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Introduction: We have heard about
personal comfort zones. This refers to the work one is willing to
do, how well he gets along with others, etc. Were you aware
churches have comfort zones? That is, churches grow until they max
out their comfort level and then stop. While church growth is not
an exact science, there are many perceivable trends indicating the
growth a congregation will comfortably attain. To avoid hindrances
to evangelism and growth, we need to be aware of the perceivable
levels, recognizing the obstacles they present and the keys needed
to overcome them. As you listen, see if you know congregations
that fit these levels and also determine for yourself where you
believe we are. Discussion: I. The four levels of modern churches. A.
Patriarch/Matriarch Church:
1.
This
church’s leadership is made up of a single family. The
membership is often made up of extended family and a few others
compatible with them. It is often overconfident because the
“Patriarch” is convinced he knows all there is to make a
church successful. This congregation will rarely make it much past
40 members. 2.
Obstacles to
growth are inherent in this congregation’s leadership. The
dominant family is often consciously or subconsciously threatened
by growth for two reasons. 1) More people are harder to control.
2) More people means more capable leaders which threaten to take
the reins from the Patriarch or Matriarch. 3.
To break
through this level, the leading family must learn to trust others,
developing leaders outside the family. They must also learn to
accept wisdom from outside sources. B.
One Group Church: 1.
This church
has two or three leaders with a few quiet workers. It is called
“one group”, because it is made up of one large social circle,
wherein everyone is fairly close to everyone else. Additionally,
everyone is expected to be involved in every aspect of the
church’s work. This church may get up to a little over 100.
However, it will typically hover around 75. 2.
Obstacles to
growth are inherent in the relational aspects of the one group.
Members worry if they are not close to everyone. Since the
practical limits of this kind of closeness cannot extend much past
70 for anyone, the church is limited to that number. 3.
To break
through to the next level, leaders must work to develop new layers
of leadership. The church must be willing to let go of the
“everybody does everything” one group mentality and allow for
open subgroups. The members must learn that they will not be close
to everyone else and everyone else will not be close to them.
However, they must not allow that fact to cause them to isolate
themselves or form closed cliques. C.
Preacher Dominant Church: 1.
This
congregation typically has multiple leaders but with little
experience. Therefore success comes and goes depending on the
preacher. The work the church performs, the goals the church sets,
the programs the church organizes are instigated by the preacher.
Since most preachers desire elders, these churches will typically
have elders. This church will grow to the number that the preacher
and a few volunteers can maintain through counseling and study,
plus a few “low maintenance” members. Typically, this church
will not grow past 150. 2.
Obstacles to
growth in this congregation are inherent in the ability, talent,
work and stamina of the preacher. One man can only serve so many.
The early years of this church’s growth are filled with personal
work Bible studies. After a few years, the needs of the early
converts become so great the preacher is spending his time
maintaining. Growth plateaus. Eventually, the preacher burns out,
moves off or dies. Then the church declines. If the church then
gets a dud preacher, it can go into a tailspin. 3. The keys to getting past this level are training and leadership development. Instead of the preacher running things and doing the work, he needs to train others to “run” the church without needing him as the center of learning and progress D.
Process Church: 1.
This church
has good, strong, steady leadership and is held together by its
“processes”. That is, the leadership has implemented processes
or programs by which the continuing work of the congregation is
accomplished. There are personal work programs, new converts
programs, group programs, Bible class programs, etc. With these
processes in place, the membership is confident in the local
leadership and not nearly so focused on keeping the present
preacher. Since good, supported leadership is necessary to
establish these processes, these churches will typically have
elders, but they are overworked. These elders usually feel the
need to be personally involved in most decisions made, from hiring
the preacher to buying the brooms. This group may stretch as far
as 350-400 but will typically come back to 150-300 members. 2.
The
obstacles this congregation faces are twofold. First, there is the
similar problem to the “Preacher Dominant Church”. A small
group of elders can only do so much work. Since they are directly
involved in all of the processes from air conditioner maintenance
to personal work to spiritual development, the church can only
grow so large before their abilities are maxed out. The second
obstacle is the danger of being “institutionalized” (not to be
confused with the false doctrine of Institutionalism). By this, I
mean this church often gets in the rut of performing the same
activities over and over. In time, the activities become the
purpose of the church’s existence. How many churches continue
holding gospel meetings the same way simply because that is what
has always been done? Instead of viewing the processes as means to
the goals, this church may view accomplishing the processes as the
goal. Then those processes lose their effectiveness. 3.
