Church growth is an essential element in the Great Commission. But bigger churches are not.
This is not an anti-big-church rant. I love big churches. They’re great. They’re like padded seats, air conditioning and microphones. They can all be valuable tools, but they’re not essential to fulfilling the mandate Jesus gave us to go and make disciples.
There are a lot of pastors who don’t recognize that. For too many of my pastoral peers, church growth equals bigger churches. Period.
There is no cost too high to pay for the salvation of souls. But there is a cost too high to pay for bigger churches.
Author
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Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.