How to Grow a Church

How To Grow A Church

Why Conservative Churches Are Growing, by Dean M. Kelley (Harper & Row, 1972, 166 pp., $6.95), America’s Fastest Growing Churches, by Elmer L. Towns (Impact, 1972, 218 pp., $4.95), Church Aflame, by Jerry Falwell and Elmer Towns (Impact, 1971, 191 pp., $4.95), How to Build an Evangelistic Church, by John R. Bisagno (Broadman, 1971, 160 pp., $3.95), You Can Reach People Now, by James E. Coggin and Bernard M. Spooner (Broadman, 1971, 160 pp., $3.95), Hope For Your Church, by Harold L. Fickett, Jr. (Regal, 1972, 159 pp., $3.95), The Kennedy Explosion, by E. Russell Chandler (Cook, 1972, 125 pp., $.95 pb), Full Circle, by David R. Mains (Word, 1971, 217 pp., $4.95), and Body Life, by Ray C. Stedman (Regal, 1972, 149 pp., $.95 pb), are reviewed by John E. Wagner, attorney, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Why are conservative churches growing in America? And what is the key to the extraordinary growth of a number of congregations in different parts of the nation? Not surprisingly, the answer is not simple; this growth is rooted in a variety of factors and techniques.

Dean M. Kelley, a Methodist associated with the National Council of Churches, says conservative churches are growing because they give an authoritative answer to man’s need for meaning in his life, and because they maintain tighter theological control and stricter discipline with regard to belief and behavior. Kelley’s Why Conservative Churches Are Growing is a well documented, statistically grounded, sociological analysis of denominational membership trends. His prognosis is not good for the liberal, ecumenical denominations in America: he thinks the foreseeable future belongs to the conservative evangelicals and the denominations that embody strong commitments.

The eight other volumes listed above give an inside look at this phenomenon. They examine various congregations that are growing by leaps and bounds at a time when the larger, ecumenically oriented denominations are suffering from theological confusion and are declining in membership.

The explanation of conservative church growth is found not only in Kelley’s sociological analysis but also in evangelism, a growing adherence to evangelical theology, and ecclesiological views not burdened with the excess baggage of denominational ties. And it is, I think, found also in the sovereign purposes of God the Holy Spirit in and for his people, the Church. This is certainly implicit if not explicit in all nine of these books.

The ten churches that Elmer L. Towns says are the fastest growing in America do not claim to be evangelical but rather boldly assert they are fundamentalist. To them the label is not an ecclesiastical smear-word but rather a badge of unswerving fidelity to a rigid, authoritarian, Bible-centered fellowship that emphasizes evangelism—the recruitment of new members by almost any workable promotional technique.

Eight of these “fastest growing churches” are in the Baptist Bible Fellowship, a 1950 breakaway from the movement associated with J. Frank Norris; affiliation with the BBF is determined solely by the pastor. Towns tells us that the BBF is a movement of methodology, not doctrine, though he acknowledges that “most BBF churches believe the orthodox footnotes of the Scofield Bible, and their pastors carry King James Bibles.” Trans-denominational activities such as Billy Graham Crusades or Youth for Christ are stoutly opposed. Obviously not all evangelicals agree with this approach, but the recruitment results in BBF churches are astounding.

Towns gives a wholly uncritical look into the congregational life of the ten churches, letting us see their militant methods and the authoritarian character of their pastoral leadership. Towns calls this “charismatic leadership” but explains carefully that he does not mean “charismatic” in the Pentecostal or biblical sense having to do with supernatural gifts of the Spirit. (In fact, BBF churches strongly oppose speaking in tongues, which incidentally should give pause to those who insist that Pentecostalism is the only growing branch of Protestantism). He uses its prevalent secular meaning, referring to an exceptional ability for leadership that attracts the support of many people.

For Towns, “charismatic leadership” provides an “extra power” so that “the masses are moved by their sermons; their requests are unquestionably obeyed by followers, people seem to empty their pocket-books into the offering plate, and sinners almost run down the aisle at their invitation.” That advanced education is not an essential part of this success is made repeatedly and almost pugnaciously clear.

A strong Sunday school, specialized ministries to handicapped people, and the sponsorship of Christian day schools are important techniques in outreach and enlistment. Interestingly, the busing of children from distant neighborhoods to the day schools and church is a widespread and growing method of evangelism, notwithstanding the controversy over busing to public schools.

