Jesus Teaches Church Growth

The Fourth sunday after pentecost

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Mark 4:26-34

26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” 33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. (NIV)

Do you want the church to grow?  That might sound innocent on the surface, and the assumed answer would be a no-brainer: “Yes, I want the church to grow.”  Are we talking about souls being saved as the Holy Spirit brings about repentance and renewal through the Word of God, resulting in conversion?  Are we talking about God’s law convicting sinners of their sin and God’s gospel comforting the sorrowful with their Savior?  Are we talking about growth the way the book of Acts does, in which the Lord added daily to their number?  Are we talking about infant Christians who started out on spiritual milk, but now after years in the Word have progressed to a diet of more spiritually solid food?  Then let it be a resounding “Yes – I want the church to grow.”

But the same question can also make us cringe.  To hear the question “Do you want the church to grow?” can be to immediately assume we’re talking strictly about numerical growth, implying that numbers are the bottom line in the church.  This aversion to the question stems from what is often negatively referred to as the “Church Growth” movement.  A man named Donald McGavran is the so-called “father” of this movement.  McGavran was a missionary in India who spent a considerable amount of time studying why some churches grew substantially, while others did not.  His idea was that if certain principals or methods that seemed effective in making one church grow could be identified and then reproduced in another church, then in theory, that church would grow as well.  This model, taken to the extreme, assumes that method trumps message.  If you only do this and this and this, your church will grow, regardless of the content of the message proclaimed.  This model utilizes the results of research and study to increase numbers.  And, this model can be absolutely destructive if it results in compromising the cross.  Do you want the church to grow?  Not at that cost – not at the cost of the cross.

So now that we’re confused, which is it?  Are we supposed to want the church to grow or not?  In his two rather brief parables this morning, Jesus teaches us all we need to know about church growth.  Let us now consider his first parable.

“He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (v.26-29).   Those who avoid speaking of “Church” and “growth” in the same breath should take note of the final result in this parable: growth happens.  When the seed is sown, growth is guaranteed.  Knowing that the seed in the parable represents the Word of God, this is no surprise – the Word works.  It is effective.  This truth is clear from Scripture. 

Yet we must put this into the proper perspective.  Saying that the Lord’s church is guaranteed to grow is not the same as saying that my church/congregation is guaranteed to grow.  We certainly pray that the Word may be preached faithfully in all of our congregations, yet we have no guarantee that each individual congregation will grow; no, the guarantee is that Christ’s kingdom will grow.  So St. WELS Lutheran Church is faithfully running on all cylinders, preaching and teaching the Word as it is called to do, and it’s membership continues to decline.  Does that make Jesus a liar?  Not at all – he’s simply allowing other areas of his kingdom to experience growth.  But rest assured, souls are being added.  His kingdom is growing, just as this parable indicates.  It’s just happening somewhere else. The seed is sown and souls are grown, as the Lord wills it.  “Whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how” (v.27).

“Though he does not know how” (v.27). See how Jesus clearly indicates that man deserves no credit for the growth – he doesn’t even know how it happens!  That’s all up to the Lord of the Church.  Why can two people both hear the exact same message of the gospel on more than one occasion, but only one of them comes to faith, or maybe both of them, or maybe neither of them?  “He does not know how.” 

Not only do we not know how it happens in some and not in others, but we also fail to know when a person might be brought to faith.  How does one explain why it’s taken one person years to come to faith, and another becomes a believer the very first time the gospel falls on his ears?  We don’t know.  It’s beyond us.  One Christian has been sharing the good news of Jesus with his neighbor for over a decade to no avail; another Christian invites his co-worker to church one time and on that one occasion he is brought to faith. The explanation?  We don’t know.  It’s beyond us.  The Word works.  The seed is sown and souls are grown, as the Lord wills it.

