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Last year I was challenged by the teaching of Richard Green at a conference of church leaders in Washington.
He said this – Our focus cannot be: “How many people can we get to our meetings??
It must be: “How can we train disciplemakers?”
The truest test of your church is not what happens on Sunday mornings. It’s what happens in your community.
You have a vision for your church but not for your community!
I have to admit that as a church planter and pastor, for many years I was too focused on “what happens on Sunday mornings.” In fact, the majority of the effort of our pastoral staff and volunteers was focused on Sunday morning. We also emphasized small groups during the week – but the majority of our resources were focused on being prepared for our Sunday meeting and how to get more people to come to our meetings.
I think that is the focus of too many churches. Rather than focusing on multiplying disciples, we are focused on multiplying the number of seats we can fill and services we can offer on Sunday morning. Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for believers coming together to worship God and to hear good teaching from God’s Word. I just don’t believe that the majority of our resources should be focused on Sunday morning.
Towns and Stetzer make this observation in Perimeters of Light:
Most churches have no real basis for choosing what takes place in worship. Their only thoughts are, “Will it attract people?” In other words, what will the consumer think? (p 82)
I don’t think that’s the question we should be asking or the focus we should maintain.
The real question we need to ask is: “Will it make disciples?”
