described their growing congregations as “middle of the road” theologically.

“We have successfully avoided a lot of extremes over the years and continue to do so because of the loving spirit of our people,” said [one minister].

There’s a good kind of moderation, and there’s a bad kind of moderation. There’s a good kind of avoiding extremes, and there’s a bad kind of avoiding extremes. Most of the time, we do these things the bad way.

I want to lead and be part of an extreme congregation. Don’t you? I want to experience extreme love, extreme evangelism, extreme concern for the needy. I want extreme worship and extreme preaching. Why should I feel otherwise?

(Luke 14:26-27)  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters–yes, even his own life–he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

(Acts 20:24)  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

Pretty extreme demand, isn’t it?
Bad moderation

Many an eldership leads a church by avoiding offending its members. They figure if they get about as much criticism from the left as from the right they are doing a good job. And, politically, they are right.

But don’t we detest politicians who govern by polls and surveys and focus groups? And isn’t that what these elders are doing? You see, they’re not leading, they’re following. In fact, they’ve given oversight of the church over to what they perceive to the middle of the church. But God gave the oversight to the elders.

Worse yet, most elderships listen more to the older members. After all, the elders are older members, too, and the older members are their friends — and people who’ve been a part of the church for years. It’s only natural. But the problem is that the elders often think the center is where their friends are, when in fact their friends may be very, very unrepresentative.

At least the politicians take the trouble to take a poll. Elders tend to limit their data gathering to conversations in the foyer and complainers on the phone. And this often severely distorts their understanding of where the church really is.

Good moderation

If a church’s leadership gets too far out of step with the members, the members will leave. The church may split. But elders are called to lead, not to follow.

The solution is something like this:

* Elders must diligently seek God’s will for their congregation. This means dedicated prayer and being serious students of the Bible, keeping up with the literature, going to lectureships and seminars, and talking with each other about such issues.

It also means listening to the entire church. After all, if the church is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and if each member possesses God’s Spirit, God may well be moving among the membership quite apart from the elders. Therefore, the elders need to listen and notice what God is doing among his people.

A couple of years ago, we noticed that our members were increasingly getting involved in community service projects. Everywhere we looked, our members were raising money for a cause, helping people in need … and it was just plain that God was pushing us in that direction. Ever since, we’ve been trying to catch up with what God was already doing among us.

I strongly believe that some of the elders should teach all the adult classes — rotating among them. Not only does this make the elders more visible, it lets the elders hear from multiple age and social groups. And it builds the relationships necessary for people to share their hearts with the elders.

And sometimes, the elders may need to pass out a survey and get truly broad-based input.

But this doesn’t mean leading toward the center (which is not leading at all). Rather, it’s looking for the hand of God, which will perhaps be shown in what just a few members are starting to do on their own.

* Then the elders must teach and lead the church to where God wants it to go. God may well take the church some place very uncomfortable for many members — even the elders. So be it. It’s God’s church.

And so the question becomes one of leadership — how do you get people to change? how do you motivate them to leave their comfort zones?

– The first answer is: by not going too fast. Most people are glad to be led, especially if they see God’s will be fulfilled. But few people are ready to made sudden, radical changes. Go slow.

– But don’t go so slowly that your leaders are frustrated and quit! Change may take years, but not decades. Change needs to be a part of the culture of the church. Rather than the attitude that we’re here to preserve the old ways, the church’s heart should be that we’re here to follow God’s leading.

You may not be able to make all the changes at once, but you can always be making a change, gently moving the church toward God’s ultimate goals for it.

– Teach. Romans 14 compels us not to push people to do things they consider sin. Therefore, any change should be preceded by instruction on why this is necessary and why this is right. We are a studious people. Use the classes to lead.

– Give early adopters permission to go ahead of the pack. If the plan is to serve a nearby poor neighborhood, don’t wait until everyone is on board. Let those ready to start begin. Support them. Share their victories with the congregation and help them recruit.

In short, the elders must lead strategically, insisting that the church go where God is leading it, but lovingly, patiently helping the resistant members accommodate to the change.

– Let some members leave. No eldership wants to see any member get mad and leave. And it’s particularly hard when those leaving are longtime friends. But once most of the church is ready for the change, change even though a few will get mad and leave.

If they leave, they aren’t leaving Jesus. They’ll place membership somewhere else. But if the church doesn’t go where its supposed to, many other souls may well be lost.

If the elders let the few unhappy members prevent change, then the elders have given control to them rather than the elders — and sometimes, rather than God. And that’s a serious sin.