How not to Grow a Church

Come Back Churches

I used to own dozens of evangelism and church growth books. I eventually gave them all away as being inadequate in their approach. While they contained good ideas, none of them approached church growth from Jesus’ point of view. Some things that Jesus taught would be unpopular among the church growth gurus. Imagine telling a crowd that they have to give everything up to become disciples, even their own lives (Luke 14:25-33). You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, yet Jesus at times seemed to use more vinegar than honey. Why? A famous church planter once admitted that he knew how to build a church that was a mile wide but only an inch deep. Church growth methods often forget that Jesus said that HE would build his church, and his church is being built on his teachings.