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Making Disciples for Church Growth
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Paul Jang
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2008-03-23 13:09:50, hit : 4,308 |
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Making Disciples for Church Growth
In this section, the disciple making program for church growth will be dealt with in detail. Through this program the problems as presented in chapter I will be solved, and the hypotheses of this project will be accomplished. Making disciples is a number one task of the church as in the New Testament times (Davenport 1978, 56). The making disciples, the writer believes, must be a key to the solution of the problems and to the growth of the church because it is done in obedience to the Lord, Jesus Christ (McGavran and Arn 1977, 80).
Someone sees four major areas in which church growth takes place: numerical growth, organic growth, conceptual growth, and incarnational growth (Wagner 1981, 14). C. Peter Wagner sees that the comprehensive growth that church growth people have in mind is a four-part growth: growing up, growing together, growing out, and growing more (Wagner 1988, 120-122). This is a very good analysis of the part of
church growth.
Another has made an attempt at the etymological approach on the church growth through the New Testament: auxano ("increase", "growth"), oikodomeo ("to build up"), and teleios ("mature") (Richards and Hoeldtke 1980, 45-46). But the writer, in this project, is to deal with the three parts of church growth according to his experience of ministry:
numerical increase (quantitative growth), maturity in a Christian life (qualitative or spiritual growth), and increase of giving in the church (financial growth).
One has emphasized that numerical growth is the most crucial task (McQUILKIN 1974, 19), another that God wants quality, not just quantity (Barna 1988, 17). C. Peter
Wagner says that a hyper-concern for numbers is indeed a "numbers game," and that quality growth in the New Testament church since the book of Acts has been strongly emphasized in the discipline of Christian thought (Wagner 1988, 119). Of course, numbers mattered to the early church (Act. 2:41, 47; Zunkel 1987, 120). But in a sound church growth both are inseparably related to each other (Chaney and Lewis 1977, 18). Nelson Annan says:
Quantity and quality don't have to be mutural exclusive. God doesn't want us to choose between the two; he wants us to strive for both. Because growth is both spiritual and numerical, our churches must grow in both quality and quantity. (Annan 1987, 16)
Robert E. Maner says:
What we should concentrate on is not growth but quality ministry...however having stated thegweed for quality, we should not be satisfied for our church to remain the same size year after year. If we have done the best we can to provide quality, but growth still does not occur, other steps will be required. Growth should occur as the results of quality ministry. (Maner 1982, 13-14)
John M.L. Young, former president of Japan Christian Theological Seminary has concluded that quantitative growth is God's will, but spiritual maturity should go after that (Conn, trans. Kim 1986, 135), while George Barna insisted that quantity is a consequence of quality (Barna 1990, 17). Robert E. Maner also insisted that growth should occur as a result of a quality ministry (Maner 1982, 14, 15).
In conclusion, quantitative and qualitative growth must both go on continuously to the establishment of more and more mature congregations (Acts 16:5; Tippett 1978, 26). But the writer's view of the relationship between the two is this: that no one can say which growth must have the priority in theoretical order. In other words, quantitative growth sometimes goes after qualitative growth, and sometimes qualitative growth goes after quantitative growth. Growth in maturity may be mostly established through making disciples while growth in number may be mostly attained through evangelism or revival meeting movements.
The growth of the church through making disciples may be recommended for church growth because it can result in both quantitative and qualitative growth. In other words, the church can be stabilized in quantity and quality through the disciple making training.
Making disciples is not only Jesus' command (Matt. 28:19-20; Alexander, Syanzalu, and Holland 1981, 34) and His demand (Green 1972, 82) but also a primary work of the church (Green 1972, 81; Alexander, Syanzalu, and Hollan 1981, 34). Disciplemaking, then, is at the heart of the message of the gospel (Fryling 1989, 8). Disciple making is the fundamental scriptural vision for churches (Logan 1989, 30). Jesus has commaned His disciples to make disciples:
Therefore go and make disciple of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. (Matt. 28:19-20 NIV)
Because this Great Commission is not only Jesus' but also ours, it may be called a great "Co-mission" (Lindgren and Shawchuck, trans. by Pak 1986, 14).
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Introduction
Ch Growth 