Leaving the church growth cult

The Calling

Do you remember the first sermon you preached? Do you remember how nervous and excited you were? Were you worried? So was I. The fact is, the first time I preached, I was terrified! I do not remember The Lord doing anything significant in the service, but I was hooked. Even though I was frightened and anxious to preach, I was also exhilarated. Preaching is what I wanted to do with my life! I wanted to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Everywhere I went, people were preaching, “God can use anybody,” I was anybody, and I wanted God to use me. The call of God was confirmed in my life, and the reality of the call to preach was cemented in my heart. I became a sponge. I wanted to soak up everything I could about ministry. Since I would serve the Lord in the pulpit, I wanted to do my best. It is more honest to say I wanted to be the best anybody could be! (Such humility, right?)

Defining the Problem

Why do I call it the church growth cult? I am not using the term cult in any technical sense; instead, I am using it for the mindset that many people have about it. Some people think that drastic personality and priority changes happen to people that join a cult. When people enter a cult, their families notice first because their loved one disappears emotionally first then physically. I disappeared from my family and core group emotionally. I disappeared emotionally because I felt like a failure. A Pastor is what I needed. Every pastor needs a pastor, but you need one you can talk to, not one you are trying to impress.

At sixteen I received my call to the ministry and began to do something I had only done as required. I began to read. I read about great preaching men of God and hoped desperately that the Lord would use me mightily in the same way He used men before me; my imagination went wild as I dreamed about the ministry and what it might be. The future was in church work, and the future was full of joy!

I was, as I am now, a jovial person. ‘As I started my ministry training, I watched or listened to as many sermons as possible as a young man. I read anything I could get my hands on, trying to build my sermon arsenal. When I was engaged in all this, the cheapest way to listen to sermons was through the local church and Christian television. At 50, I am part of the first generation fully impacted by mass media.

A Flawed Measurement System

My sense of success in the ministry was shaped by the size of the congregations I saw on Christian television. Television Ministry is expensive, so it makes sense that the only churches that could afford to do television ministry were the large churches. I did not have a realistic idea of the local church ministry. I was saved in a small church and served small churches all my life. Joy filled my heart as I served in the church and worked my way through the positions most who are called to pastor do. It never mattered the size of the crowd or congregation then; I just wanted to serve well. I was thrilled to be a part of what God was doing in His people.

From the beginning of my pastorate, I judged my success on the crowds that came to participate in worship. The metric of attendance equaling success was the result of the television ministry concept I had ingested over the years. The Lord calls us to be faithful, not famous. With the accessibility of the internet, there is the advent of the brand in preaching. The people that know about these things keep telling us to build a social media “brand’. Whether you are judging your ministry’s success on attendance in Sunday morning services or likes on social media platforms, the problem is the same; it is not about faithfulness.

Defining True Success

Success in ministry for the preacher is faithfulness to God and His people. Preaching is about God’s Word. God’s Word is His self-disclosure to His people. When the preacher makes it about attendance, the preacher makes what is going on about the preacher and not the Lord. Why do we fall into this trap? Because we assume crowds’ equal success even though we know that is not true in our hearts. For years even if I delivered a good message, it was not good enough if the attendance was not high enough. This obsession with attendance leads spiritual people to gimmicks rather than godliness.

As we look to the world for answers, we are not looking to the Lord. The Church growth cult and my focus on numbers took the joy of the Lord out of my life and ministry. Because I was so focused on attendance, I never asked myself or the Lord what unique things we can do at this stage in the church’s spiritual life and size that might be difficult as the congregation grows. I only thought about the numbers. That is not to say I only thought of the people as numbers because I did not; of course, I loved and still love the people; I only thought of myself as failing. Have you felt the way I did and sometimes still do?

The STANDARD of Measure

Do you believe you have been given the opportunity you wanted since you felt the call to ministry, and now you are failing at it? I have the best news ever; that news is that you were not called to grow the church you serve. Christ will build His Church (Matthew 16:18) (NKJV) (¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.) Do you see the text? Jesus says that He will build His church. Does that mean that as Pastors and leaders, we do not need to make the changes necessary for the church to grow? No, we still need to lead, but we need to lead in the joy of the Lord and not under the burden of perceived failure.

I want to be clear; the Lord called you. Trust the Lord. Love the people that God has called you to. It’s ok to change your methods when you discover a better way; that’s called growth. The church growth cult would have you change almost everything about the Church you serve with the promise of relevance. Relevance is a code word for the promise of numbers.

My Own (WRONG) Standard

In my case, I knew theologically that ministry was about Jesus; however, the fact that I “knew it” theologically blocked me from realizing that I was not making it about Jesus; I was preaching Jesus but living for numbers. When the numbers didn’t come, depression was waiting at the door for me.

I could not return to the Lord’s joy until I realized my call was to feed the people through the preached word. I needed to relate to the people as an elder; “relating to the people as an elder” meant being present and giving Bible-based answers to life’s questions. Being present with the people also means being transparent as possible with the people. Hence, they understand that even people who give their lives to the call of God do not do so perfectly. I DID NOT FULLY ENJOY MY LIFE when I was part of the Church growth cult.

 I am a Christian pastor, saved with the Holy Spirit living inside me, and I was miserable! Judging myself by a standard the Lord was not judging me by, and it affected every area of my life. Because of my perceived failure, I was not myself. I could flip the switch and be jovial during public ministry times, then after, I would be exhausted! I saw myself as a failure, and I was flailing about trying to increase attendance so that I could escape the feeling of failure.

To make matters worse, I would couch this obsession with numbers in a hyper-spiritual speech about reaching the lost and discipleship. I prayed, but it was hard to truly pray without depth because I felt like I was doing something wrong, trying to do the right thing. Everywhere I turned, I was confronted with problems that more people or money seemed to fix.

Wrong Standard, Wrong Path

When the depression came, I isolated myself from everyone. That is not what a shepherd does; a shepherd is among the flock feeding it, caring for it, and even loving it. I can preach while depressed but cannot thrive as a preacher, pastor, or person suffering from depression. Not all depression is situational, as this was for me. However, when faithfulness to God and His people became my goal, it changed my outlook.

The young preacher reading these words may assume that I have given up my dreams or given up any success, but that is not true. I even think numerical growth has value; I know it’s not the top value anymore. Often numerical growth only happens after spiritual growth of the whole body occurs.

The Clarity of Truth

I have been serving the congregation I am in for twenty-six consecutive years, and I have been the senior pastor for 23 years. When I became the pastor, there were twelve people in the congregation. If I had to do it all over again, knowing that we would not fold as a congregation, I would do less, not more. I would have done picnics, and my bible studies would have been entirely different. Instead of covering so many verses in a study, I would have cut them by two-thirds and led them ask questions that hopefully caused them to dig deeper into their Bibles!

In the church growth cult, I focused not on the people there. My focus was on the people who were not there yet! If you are serving a church and are a member of the church growth cult, it is killing you, and you may not even know it. Let me take a moment and affirm you; the Lord of Glory called you to pastor the people, do not start by trying to increase the tangible. Start by helping them to deepen their walk with God.

In Conclusion

If pastors help their people improve their spiritual lives, the ‘tangibles’ will take care of themselves! As Christian workers, we aim to bring the body of Christ into maturity, not build mega-churches. Dare to spend your life with a congregation, take them to the throne of the Lord of Glory. As you take them to the word of God the will of God will become apparent. Ministries to the world around you will become apparent. The tangibles will begin to change as the people are informed by the power of the Spirit of God moving in the midst of the people. take them to Jesus’ pastor! One day you will meet the Lord, on that day I hope you hear well done…