Learning How the Church Grows

Scripture counsels us to take heed of those who are good at what they do. Within the Book of Proverbs, there are “thirty sayings of the wise.” One of them urges, “Observe people who are good at their work—skilled workers are always in demand and admired” (23:29 The Message).
Shane Bishop is the Senior Pastor of Christ Church, a United Methodist congregation in Fairview Heights, Illinois. Christ Church was recognized as one of the 100 fastest growing churches in the United States for 2018. Their weekend worship attendance has increased from 200 to over 2,500 since Shane’s appointment in 1997 and has grown for twenty-two consecutive years. Shane was named A Distinguished Evangelist of the United Methodist Church in 2010.
Shane answers the question about how to grow the church with a simple formula: 1) Make new Christians; 2) Turn new Christians into disciples; and 3) Send those disciples out to make new Christians. He says the recipe is two parts evangelism and one part discipleship, or E2D. This is like the chemical formula for water, H20, consisting of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. Growing the church consists of two parts evangelism and one part discipleship. 
Salem, like many congregations, has focused on a discipleship pathway, that is, the steps persons can take to grow in their discipleship. Evangelism, however, is the reproductive system of the body of Christ, and growth requires twice as much evangelism as discipleship. At a time when the church is declining, this is all the more important, reigniting a burning desire to reach people far from God.
Evangelism is sharing the good news. That is, we seek out and welcome new persons, proclaim the gospel (sharing what God has accomplished in Jesus), and lead them to commit their lives to God through baptism by water and the Spirit and profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
Growth requires twice as much of this than even discipleship, forming people in the way of Jesus. That’s because the new people we reach and form must be turned around and sent back out to reach more new people. May we put into practice what we have learned from someone who does it well.

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