Church Aflame tells about Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, one of the ten churches included in Towns’s larger survey.

The remaining books prove that moderate and cooperative evangelicals as well as separatist fundamentalist Baptists can carry on highly effective evangelistic programs. John R. Bisagno (now pastor of Houston’s large First Baptist Church) was formerly pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, a suburb of Oklahoma City, to which most of his book How to Build an Evangelistic Church is devoted. He spells out in short, easily readable chapters the methods he used and the spiritual resources he drew upon in pastoring that large congregation as it grew to a place of membership pre-eminence in the Southern Baptist Convention. Bisagno’s church in Del City is only a couple of blocks from First Baptist, an affiliate of the Baptist Bible Fellowship. In this case, the Southern Baptists have out-evangelized their BBF brethren three to one by using many of the same methods of outreach Towns reviewed. But Bisagno differs from the type of pastor Towns portrays; he is no autocrat.

In the same vein is You Can Reach People Now, the story of the Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, told by its pastor and its education director. This is also a how-to book and devotes most of its space to explaining in detail the promotional evangelism used to increase attendance and win people to Christ. It is certainly milder in tone than the BBF books, and I surmise that the results are almost as effective as the authoritarian fundamentalism of the BBF churches.

Harold Fickett’s Hope For Your Church is another how-to book about a large, growing congregation of biblical Christians. Fickett writes lucidly and with humility. He says that the success of his church is based on ten principles, the first three of which are that it is “Christ-centered, biblically based, and evangelistic.” This would, of course, apply to thousands of evangelical congregations in America. But the unusual growth of the unaffiliated First Baptist Church of Van Nuys (a part of Los Angeles) is further explained by the remaining seven principles, each given a chapter in the book. Here Fickett discusses such matters as the necessity of a regenerate membership, congregational confidence in the pastoral leadership, and motivation and emphases within the congregation. Among the latter are specialized ministries in the community that have drawn many people to this great church.

The Baptists do not have a monopoly on growth. Southern Presbyterians come into focus in the amazing story of James D. Kennedy’s pastorate at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In The Kennedy Explosion Russell Chandler (formerly news editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY) shows us the work of an evangelical Presbyterian congregation that has grown from 17 to 2,500 members in about ten years. Woven through the book is the biography of a deeply committed pastor. This congregation zealously uses a personal visitation and witnessing technique very much on the order of Campus Crusade’s.

Full Circle is the story of an innovative, experimental church in Chicago affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church and pastored by David Mains, who tired of traditional evangelical worship and was frustrated with what he considered to be the unreality, the unrelatedness to everyday life, of many evangelical churches.

The story is candid, sometimes hypercritical of evangelical tradition but nevertheless illuminating in its report of an inter-racial, inner-city congregation of about 500 regular members who have adopted new ways of ministry, worship, interaction, and outreach. They meet in a rented labor-union hall. I have seen many of these same techniques used in two non-evangelical congregations in Oklahoma City—one an experimental Roman Catholic community of upper-middle-income constituents, and the other a liberal Methodist spin-off from an established congregation—and so I was particularly interested in reading of Circle Church’s innovative ministry rooted in evangelical commitments.

Although Circle Church does not seem to match the “fastest growing churches” in numerical results, its ministry appears to be valid and meaningful in the lives of its members. I had the feeling that Mains would have made a great liturgiologist in this age of liturgical revision, since he repeatedly describes the meticulous innovations he made to achieve flexible and meaningful contemporary worship services.

For me, the durability of experimental congregations like these remains to be proven, since in those that I have seen there is an apparent lack of the stability that the building-based churches have shown through the years.

Finally we look at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, south of San Francisco, pastored by Ray Stedman for over twenty years. In Body Life Stedman gives us a sound, biblical ecclesiology—good reading for any evangelical—and tells how his church came alive through a number of spiritually oriented person-to-person ministries, focused most recently in its “Body Life Service.” In this service the members share their concerns and problems and seek to edify one another in love, through prayer and spiritual counsel. Most of this fine little book is devoted to a biblical analysis of what the church is or ought to be. Only in the last twenty pages does Stedman talk specifically about his own congregation.

