A note to those in “shrinking” churches

Is your church growing? We all know what this question usually means. Are more people coming now than last year? And for many churches, the answer is no. According to this standard, these churches are not growing. In fact, they are declining or even dying.

But we need to be reminded that not all growth is good, and not all decline is bad. Imagine the doctor who says to a patient, “I have good news. Your tumor is shrinking!” Growth in size must be put in context. And in order to find that context, we need to answer the question about church growth using some different standards.

For example, is your church growing in its love for God and for one another? Or is your church growing in its concern for the holiness and purity of Christ’s church? Is your church growing in its knowledge of and love for God’s Word? Is your church growing in its conformity to God’s commands? Is your church growing in its evangelistic boldness and fervor?

When measured by these standards, we see that not all numerical growth is gain, and not all decline is decay. Sometimes unrepentant members must be pruned for the sake of the health of the church. Sometimes evangelistic fervor and boldness are not followed by large numbers of conversions. Sometimes people flock to have their ears scratched by false teaching.

And when we focus on growth solely in terms of numbers we are often focusing on the things we can’t control. We can boldly proclaim the gospel, but we can’t save anyone. We can invite people, but we can’t make them come. We can call people to repentance through church discipline, but we can’t make them repent. Sometimes when people don’t come, they don’t come even though we were faithful to proclaim the truth. And sometimes when people leave, they leave because we faithfully followed God’s commands.

As our church studies Deuteronomy on Sunday mornings, we have seen how God is intensely concerned with the righteousness and purity of His people. God does not call His people to pursue prosperity, but He calls them to pursue justice, holiness, and godliness and to entrust Him to bless them.

“Shrinking” churches can learn a lesson from God’s commands in Deuteronomy. Pursue holiness and godliness. Diligently keep God’s commands. Guard the purity of Christ’s church. Boldly proclaim the gospel. And entrust the rest to God.

If your church is growing in all of these areas, praise God. Continue in faithfulness to Him and be encouraged. If your church is not growing in these areas, repent of any sinfulness and begin to pursue godliness. Don’t pursue prosperity and numerical growth, but pursue God and obedience to His commands. And entrust the rest to Him.