Numbed by Numbers - The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic).Is That All There Is To Church Growth?

 

"Is that all there is to Church Growth?" A WELS District Pope said - "Not church GROWTH, but CHURCH Growth." His stammering voice betrayed his uncertainty.

Long ago and far away, Christina and I would go to Chicago for a few days. We would get cheap tickets and see  live performances by Vincent Price, Rose Marie, Rosemary Clooney, Yul Brynner, Katherine Hepburn, and Peggy Lee, whose parents were Swedish and Norwegian (known humorously in Moline as a mixed marriage). 

Peggy Lee was a Lutheran, known for her ability to sing and compose music. She is still famous for "Is That All There Is?" - a song about betrayal and disappointment.

Looking into the connection between Evangelical Free churches and Church Growth, I found one of the so-called experts saying "Measure everything." One E Free pastor meticulously described how membership goals and staff growth were the key to congregational success. CGM is a navel-gazing obsession, resulting in shifting from the Gospel to building up the numbers.

This is a priceless summary:

As the church growth movement picked up steam, one would expect that church attendance nationally would have begun to move upward. In fact, the opposite occurred. As the church growth movement increased in influence, church attendance began to decline. Seeker-sensitive churches swelled as smaller traditional churches shuttered their doors. Pastors have been well-aware that they lost people from their traditional churches to seeker-sensitive churches. The church growth movement hit its peak around the turn of the century, and yet as it grew to the pinnacle of its influence, American Christianity witnessed its greatest decline.

The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) are so mesmerized that they cannot escape from their own follies -

1. Selling cash-cow Bibles of the worst sort to make money for themselves.
2. Aiming at fun events like Bible studies in bars and soccer camps for confirmation.
3. Frantically trying new methods (note the Greek root) and asking "Is that all there is?"
4. In their weak and hopeless rejection of the efficacy of the Gospel, playing around in papal and Eastern orthodox costumes, snorting incense, playing the fool.
5. Bullying and removing those who want to emphasize faith, the only way they can be fruitful.
6. Selling their church properties after being led by harpies.