This was an exciting book to me. Stedman’s church is basically a traditional evangelical congregation, and he does not espouse high-pressure promotional evangelism, but the Body of Christ does seem to be alive in a spiritually powerful way consonant with the New Testament. Perhaps Stedman has accomplished in an innovative yet traditional setting what Mains has achieved in an experimental way. In any case, both approaches seem geared toward communicating the Gospel to varying kinds of people.

To return to Towns and Kelley: although they speak from vastly different theological perspectives, they reach essentially the same diagnosis. They tell us what evangelicals have tended to know already, that people are hungry for ultimate meaning and authoritative spiritual answers. Churches that give those answers tend to attract and hold the most members. That churches seem to move from the disciplined commitment of the sect to an institutional stage and from there to denominationalism and ultimately to dilution or deterioration is the message BBF author Towns tells very clearly in his chapter on the sociological cycle of church growth. It is basically the same answer that Kelley reached.

Presenting The Gospel

Despair: A Moment or a Way of Life?, by C. Stephen Evans (Inter-Varsity, 1971, 135 pp., $1.50 pb), Just the Greatest, by Carl Nelson (Inter-Varsity, 1972, 96 pp., $1.25 pb). World in Rebellion, by John Hunter (Moody, 1972, 143 pp., $1.95 pb), Right With God, by John Blanchard (Banner of Truth, 1971, 123 pp., $1 pb), Can We Know?, by Dale and Elaine Rhoton (Chipmunk Books [Christian Literature Crusade], 1972, 144 pp., $.95 pb), Who Died Why?, by John Eddison (Harold Shaw, 1971, 95 pp., $1.25 pb), and Live Now. Brother, by Clark Pinnock (Moody, 1972, 48 pp., $.75 pb), are reviewed by Janet Greisch, Ames, Iowa.

It seems to me that an effective witness must be intensely personal. It may or may not require a defense of dogma, but it certainly demands sensitivity to the non-believer’s state of mind and spirit. Good books, chosen wisely, can be an invaluable supplement to a personal witness.

Most valuable of these seven is Stephen Evans’s book about despair. Any thoughtful person who has ever wondered about the meaning of his existence will find here a compelling answer. Evans’s presentation of Christianity as an answer to modern man’s sense of guilt and alienation is fresh and candid, free from clichés, proof-texting, and the uptight arrogance that not infrequently turns off honest inquirers. Conscious that no one can coerce another into espousing Christianity, Evans begins with man’s condition as described in the literature of Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Sartre, Camus, and Heller and convincingly shows that Christianity is an intellectually valid choice for those seeking wholeness.

Christians will want to read this little paperback to refresh their own commitment and then pass it on to friends with whom they are in dialogue about their faith. Although it was written for laymen, clergymen may find it valuable to their ministry as a gauge of spiritual climate or as a basis for discussion in college-age and adult groups.

Of least value are Just the Greatest and World in Rebellion. The former, though a reasonably good paraphrase of the biblical account of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, lacks a fresh approach and a compelling call to commitment. It might hold the attention of church-going teen-agers, but it is unlikely to appeal much to the unchurched youth it aims for and to draw them to consider its message.

World in Rebellion is, in a word, bland. Hunter oversimplifies rebellion as any deviation from “establishment” standards and as always evil. He apparently overlooks the fact that human and divine authority often conflict, and that because of this even the Christian has to be rebellious at times. His definition of evil seems equally simplistic: it is something that, as Flip Wilson might put it, “the devil made me do.”

The remaining books are more useful, though not of the stature of Evans’s. Blanchard’s book is well done for its (perhaps limited) audience. The back cover says it best: “It is a plain, straightforward book showing from the Bible how a person who is honestly seeking for God can find Him.”

The Rhotons provide an apologetic for the authenticity of the Bible. Acceptance of their arguments from archaeology, prophecy, and the like is not, I think, a prerequisite for faith, but where such discussions are appropriate this book would furnish valuable information as well as a useful bibliography for further study.

John Eddison gives a clear, fresh presentation of the Gospel for young people. Questions at the end of each chapter, though perhaps of some value for discussion groups, have little to do with the book’s merit, which is largely the result of his effective illustrations: his anecdotes are apt, contemporary, carefully chosen. Perhaps because he is British, Eddison’s approach to an age-old subject falls fresh on American ears.

Clark Pinnock’s little book is good but pales in the shadow of Evans’s more comprehensive treatment of nearly identical subject matter.