Keys to
breaking into the next level for this church are learning to
divide labor. Training up members to be more specialized in their
focus within the congregation. Elders must move into a leadership
role and allow others to manage the work. The work of the
congregation must be given to the congregation and not
accomplished by the staff or officers. II.
The Biblical
level we must attain: The
Bible Church. A.
I have
called this level the “Bible Church” because this is the level
described by the numerous passages that reveal the practical
workings of successful churches. B.
This church
understands the need for division of labor. Not every one can be
an eye, a hand, a foot or an ear (I
Corinthians 12:17-18). This church recognizes people with
different abilities have been placed in the congregation by God so
the church can grow properly (cf.
Ephesians
4:16). We have noticed this in the working of the
Jerusalem church in Acts
6:2-3. When the Hellenistic widows were overlooked, the
apostles didn’t call for all the members to do better, they set
up a specialized group to accomplish this work, while the apostles
devoted themselves to their specialized work. C.
This church
recognizes the need for multiple full-time workers. I can’t help
but wonder what would happen in a modern congregation if Barnabas
showed up like he did with the Antioch congregation in Acts
11. The church was started by a few who were scattered
from Jerusalem. The Jerusalem church then sent Barnabas to help
the congregation grow. He encouraged the congregation, but
seemingly very quickly left to bring back another full-time
worker—Saul (Acts
11:25-26). D.
This church
recognizes the work of service and ministering belongs to the
members, not to the “officers” (elders, deacons and
evangelists). Ephesians
4:11-12 demonstrates those who hold an official position
in the church do so not to accomplish the work of the church, nor
to serve the members of the church. Rather, they hold office in
order to equip us to do the work. E.
This church
recognizes we are one body (I
Corinthians 12:12), but our needs for growth, development,
chastisement, companionship and community will not just take place
in the context of the whole body. Never forget the Bible
statements about all that was done from house to house. In Acts
2:46-47, the Christians spent time with one another
socially and spiritually from house to house, eating together and
praising God together. When Peter was delivered from prison, he
found some Christians gathered in Mary’s house praying (Acts
12:12). While in Ephesus, Paul taught not only publicly,
but from house to house (Acts
20:20). F.
This church
recognizes a need for layers of leaders and greater leadership
development. We often equate leadership with eldership. We become
concerned when people refer to someone other than an elder as a
leader. But the fact is there are leaders other than elders. Keep
in mind the Biblical pattern. Elders have oversight over the whole
congregation. They lead the entirety of the group according to
Biblical mandates. But they develop others within the congregation
to lead in specific areas. For instance, in Acts
6:3, the apostles appointed seven men, not to perform a
task but to be in charge of the task. III.
Common
obstacles for this kind of growth. A.
One
advantage the early churches had is they didn’t carry any
baggage from previous “church experiences.” They were not
bound by habits formed when they were “brought up in church.”
Nor were they bound by what they had always done. Nor were they
gun-shy because of previous failed attempts. They had not
developed comfort zones. So, they just did the work, and it
worked. Christians in America, on the other hand, face all of
these obstacles. We must determine that the souls of the lost in
middle Tennessee are far more important than our comfort zones and
habits. Allow me to share with you the comfort zone obstacles we
face. When we know the obstacles, we can overcome them more
readily. B.
Comfort
zone obstacle #1: Our
comfort zone is for elders to be managers in the church. We
don’t feel comfortable asking them to step away from the role of
managing and simply do the leading, setting the tone, casting the
vision and establishing the guidelines. We want the elders to be
directly involved in all decisions. We don’t mind if elders
delegate tasks, stipulating how to accomplish them. But we get
nervous if they delegate responsibilities, simply telling somebody
what the outcome needs to be and then setting them free to
scripturally fulfill the responsibility. C.
Comfort
zone obstacle #2: We are
comfortable when the “officers” do most of the work. We are
comfortable when the preacher does most of the evangelism. We are
comfortable when the elders do most of the leading, the caring for
and serving of the members’ spiritual needs. We are comfortable
when the deacons accomplish all the maintenance and other
functions. We get quite uncomfortable when they begin to ask us to
do those things under their leadership. Two obstacles occur here.
