Towards a Theology of Church Growth

David Goodhew

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317009122
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

Concern about church growth and decline is widespread and contentious, yet theological reflection on church growth is scarce. Reflecting on the Bible, dogmatic theology and church history, this book situates the numerical growth of the church within wider Christian theology. Leading international scholars, including Alister McGrath, Benedicta Ward and C. Kavin Rowe, contribute a spectrum of voices from evangelical, charismatic, liberal and anglo-catholic perspectives. All contributors unite around the importance of seeking church growth, provided this is situated within a nuanced theological framework. This book offers a critique of 'decline theology', which has been influential amongst theologians and churches, and which assumes church growth is impossible and/or unnecessary. The contributors provide rich resources from scripture, doctrine and tradition, to underpin action to promote church growth and to stimulate further theological reflection on the subject. The Archbishop of Canterbury provides the Foreword.

PART IIntroductory Questions

1 Towards a Theology of Church Growth An Introduction

David Goodhew

DOI: 10.4324/9781315550602-1

Introduction

The drive to grow church congregations numerically has become common amongst denominations, clergy and local churches in recent years. Such concern is becoming ever more urgent amidst significant congregational decline, especially amongst historic churches working in the west such as the Anglican, Methodist, reformed and Roman Catholic churches. ¹ However the theological justification for numerical church growth has been little explored by contemporary theologians. Alongside this silence is considerable unease at talk of ‘church growth’. Churches and church leaders pondering church growth have, therefore, many questions to face and limited theological resources upon which to draw to answer them.

1 A recent assessment of numerical growth and decline can be found in: T. Johnson and B. Grim, The World’s Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013). It should be noted that, outside the west, many churches are seeing marked numerical growth. Within the west, there are substantial pockets of church growth as well as decline. See, for example, P. Brierley, Capital Growth: What the 2012 London Church Census Reveals (Tonbridge: ADBC Publishers, 2013).

This volume offers reflection on the Bible, Christian doctrine and church history on the subject of numerical church growth by a range of leading scholars. The scholars come from a wide range of theological traditions – catholic and evangelical, liberal and charismatic – and do not always agree with one another. But they find unanimity in showing the importance and legitimacy of numerical church growth. The volume argues that the numerical growth of the church should be a central concern for churches and individual Christians. But it also seeks to guard against ill-thought-out justifications of church growth which draw less from theology than from pragmatic notions of what constitutes ‘success’.

This chapter introduces Towards a Theology of Church Growth in three ways. Its first section, ‘Questioning Church Growth’, explores the problems and potential of the language of ‘church growth’. The second section of this chapter is a summary of the book. If readers lack time to read the whole, they can get a sense of the volume here, but all readers are strongly recommended to read the individual chapters in their entirety. The third section of this chapter is entitled ‘Questioning Church Growth in the Context of Late Modernity’. It explores the context in which theology is done in the contemporary west – and how this has encouraged a ‘decline theology’ in which numerical church growth is seen as impossible and even undesirable. It is central to the argument of this chapter that such ‘decline theology’ can, and should, go.

Questioning Church Growth

‘Church’ is a word with a great many meanings. In this debate and in this volume it is taken as referring primarily to local congregations. A discussion of the non-congregational aspects of church growth is beyond the scope of this volume. It remains a truth almost universally acknowledged that the church, so defined, in the modern western world is in decline. ² There is now considerable empirical evidence to show that this assertion is a serious overstatement. The church in the modern west is declining in many places, but growing in many others. ³ The church outside the west is, mostly, growing. ⁴ And it is not only academics and journalists who are often pessimistic as to whether churches can grow. Many theologians, church leaders and church members share a similar pessimism. ⁵ In part, this reflects an assumption about the empirical state of churches in the modern west – that their decline is ‘inevitable’. But, in significant measure, wariness of numerical church growth has roots in theological assumptions about what the Bible, Christian doctrine and church tradition say.

2 One example offers an illustration. Andrew Marr’s A History of Modern Britain (London: Pan Macmillan, 2007) is the most widely read modern history of Britain and assumes churches are of minimal significance in contemporary history. For Marr, ecclesial marginality is a given and does not need demonstrating. 3 T. Karnes and A. Karpathakis, New York Glory: Religions in the City (New York: New York University Press, 2001); B. Tah Gwanmesia, Blessings Under Pressure: The Work of Migrant Churches in the City of Rotterdam (Rotterdam_ SKIN, 2009); D. Goodhew (ed.), Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the Present (Farnham_ Ashgate, 2012); Brierley, Capital Growth; A. Rogers, Being Built Together: A Story of New Black majority Churches in the London Borough of Southwark (London: University of Roehampton, 2013). 4 See, for example: H. McLeod (ed.), The Cambridge History of Christianity: vol. 9 World Christianities, c.1914–c.2000 (Cambridge: CUP, 2006). 5 For examples of such thinking, see: D. Goodhew, ‘Towards a Theology of Church Growth: an Introduction’ in this volume: 28–32; D. Erdozain, ‘New Affections: Church Growth in Britain, 1750−1970’ in this volume: 217–20.

Any discussion of numerical church growth requires such questioning. Numerical church growth – that is, the numerical growth of local congregations and the multiplication of local congregations – can be questioned as being theologically unnecessary, or even theologically suspect. Is the pursuit of numerical church growth ‘arrogant’ in a world of many faiths? Is the seeking of numerical church growth a dubious ‘proselytism’ which should be avoided? Is it Biblically justified, or is the pursuit of the ‘kingdom’ mainly about something else? Do the key doctrines of the Christian faith – such as the incarnation and the Trinity – primarily focus on things other than numerical growth? Looking across the key movements and figures within the Christian tradition, do they concentrate less on the numerical growth of the church than on other goals, such as societal justice, transcendent worship and mystical prayer?