NEWLY PUBLISHED

The Encyclopedia of Christianity, volumes 3 and 4, edited by Philip Hughes (National Foundation for Christian Education [Marshallton, Del. 19808], 487 and 429 pp., $12.50 each). This major set prepared by evangelicals, begun in 1964, is carried forward with volumes covering Cilicia through Ebionites and Ferdinand Ebner through John Guyse. Along the way, doctrines, organizations, places and miscellany (e.g., “fat”) are dealt with.

Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, by Joyce Baldwin (Inter-Varsity, 253 pp., $5.95). Latest addition to the highly recommended Tyndale Old Testament commentary series.

Jesus Is Alive and Well, by Bob Owen (Compass [Box 173-C, Pasadena, Cal. 91104], 123 pp., $1.25 pb). Various evangelical doctrines—on the Bible, the Saviour, prayer, the Church, and other topics—are presented in simple and appropriate idiom for converts who have come to Christ through the Jesus movement. Illustrated.

The Great Revival, 1787–1805: The Origins of the Southern Evangelical Mind, by John Boles (University Press of Kentucky, 236 pp., $10). A major, well researched study of white Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians in the old South. The less spectacular precursors of the revivals and the lasting results are diligently probed. The author shows the inadequacy of the common “frontier conditions” explanation for the awakening.

Counseling, by Lars Granberg and others, and Homiletics, by Vernon Stanfield and others (Baker, 162 and 156 pp., $1.65 each pb). Reprints of the articles from these sections of the 1967 Baker’s Dictionary of Practical Theology.

The Hidden Disciplines, by James Earl Massey (Warner Press [Anderson, Ind. 46011], 111 pp., $1.50 pb). An inquiry into the nature of religious disciplines—prayer, meditation, fasting. Contains much that is stimulating, but is weak on distinctively Christian or evangelical aspects of the topic.

You Can’t Eat Magnolias, edited by H. Brandt Ayers and Thomas H. Naylor (McGraw-Hill, 380 pp., $8.95). Contemporary essays from a Southern perspective on a Southern institution: the South’s “way of life.” A good volume to complement the historical letters in The Children of Pride, also concerned with the “Southern way of life.”

He Is There and He Is Not Silent, by Francis Schaeffer (Tyndale, 100 pp., $3.95, $1.95 pb). Completes the trilogy begun by The God Who Is There and Escape From Reason.

The Resurrection of the Dead, by Manfred Kwiran (Basel, Switzerland: F. Reinhardt, 397 pp., n.p., pb). A very useful study of the use made of First Corinthians 15 by important nineteenth- and twentieth-century German Protestant theologians. Originally a doctoral dissertation written at Basel University.

Encounter With the Holy Spirit, edited by George Brunk (Herald, 242 pp., $3.95 pb), A Primer on the Holy Spirit, by Charles McKay (Vantage, 131 pp., $3.95), and By My Spirit, by J. A. Ringenberg (Vantage, 166 pp., $3.95). Several Mennonites, a leading Southern Baptist minister, and a leading Missionary Church minister, respectively, survey the biblical teachings on the Holy Spirit. Included are positive applications as well as reasons for disagreement with Pentecostalism.

The Future of the Great Planet Earth, by Richard S. Hanson (Augsburg, 123 pp., $2.95 pb). A very poor attempt to refute The Late Great Planet Earth and similar best-sellers. It is inaccurate about what such books say and excessively figurative or vague in its presentation of what the Bible teaches.

The Dynamics of the American Political System, by Stephen Monsma and Paul Henry (Dryden [2121 Touhy Ave., Elk Grove, Ill. 60004], 576 pp., n.p.). The son of the founding editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY joins with a Calvin College colleague to offer a survey text embodying their conviction that “the political scientist must address himself to the moral and ethical dimensions of public policies as well as analyze the policy-making process itself.”

Witchcraft in Europe, 1100–1700, edited by Alan C. Kors and Edward Peters (University of Pennsylvania, 382 pp., $17.50). Documents from the medieval period through the Renaissance, with introductions, give first-hand evidence of the problem of sorcery. Timely, fascinating reading that provides a historical perspective on witchcraft’s recent resurgence.

The Sequence of the Supernatural, by J. Robert Ashcroft (Gospel Publishing House, 79 pp., $1 pb). A helpful little book on what it means to be in the Spirit; written by the president of Evangel College.

