Church Growth Commentary

Lutheran Notes:

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Church Growth Model Married to WELS union lethal for congregations

Another pastor who doesn't do anything because he follows the CG model even though he only has 45 members to task: see this post that Ichabod's Dr. Jackson already linked to, and this comment on that post, and this comment on another post.

The CG model creates the "too many chiefs and too few Indians scenario" in many WELS churches, which tend to be on the smallish side.

The WELS is a union--make no mistake about it--so when you marry a CG "Pastor as CEO" model to the WELS union, the pastors end up doing no evangelism--big time! The members refuse to do it all, and he refuses to implement any program at all unless the members commit to more than they are willing to do. So nothing gets done evangelism-wise.

Perhaps some independent churches can be successful with the CG model--despite it being bad theology--because their pastor is not a part of a union, and can more readily be forced to do evangelism and visitation whether the congregation does enough to meet the pastors expectations, or not.

When pastors do no evangelism because they can't implement the CG model, they sit around and blame the mega-community churches for stealing all their members and potential members, causing the church to shrink so it has to be merged with other shrinking WELS churches.

I'm not for CG, but I'm (at least) for doing what pastors and elders did in the past, which is visiting people and teaching them, encouraging them to come to church,
and maybe even leading neighborhood canvassing efforts where people are invited to church--like was done in the old days--since shoe gum and tracts were affordable even during the Depression-era.

related post:

By Rob, 1 July 2008

WELS is run by the pastors & teachers union. Most delegates to national and district conventions are members of the union. In my experience, even some lay delegates are former or retired teachers, therefore members of the union. (BTW, Synod Constitution prohibits this practice, yet it's done.) The COP is 100% union. The SC contains non-union members, and maybe this contributes to occasional friction between SC and COP. In our culture, unions expect two pay increases per year: longevity (step) increase, plus inflation cost of living adjustment. Under union rules, pay never goes down.

---

Bailing Water Commentary

twissted_sisster said...

Better get used to it. If the church and change gang have their way, our good old historical lutheran way of conducting worship services is a thing of the past. We traditional people are just not 'with it'. C'mon- you don't want to be one of those 'head-in-the-sand people', do ya?

Until people stand up and demand that these pastors do THEIR jobs, they'll continue to guilt you into doing it for them. Not everyone IS a minister. It's a gift that has been given to some. What about these pastors going out to visit the members that ARE on the books before you go knock on doors in an attempt to run up your numbers? C'mon laity, hold their feet to the fire. Many of the these pastors are getting paid a pretty penny to do their jobs and turn around and try to get you to do it for them.

July 31, 2008 12:11 AM

rlschultz said...

I am getting that funny feeling in the pit of my stomach that many of these pastors and lay leaders are attending the same CG seminars. We have a ministry plan at our WELS congregation as well. Our pastors don't talk about it directly too often. The plan seems to manifest itself in all of the new and allegedly great ideas to bring in more people and save more souls. Maybe you are fortunate that your ministry plan is all talk right now. The devil is in the details. When the plan is actually implemented, watch what they do more than what they say. You just might get the pastor parading around like a TV evangelist and lay lectors doing the readings.

July 31, 2008 6:54 AM

Anonymous said...

In my experience, church growth methodology is almost always pushed by the laity, not the pastors. Most pastors fight it all the way, but get overruled by a council or by the voters.

It's always faster and easier for a pastor to do all of the work by himself. When you have to start to training and supervising people, that's when the huge investment of time comes into play.

So before people start blaming pastors for everything wrong in a congregation or synod, the members of that congregation or synod ought to look seriously at themselves first.

July 31, 2008 8:06 AM

***

Ten Basic Facts about Church Growth

GJ - Anonymous may have experienced laity pushing CG, but the CGM is the first fad ever forced from above on all the congregations by the leadership. Here are some facts:
1. Almost all the world mission executives (of all denominations) went to Fuller for CG training. That is why the Mission Vision Statement by the Assemblies of God is just like WELS' and Missouri's.
2. Fuller expanded their business model by applying their marketing and statistical ideas to American missions. They roped all those executives in as well.
3. ELCA, Missouri, WELS, and the ELS sent men to Fuller (later to Willow Creek too) and various other CG franchises.
4. The pan-Lutheran CG effort was enhanced by AAL-LB, now Thrivent money.
5. Because of executives being training at Fuller, any Lutheran pastor with a Fuller degree (Larry Olson, DMin, Fuller) was given preferential treatment, even though "all WELS pastors know Larry is a false teacher." Ergo, he is harmless?
6. Kent Hunter and Waldo Werning, both Fuller trained, have worked in all the synods to promote their false doctrine. Werning does his best to drive CG critics out of the ministry. Hunter has become a major pan-denominational CG guru, in spite of his ridiculous books. Hunter and Werning are both LCMS, both Who's Who in Church Growth.
7. Both LCMS seminaries teach CG as part of their curriculum. Robert Preus started the CG program and endorsed CG principles when he was president of Concordia, Ft. Wayne.
8. David Valleskey and Frosty Bivens built their careers by promoting CG, ending up as professors at the Sausage Factory. Both bragged about going to Fuller. Both denied going to Fuller. Every sausage is sauteed in CG before graduating.
9. WELS, probably led by Wayne Mueller, established Church and Change to push CG even more, to the extreme point of registering people for the C and C conference from the official WELS website. This registration was going on while WELS pastors were being told that C and C was utterly destroyed by Gurgel (Honest Abe Gurgel, now in a secure, undisclosed location). Adam Mueller (son of Wayne) is a leader in C and C.
10. American mission leaders in all the synods, from the lavender ELCA to the dysfunctional CLC (sic) are united by CG doctrine.