Building in Vain

For years I have attempted to practice what I was taught in seminary and by other church leaders I have served under. That is, how to "build the church." The methodology included a good new members class, indoctrination to the beliefs of the church, inclusion into the life of the body and get them into service quickly so that they can form relationships and get "connected." In addition, I regularly contacted visitors to invite them to become a part of our growing fellowship, had small groups or classes to connect folks to, and even produced "wow" marketing pieces to grab people's attention. I scheduled "events" that made us an attractional church - VBS, Sports Camps, Concerts, etc. to draw in the community. And as good as all of these things were/are, they didn't really build the church.

About a year ago, I heard a quote that said, "Jesus never commanded us to build the church (that's his job) but rather to make disciples." Something about that quotation really resonated with me. I began to study what "making disciples" should look like, taught a sermon series on discipling, and even began to attempt to relationally disciple several members of our church. I found much more success at my feeble attempts to disciple than I had in all my efforts to "build the church." Today, while picking strawberries in my garden (yes, that is my place of revelation) I got a download...If I am making disciples, that will organically build the church. But building a church won't produce disciples, and certainly programs and events do neither.

Now before I get too far along in this post, let me say that I have been a part of a growing church - a very large church by northern standards...of about 600 attenders in Massachusetts. They were highly attractional, ran excellent programs and hired the best staff. The problem? I saw first hand how they also "fired" the staff to move to the next level of the church growth. In hindsight, I see this as a mindset of "growing the church" instead of "disciples." The growth of the organization was the goal, not the personal growth of every component (person). I saw some folks have broken hearts at the way they were let go. I heard elders say, "it isn't personal, its just business." And my own heart broke when I was one of those to be let go.

But over the next nine years, I was still tempted to imitate these actions as I tried to model my leadership on the leadership I had served under. And the Lord said clearly to me, "a person doesn't hold you back from growth, they are the goal, not the obstacle." If a leader isn't fully functioning, then it is my job to invest more in them, to invite and to challenge them to move deeper and grow more.

I pondered over some of the folks in my church and wondered who else I could invest in...and names came up, I wondered, "Gee, they don't have much of a walk with God" and had previously written them off. I now see that if they are in the body, then they are an object of growth, they are a disciple even if they haven't yet seen it themselves. It is my job to help them to see that wonderful truth! Through invitation and challenge, I am to make disciples. That is my job description as a pastor.

Yes, the daily programs, responsibilities and conflicts will still tug at me. But I can make a shift in my priorities and agendas to focus upon individuals. God will grow the church in His time.