John Calvin Versus the Westminster Confession, by Holmes Rolston III (John Knox, 124 pp., $2.95). Of interest to those who claim to be both Calvinists and adherents of Westminster. Make due allowance for the author’s admitted passionate opposition to covenant systematics, but the numerous quotations from Calvin are worth pondering.

Transformation in Christ, by George Devine (Alba House [Staten Island, N.Y. 10314], 163 pp., $3.95 pb). An engagingly written attempt to present Roman Catholicism as a kind of tolerant, mildly theistic humanism. Preserves little that is specifically biblical.

A Message to the Charismatic Movement, by Larry Christenson (Bethany Fellowship, 119 pp., $.95 pb). The pastor of a Lutheran “charismatic” congregation draws lessons well worth considering from the first modern Pentecostal denomination, the Catholic Apostolic Church, which began in the 1830s and is now but a remnant. He contends for both freedom and structure. Quite different lessons could be drawn from the same data.

The American Tract Society Documents: 1824–1925 (Arno, 469 pp., $23). Six key reports and instruction manuals (all but one before 1868) of one of the oldest and most important, continuously evangelical agencies.

Maturing Gracefully, by William S. Deal (Beacon Hill, 88 pp., $1.50 pb), and Growing Old Is a Family Affair, by Dorothy B. Fritz (John Knox, 96 pp., $2.50 pb). Two more books (inspirational in character) to add to the growing library on aging.

Days of Anguish, Days of Hope, by Billy Keith (Doubleday, 216 pp., $5.95). The moving story of the endurance of an army chaplain during years in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.

A New Kind of Man, by John Charles Cooper (Westminster, 171 pp., $2.95 pb). Beginning with questionable presuppositions (the Genesis creation story and the gospel story as “myth”) and a defective view of the history of Christian thought (e.g., Christianity naïvely optimistic about the nature of man, the Enlightenment “cynical”). Cooper contributes his reasons for thinking man is on the verge of some kind of spontaneous self-renewal that will solve all the old problems attributed by Christian doctrine to the Fall into Sin.

The Gospels in Current Study, by Simon Kistemaker (Baker, 171 pp., $2.95 pb). A professor at Reformed Seminary ably surveys current scholarly approaches for the benefit of those who want to “keep up,” but not as specialists.

The Covenantal Sabbath, by Francis Nigel Lee (Lord’s Day Observance Society [55 Fleet Street, London EC4Y ILQ, England], 343 pp., approx. $5.25). An extremely detailed inquiry into the mystical, spiritual, anagogical, and practical significance of the Sabbath/Lord’s Day by a learned literalist. Difficult reading but contains a wealth of information in defense of Sunday observance.

The God of Planet 607, by Edward Pohlman (Westminster, 123 pp., $2.95). Unimaginative, choppy, and dull. The author shows little understanding of the art of story-telling. One shouldn’t write fiction to prove a thesis, in this case the existence of God, but to create a story.

Science Teaching: A Christian Approach, by Robert Ream (Presbyterian and Reformed, 130 pp., $2.50). Science teachers won’t agree with all the author says, but his book can challenge them to make explicit their own views on what difference Christianity makes in their occupation.

Hope For Man in a Hopeless World, by Basilea Schlink (Bethany Fellowship, 115 pp., 95ȼ pb). The founder of the Evangelical Sisters of Mary in Darmstadt, Germany, applies her rare combination of prophetic insight and graphic imagination to interpreting the recent past and warning about the future.

How to Succeed in the Organizational Jungle Without Losing Your Religion, by John C. DeBoer (Pilgrim Press, 189 pp., $6.95). Another book about what’s wrong with corporations. This time an engineer-turned-minister gives us a sort of Christian sequel to The Peter Principle and Up the Organization. The corporate jungle is all fouled up with such tactics as D.I.M.W.I.T. (do it my way in trust), F.L.O.P. (floundering leadership overwhelmed by paper), and C.R.U.D. (communication restricted unilaterally downward). These and other equally perplexing problems can be solved very easily by E.U.R.E.K.A. (effective utilization of the resources, expertise, and knowledge of all). Though weak in its application of the Christian ethic (do unto others …), the book contains a premise which those in the organization jungle might do well to grasp: employees are fellow human beings.

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.