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OUTGROWING THE INGROWN CHURCH
Rev. Brian Vaastra
Introduction
The title for this article is taken from a book written by C. John
Miller (Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, Zondervan Publishing, 1986). This
book addresses the very challenges we face as Christian Reformed
Churches in Australia. Allow me to quote a paragraph from the book as an
introduction to this article:
The local church was intended by Jesus to be a gathering of people full
of faith - strong in their confidence in Him - not a gathering of
religious folk who desperately need reassurance. Perhaps seeking
personal comfort is not wrong in itself. But it is desperately wrong
when it becomes the primary reason for the existence of the local
church. When that happens, the local church is no living fellowship at
all, but a retreat centre where anxious people draw resources that
enable them merely to cope with the pains of life. The church then
becomes a religious cushion.
This statement articulates well the serious situation many western
churches (including Christian Reformed Churches) find themselves in
today. While Christ calls us to take up our cross and follow him, to
spread the good news of the gospel throughout the land in which we are
placed, we gather in our holy huddles, singing our songs, and listening
to sermons in which we hope to have our consciences continually pampered
with words of grace and love.
I realise that it is always dangerous to generalise, because there are
signs of dissatisfaction growing in our churches, and this is leading to
spiritual growth, and a desire to throw off our timidity, and live
passionately and boldly in obedience to Christ. I thank God for this
sign of the work of the Holy Spirit among us.
So as we consider what it means to be an outward focussed church, let us
first do some healthy Biblical self-examination (1 Thessalonians
5:21-22), and seek to identify those symptoms that characterise a church
as inward focussed.
What are symptoms of an ingrown church?
(a) A lack of gospel vision
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the great work of God in which He is
reconciling all things on earth and in heaven to himself (Colossians
1:20). All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit (Colossians 1:8),
and as it does so the kingdom is coming into this world. This gospel
work is being led by the powerful Son of God - our Lord Jesus Christ. He
is not the ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’, who is so good and so
inoffensive that he never asks awkward questions, and never probes our
hidden sores, but only ever affirms you in whatever you are doing. He’s
not like the Dalai Lama, moving around the world, smiling politely and
showering peace and goodwill on all people. He’s not the traditional
Jesus, the ‘stain-glassed window’ Jesus - very religious, very
unapproachable, the ‘don’t change anything’ Jesus. The Christ we follow
is much bigger and more powerful than any of our small notions of Him.
He is supreme Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He is the
all-powerful Head of the church. This Jesus is building the church, and
the gates of hell will not overcome her.
The ingrown church domesticates these great truths. It fails to capture
Christ’s vision and confidently live out these truths in its ministries.
Such a community of people will not be stepping out in faith, but will
only attempt those things that are humanly possible. They will accept
and defend the status quo, and the numerical stagnation that accompanies
it, as evidence that they are ‘the faithful remnant.’ Such a church
quenches the Spirit of God because it has become worldly in its practice
and indifferent to the call of Christ to reach the lost.
(b) A misdirected focus
The ingrown church will have an inward focus. It will concentrate on
survival, rather than growth through winning souls for Christ. Its
members and elders will be more concerned about the ninety-nine sheep,
who are saved, making sure they are contented, well-fed and safe, than
the possibility of seeking the lost sheep. In fact, they may even regard
evangelism and winning new converts as a danger to the church, because
it means going out into the world and bringing people with hurts and
problems into the church, with all the trouble and misunderstanding that
comes with this.
The budget, congregational prayer, and sermons of an ingrown church will
all refect this misdirected focus. Visitors will be welcomed, but there
will be no effort to assimilate them quickly and warmly into the
community.
Where the church has such a misdirected focus, it will eventually become
captured by their tradition or church culture and eventually die.
(c) A domesticated leadership
The ingrown church will have a leadership that is restricted to
operating within the comfort zone of the church. The leaders will not
seek to (or be allowed to) rock the boat with a prophetic voice that
challenges and motivates people to take the gospel out of the pews and
into the world.
At the same time the pastor of the ingrown church is expected to do all
the work of the local church. The elders who serve with Him have minimal
roles in the lives of the members of the congregation, and spend most of
their time in Session meetings, managing the church and ensuring the
minister is operating within accepted norms.
The ingrown church has no plans to develop leaders from among it’s own
ranks, nor does it particularly encourage it’s people to consider
full-time gospel ministry as a vocation. ‘That’, they say, ‘it a matter
for God to work in the heart of the person concerned’. And when God
does, they will assess whether he is suitable!
(d) A tendency to self-righteousness
Another symptom of the ingrown church is the tendency to become
self-righteous. This manifests itself in many ways, including having a
contemptuous view of others. Ingrown churches tend to look down on other
churches particularly those who are struggling. They are arrogant about
their own achievements and theological correctness.
Members in such a church often have a shallow sense of forgiveness. They
don’t realise the extent of their own depravity and the grace God has
poured into their lives. Like Simon the Pharisee, “he who is forgiven
little, loves little” (Luke 7:47). There is a close connection between
our personal sense of God’s forgiveness, and the depth of our love for
Him, as well as our willingness to genuinely forgive others.
The ingrown church also suffers from an unhealthy view of failure. How
does the church respond when it fails or is found out? Do it’s people
humble themselves before God, or do they attack the messenger? Rather
than being ‘poor in spirit’, they become poor-spirited.
The gospel call to be outward focussed
But let’s turn to the positive side and consider the gospel call for the
church to be outward focussed. What is this call? How will that look
like in the local church?