Such questions have value. Growth in the Christian life is never just about ‘bums on seats’. The New Testament is about God’s Kingly rule, into which church has to fit – and which is not coterminous with the church. The gospel is incarnate in the small and overlooked as much as in the large and spectacular. And ‘church growth’ is a wide concept. One influential definition sees growth in the Christian life as a three-fold balance, entailing growth in personal holiness, growth in societal transformation and the numerical growth of church congregations. ⁶

6 Address by the Most Revd Rowan Williams to General Synod, 23 November 2010, available at http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/919/archbishops-presidential-address-general-synod-november-2010 accessed 30 October 2013.

This volume assumes the validity of such a definition of church growth but focuses primarily on the issue of the numerical growth of local church congregations. Church growth is more than numerical growth. Hence questioning church growth is a necessary exercise. And the contributors to this volume ask hard questions of the pursuit of the numerical growth of the church. But that does not mean concern for numerical growth is per se illegitimate or unimportant.

Indeed, the phrase ‘questioning church growth’ can be taken in a different sense. In a context where Christian faith has, in much of the west, been pushed to the margins of elite discourse, this volume argues that to speak of numerical church growth is an act of creative subversion. Talking of church growth creatively questions the priorities and practices of academia, government and media – and it also questions the priorities and practices of theologians, church leaders and congregations. Epistemologically, is the ‘tolerance’ of the west as ‘tolerant’ as it assumes, or can it amount to a privileging of particular forms of late modern western rationality? Biblically, does the widespread assumption that ‘kingdom’ is largely distinct from and superior to ‘church’ fit the text of the New Testament? How important in the New Testament is the numerical growth of the church? Doctrinally, might seeking the numerical growth of the church chime with key doctrines such as the incarnation, eschatology and pneumatology much more than has been assumed? And might those doctrines be stunted when the numerical growth of the church is treated as unnecessary or even theologically disreputable? Historically, did many key figures in the Christian tradition – from the Celtic saints to St Francis, from Thomas Cranmer to the Wesleys – focus much more on the numerical growth of the church than is currently recognised? So, if we mute the desire of such figures to grow congregations, do we then fail to listen attentively to the Christian traditions these figures and movements embody, imposing on them an agenda of our own?

This volume views with suspicion the suspicion about numerical church growth that is exhibited by many theologians, church leaders and others. It argues that seeking to grow the church numerically, if done responsibly, is epistemologically justified, deeply rooted in the scriptures, a natural outworking of Christian doctrine, and that it is integral to fidelity to Christian tradition across much of church history. And critiquing church growth strategies as mere ‘proselytism’ ignores the deep incoherence of ‘proselytism’ as a concept. ⁷

7 ‘Proselytism’ when referring to attempts to impose an ideology by force or deception is routinely rejected by people of all ideological positions. But the term ‘proselytism’ is commonly used to criticise the attempt, simpliciter, to persuade anyone to think differently. Such usage is hugely problematic – see: K. Rowe, World Upside Down; Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age (Oxford: OUP, 2009): 171, 263–4.

If the above is true, seeking the numerical growth of the church is intrinsic to being faithful to Christ. Far from being a theologically disreputable ‘bigging yourself up’, working to grow the church numerically is good and godly. The numerical growth of local churches is not the only aspect of growth in the Christian life, but it is a central part of growth in the Christian life. Conversely, a theology which sidelines or critiques growing the church numerically needs scrutiny itself. Is such a theology genuinely rooted in Christian scriptures, doctrines and tradition as well as in wider rationality – or is it, in significant measure, conforming to the elite culture of the west which assumes that congregations ‘must’ shrink in the face of ‘inevitable’ secularisation? Speaking of a theology of church growth has the corollary of raising the question of whether there has been a ‘theology of decline’ which, explicitly and implicitly, runs through the discourse of many modern and late modern theologians, church leaders and congregations – a theology which needs to be questioned.

The word ‘towards’ in the title of this book needs to be stressed. This volume tries to point towards what a theology of church growth could look like. The volume seeks to take forward a theological conversation, not to be its last word. A fully-fledged theology of church growth needs much further work and some of the questions begged by this volume are sketched in its conclusion. But, since very little theological work has been done in this area (especially in the historic denominations), this volume hopes to provide theological ‘straw’ to be used towards the wider task of building up church and kingdom.

There is a confessional aim to this volume. The authors come from a wide range of Christian traditions but share a desire to see the church grow – numerically and in other ways. Theology has a material effect, for good or for ill, on Christian churches at local levels. When theologians, church leaders and congregations have lacked a theology of church growth and have internalised a theology of decline, they thereby contributed to the shrinking of the local church. Conversely, if a worked-out theology of church growth can be built, that will significantly facilitate the numerical growth of local churches. Any growth worth having comes from God and is not the work of human hands. But to say that need not lead to a kind of missiological quietism, in which growing churches numerically is seen as an ineffable mystery, about which humans can do nothing. Numerical church growth is the work of God, but humans are meant to contribute to that work. And that contribution includes the work of theology.

Towards a Theology of Church Growth: A Summary

The numerical growth of the church is a subject that receives limited discussion in contemporary theology. The work of Donald McGavran stands out as an exception. It has received significant critique. ⁸ However it is evaluated, it has had little influence outside the evangelical constituency – and diminishing influence of any kind in recent decades. ⁹ This volume works through key disciplines within theology; epistemology, Biblical studies, doctrine and church history (which m...