 Church growth must be Biblical  The Layman – Volume 35, Number 6 – Posted December 6, 2002
Eastminster has consistently grown over the intervening 40 years. Today, an average 60 percent of our 2,000 active members are in attendance for Sunday Worship. Leaders and members are unified in serious pursuit of our vision of “being and making disciples.” More than 87,000 square feet of beautiful facilities on a 40-acre campus are extensively used throughout the week. The annual budget of over $3 million includes $1 million for mission beyond our campus and the recently funded $3-million millennium capital campaign allocated 50 percent to missions. During that same 40 years, what is now the PCUSA has lost more than 1.7 million members and is increasingly fractured over essential theological and cultural issues. Our once glorious worldwide missions commitment has been drastically retrenched, and Louisville faces another round of painful downsizing. Other once-strong churches in Wichita, which consistently hewed to denominational leadership – while viewing Eastminster as too evangelical, too conservative (or worse) – have experienced decline that mirrors the denomination. Why such diametrically opposite health profiles of the church, during the same period of time within the same denomination? There are four core values essential to long-term church viability and effective pursuit of the Great Ends of the Church. The presence or absence of these values explain both congregational growth and denominational/congregational decline: 1. Consistent preaching and teaching of Biblical faith with evangelical zeal. Those called to Eastminster’s pastoral and lay leadership have been expected to really believe that Holy Scripture is God’s revealed Word. Preaching and teaching at Eastminster have been consistently founded on such belief, interpreted with intellectual credibility in the Reformed tradition and proclaimed with evangelical passion. We discontinued use of denominational curriculum years ago when it failed to consistently reflect solid Biblical faith. The Holy Spirit quickens us to respond to the gospel delivered to the saints once for all and it must be taught anew to each generation. 2. Committed servant leadership. Lay leadership grows in response to Biblical faith. Elders willingly serve long hours to build up a church where they are genuinely encouraged and appreciated. The authentic gospel empowers leaders to become servants, who dream and envision what a church can become and what a difference it can make in the world. All program staff also must be servant leaders who accept and uphold the standards of the church. They are not to substitute their personal agendas. Servant lay leaders in turn care for and support their pastors, enabling them to maximize their strengths and providing support for their weaknesses. Congregations enthusiastically follow committed servant leaders and willingly provide stewardship that enables a church’s vision to be fulfilled. 3. Fiduciary transparency and accountability. Our polity gives great power to sessions and higher governing bodies to dispense the tithes and offerings of the people. Full accountability is the minimum requirement. Transparency of purpose and faithfulness to donor intent becomes essential to motivate generous giving. Servant leaders are fiduciaries, who must not allow personal agendas to taint the use of funds received from the faithful. People can vote with their wallets and with their feet, as well as by ballot. It is crucial that the people who provide the tithes and offerings for ministry and mission have complete confidence in the use of their gifts. Members and churches have the right, even a duty, to withhold their gifts when trust is broken and leaders do not fully and fairly discharge their fiduciary duties. 4. Ownership of vision and programs faithful to God’s word. Faithful people will follow faithful leaders, but they cannot be expected to follow or support what they do not understand, do not trust or rightly believe is contrary to God’s Word. People in the pews develop a passion for ministry and mission when they see that passion in their leaders. When they know they are following Christ’s great commandment and great commission, they take ownership and provide stewardship to make them real. Neither churches nor their members will follow leaders pursuing secular and political agendas not founded on God’s Word. Paul admonished us to follow his example insofar as he was following Christ. The same is true of leadership in the church today. Our denomination has lost most of its once significant influence on the affairs of our nation because it has lost these core values. We have tried to be a national political force pursuing secular agendas and we have lost the influence of 1.7 million changed lives who could actually have made a difference in their communities. Eastminster has kept these core values and avoided secular political agendas, yet it has significant political, social, cultural and economic impact on the city of Wichita and state of Kansas through the lives and leadership of its members in the community. Robert L. Howard of Wichita, Kan., is chairman of the Presbyterian Lay Committee. |
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