The church has been placed in the world not to serve itself and it’s own
interests. The church belongs to God – we are a people belonging to God
(1 Peter 1:9), that we might serve Him. The church’s goal is to glorify
God – to declare the praises of Him who called us into darkness into his
marvellous light (1 Peter 1:10). The primary way the church brings glory
to God, is not by singing praises to Him on Sunday (however right and
good that might be), but by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ to
others, so they might be saved and serve Him in His Kingdom.
The apostle Paul spells this out very clearly in 1 Corinthians 10:31ff,
So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory
of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Gentiles or the
church of God – even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am
not seeking my own good, but the good of many that they may be saved.
Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. Christ came to seek
and to save the lost. He commands his disciples to follow his example,
and in His name, to seek and save the lost. The church’s calling is a
missionary calling. Christ gave the church its mandate in Matthew
28:19-20 - go and make disciples of the nations, baptising them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching
them to obey all that I commanded you.
As Christian Reformed Churches we need to recapture the missionary focus
of our faith. We are so tied up in church programs that few of us have
any meaningful contact with non-Christians, let alone work at developing
genuine friendships with them. We need to understand afresh the very
character of our faith. We are people saved by the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are saved from sin and death and hell by his atoning
death on a cross. That same salvation is offered to all people. It is
not something we can keep to ourselves. It is not simply for the
individual. God is redeeming a people for himself, and He is calling all
of us to be involved in that task. Our task as a church can be summed up
as follows: to get as many over the line in as good a shape as possible,
and serving Christ in all areas of life. This is a broad task which
calls Christians to be involved in every area of life, but always with
the gospel at the centre, with it’s clear goal to save people and bring
glory to God.
So what will that look like in the local church? The following is not an
exhaustive list but some gospel imperatives that will bring about an
outward focus. An outward focussed church is
(a) A church that has clear and bold preaching of the gospel
underpinned with prayer
The preaching of the gospel is clearly the apostle Paul’s and the early
church’s major concern. In 1 Corinthians 1:17 he sets the priority of
his ministry For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the
gospel — not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be
emptied of its power. In chapter 9 verse 16 he puts it even more
strongly, Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! He also commands
Timothy to do the same (2 Timothy 4:2). Moralistic and man-centred
preaching needs to be replaced with Gospel-centred, Christ-centred
preaching.
The preaching of the Word must be accompanied with prayer, and not only
by the preacher. The Session and congregation ought to be praying for
the bold proclamation of the gospel, and for the Holy Spirit to use this
to save people and build them up in the faith.
(b) A church that is busy equipping disciples
for Christ
In obedience to Christ’s command, the outwardly focused church will be
busy discipling its members in a comprehensive discipleship program.
This will include one to one mentoring, formal coaching and training of
its members to serve Christ and it’s kingdom.
A natural spin-off will be that leaders will be raised up for the church
of the future. Older experienced ministry leaders will be increasingly
focussing their time and energy on identifying young leaders in order to
pass the work of ministry on to them, thereby securing the future of the
gospel work.
(c) A church that has an outreach focus in all
its programs
Not only are individual members encouraged to make non-Christian friends
and take opportunities to witness, the programs of the church need to be
re-focussed to invite and include non-Christians. This means that
children’s church, GEMS, Cadets, youth meetings will be open programs.
While the content of what we teach in these programs will be Biblical
and gospel-centred, they will welcome and include non-Christian friends.
Likewise the Diaconate should include in their work, activities that
reach out to the sick, elderly, unemployed and those in prison out in
the community, and not merely with assistance, but also with the gospel
as appropriate.
The outwardly focussed church will also have a growing small groups
program that supports the witness of its members through prayer, and
encourages members to work together in befriending non-Christians and
running introductory Christianity courses.
(d) A church that warmly welcomes and integrates new-comers into
its community
The outwardly focussed church will have a strong welcoming focus, right
through its structures. This is especially important for Sunday
meetings. It is the command of God that His people be hospitable, also
to strangers (Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2). This welcoming attitude
reflects the character of God who graciously welcomes repentant sinners
of all kinds into his loving arms.
A welcoming stance needs to be modelled as a priority by the leadership
of the church. Simple things like ensuring that welcomers and ushers are
available at Sunday meetings, as well as hospitality after the meetings
are important.
(e) A church that works for the multiplication
of its ministries
An outwardly focussed church is, by God’s grace, a growing church. Its
ministries will be multiplying, as existing people are growing to
maturity in Christ, and new converts are won for Christ. Such a church,
in the words of William Carey, will “Attempt great things for God, and
expect great things of God.”
The multiplying of the ministries in an outwardly focussed church takes
place at three levels. Firstly, the one-on-one discipleship will grow as
people mature in their faith, and become increasingly outward looking.
Secondly, the small groups of an outwardly focussed church will actively
invite new people to join, and then divide as the group becomes too
large. And thirdly, the whole church becomes proactive in replicating
itself through a positive church planting program.
Conclusion
It’s time that we as churches cast off our apathy and fear, and take a
confident, courageous approach to building Christ’s kingdom. Full of
faith in a Supreme and Sufficient Saviour, let us step out prayerfully,
boldly, and in His strength, do the work He has called us to. We may see
some failures. We will make some mistakes. But with the resources of
heaven at our disposal, and trusting only in the gospel as the power of
God for the salvation of all who believe (Romans 1:16), by grace, God
will use us to do the work He has prepared for us in advance to do
(Ephesians 2:10).
We look forward with great hope, remembering the words of the Apostle
Paul, that our labour in the Lord is never in vain (1 Corinthians
15:58).
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