First, the preachers, elders or deacons are afraid they are not
accomplishing their duties when they are doing more training of
others and less of the work themselves. But, in fact, they are
more than accomplishing their work. They are making sure the work
is done now and establishing a perpetual pattern, seeing that the
work will be accomplished even when they are gone. Secondly, the
membership of the church wonders what is the point of appointing
officers or paying preachers if they are not doing the work
themselves. But, we must all remember Ephesians
4:11-12, recognizing that the work of officers in the
church is not to do all the work, but to equip us to do the work
together. D.
Comfort
zone obstacle #3: We are
comfortable with one local full-time worker. We are uncomfortable
if that one or the elders start talking about getting multiple
full-time workers. That isn’t done very often. We are afraid we
will end up with the denominational “youth minister” program
going. We wonder what on earth more than one preacher will do
since he only has to preach twice a week anyway. Not to mention
wondering how we are going to pay for it. However, the Biblical
precedent is quite clearly multiple workers. The Jerusalem church
began with 12 (Acts
2). Antioch, in Acts
11:20-25 had more than one. By Acts
13, they had five. When the missionary journeys were
accomplished, the evangelists always went out at least by twos (Acts
13:2, et al). We
need to remember that an evangelist’s job is not just to preach
sermons. According to Ephesians
4:11-12, the evangelist’s job is to equip the members to
work. That might mean we even have full-time evangelists that
rarely get any pulpit time. E.
Comfort
zone obstacle #4: We are
comfortable when we can go to one man or group of men and have any
question answered about any aspect of the practical working of the
church. We are uncomfortable when we ask a preacher or an elder a
question and he says to check with someone else. But after Acts
6, if someone came to the apostles asking a question about
the ministration of food to the widows, you can be sure they were
directed to talk to Philip or Stephen or Nicanor.
We are comfortable when we want something done in the
church to be able to go the preacher or elders and ask them to do
it and they do. We become uncomfortable if they say, “I don’t
have time for that. That is not my responsibility. You need to
talk to ______.” But that is exactly what the apostles said in Acts
6. We must recognize that no one person or group can
accomplish everything in the church or even know about everything
that goes on. We must be willing to be told to see someone else
without getting our feelings hurt. F.
Comfort
zone obstacle #5: We are
comfortable depending on the collectivity to accomplish
everything. We are uncomfortable being challenged to do it
ourselves. We are comfortable when we can hire a preacher to
conduct personal work programs. We are uncomfortable when we are
asked to learn how to teach people ourselves. We are comfortable
when we hire preachers to visit the sick and shut-in. We are
uncomfortable when we are asked to visit them. We are comfortable
when the church sets up a new converts’ program. We are
uncomfortable when we are challenged to study personally with new
converts. We are comfortable when the church takes charge of some
activity, because in the midst of the collectivity our personal
responsibility is diminished. We are comfortable for the church to
establish programs and to see to needs, because then a few
volunteers do the work. And we can be satisfied that we attended,
put some money in the plate and therefore were a part of the work.
We are uncomfortable when challenged to sacrifice some of our
personal time to do this work ourselves. We are uncomfortable when
we recognize we may have to give up some TV time, the softball
league or our second job for extra money. Frankly, this is one
reason why so many churches give in to the pressures of a social
gospel. People are much more comfortable when the church will
sacrifice time and resources, hiring a “minister” to get
teenagers together for a party or to host a family potluck than
they are with having to do it themselves. We must never be more
comfortable with that. No doubt, there are some programs that are
scriptural for a church to operate and some that are not. But the
comfort zone is the same. Of course, when it is unscriptural for
the church to run some activity, we as individuals must do it. But
even if there is a scriptural program in place, we as individuals
must not be comfortable with the collectivity accomplishing
everything. We must work ourselves. Conclusion: No matter in which comfort level you believe we are, our goal is to be what God has patterned in His word: A Bible Church. As demonstrated in this lesson, we are facing some obstacles. But we can do it. It is going to take a lot of prayer. It is going to take a lot of Bible study. It is going to take a lot of time together with one another. Most of all, it is going to take dedication to the fact that our comfort and conveniences are less important than the souls we will save by stepping out of our comfort zones. We have to have a hunger to save the lost. I believe we have it. I believe we will break these barriers and step into the level of church growth the Bible describes.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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