And this reality is really what is best for us, isn’t it?  Imagine how conceited Christ’s Church would become if it was able to determine how and when growth occurred.  Sinful man is already so naturally self-centered and full of himself, that one could hardly imagine the damage that he’d do to himself if he could take credit for the growth in the Lord’s church.  He’d become so puffed up and have such an enormous head on his shoulders that there’d be no room for Jesus in the picture.  Jesus would become an afterthought, while either the individual man or the congregation as a whole would take center stage.  Meanwhile, caught up in sinful pride, that man or that congregation suddenly loses sight of its need for Christ, and the gospel is lost.  Man has figured it out, and we know just how to get things done without God’s help.  Jesus no longer the Lord the Church; we are.  He’s no longer the Savior; we are. Low and behold, all because he mistakenly thinks he’s figured out the recipe or model for growth all on his own, simply by following this method and that practice, what is left?  A Christ-less church.  A church in which the cross has been emptied of its power.  Forgive us, Lord, for ever thinking the growth of your church is anything for which we could take credit.

But we can also fall into the ditch on the other side of the road.  Rather than thinking that we can somehow take credit for kingdom growth, we go too far and draw the conclusion that growth has no place in the Lord’s Church.  Growth becomes the enemy and any growing church surely must be compromising the pure truth of the gospel.  We deceive ourselves into thinking that healthy churches are those that are small, stagnant, or shrinking.  Since no growth is happening, it can only be because such churches must have the pure gospel.  How blind we are to draw such conclusions!  We’re so quick to point out that it’s not “all about the numbers” when we see other churches growing, but then we turn around and say that it’s “all about the numbers” when it comes to orthodoxy and pure doctrine.  See our double standard?  It’s not about the numbers when it comes to the big churches, but it is all about the numbers – the low numbers – when it comes to small churches and purity in doctrine, as if small size served as a barometer of orthodoxy.  Forgive us Lord, for ever having such low expectations for your church and the growth of your kingdom.

In fact, Jesus’ second parable underscores that the growth in his kingdom will be tremendous. “Again he said, ‘What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?  It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.  Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade’” (v.30-32).  According to Jesus, church growth exceeds expectations.  Consider the humblest beginnings of the church, a lowly child born in the undesirable conditions.  Then as an adult Jesus had his Twelve.  Then thousands were added at a time in the early church. Now try to imagine how many souls on earth and saints in heaven have been gathered from such small beginnings.  How many are numbered among the ranks of God’s elect, the holy hosts who have been made perfect by the blood of the Lamb?  Who can count?  Who can possibly comprehend the full number?  Just as no one would expect such a large plant to grow from so tiny a seed as the mustard seed, so also we fail to grasp the enormity of Christ’s church, and how it continues to grow and thrive in spite of its tiny beginnings. The seed is sown and souls are grown, as the Lord wills it.

There is plenty of room in the tree of the Lord’s church for more.  There is space on its benevolent branches.  Those very branches beckon more to come and find respite in the shade of forgiveness.  His church promises peace and security, safety and stability in the midst of life’s storms.  It’s so tiring to hear people speak of being spiritual, but not religious.  It gets old when a person claims to be a Christian, but wears it as a badge of pride that he doesn’t belong to a specific congregation, as if organized religion and Christianity are somehow at odds or can’t coincide with each other.  It’s sad, really, because they forfeit so many of the blessings that the Lord wants for them by being a part of a congregation in the Lord’s church.  Why not seek to be a part of the local congregation, and, as a member of the invisible church (i.e., Christ’s Kingdom), also be blessed through membership in a visible church (i.e., Shepherd of the Hills)?

The Lord alone will grow his church.  That much is clear.  He guarantees it and he promises that such growth will exceed expectations.  Yet each of Jesus’ parables this morning share something in common, something that is easily taken for granted: the seed must be sown.  The Word of God must spread in order for his church to grow.  Make no mistake: the Lord doesn’t need us for the growing, but he does choose to use us for the sowing.  Stop for just a moment and ask yourself when is the last time you talked about Jesus with someone who was not a fellow Christian?  When is the last time you did what these parables this morning take for granted and assume – that the seed is being sown?  Dear friends, if we’re not sowing, is it because we don’t trust that the gospel is powerful enough to win souls?  Or is it because like Jonah, we don’t want the Lord to extend his mercy to this wicked generation?  Or is it because the church has lost its love of the gospel and its love of sharing it?  May it never be so.  May the love of the Lord of the church, who bought and paid for each one of our souls with his own lifeblood, always increase our passion and zeal to sow the seed so that he can do his work.  Church growth really is that simple: The seed is sown and souls are grown, as the Lord wills it. May the Lord bless your sowing. Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)