As I stated earlier, gospel fidelity and propagation are the goal and, just as every good ninja knows, when the goal is big enough, breakthrough can happen in the process.
Aiming at the gospel results in men and women being redeemed– receiving new life in Christ– and can bring about Acts 2 movement where the Lord adds daily to the number of those being saved.
It can also bring about alienation, persecution, and even death depending on where the gospel is being preached. The key is aiming at the proper goal and allowing God to determine the numeric outcome of the lives changed.
There seem to be two extremes with proponents and opponents of church growth, however.
One extreme is overly captivated with growth. The other is overly cautious of growth. I don’t think either is the right course of action.
First, some are overly captivated with growth.
One of the problems many have with the Church Growth Movement is that it has made growth the goal. Though fewer churches would identify themselves with the actual movement, they still are enamored with the same thing– growth is their central goal.
Several in the next generation are now seeing some of the problems of that aim and are reacting accordingly. They’re concerned, as am I, with some of the watered-down theology that can be present in the modern-day evangelical machine that can produce growth, but not necessarily the right kind of growth.
Second, some are overly cautious of growth.
One of my main concerns with the second group is that their reaction to the first group will be, well, an immature overreaction to their excesses.
There can be a tendency to simply say, “If this is what organized church growth is all about, then I don’t want anything to do with it.” That’s a wrong attitude.
