Sometimes, a comment or post comes across your screen and you can’t help but want to respond. This is the case for me now. While there is much floating around cyber-space that is nowhere close to biblical, this one really got my goat, so to speak.
We see it everywhere (at least some of us do), so much within American Evangelicalism that has gone off the rails. It’s even worse when the derailment is perpetuated by so called leaders within the Christian Community.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce to you one of the many problems within American Evangelicalism, “Goat Herding.”
I recently saw this posted on Twitter by Thom Rainer. A brief excerpt from his bio;
“Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. Prior to LifeWay, he served at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for twelve years where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama and earned his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.”
Now you know a little about him, in case you didn’t already. This was his posting.
Sadly some of you will read this and think, “What’s wrong with that? Aren’t we suppose to follow up with Christians?” First and primarily it is not biblical. Nowhere in the Bible will you read about Paul or the other Apostles following up or running after potential members. In fact, Jesus said His sheep know Him and know His voice.
Now to the article Thom Rainer posted:
“Six Reasons Why Most Churches Are Lousy at Follow-up
The church of 150 in attendance averaged two first-time guests a week, or 100 a year. How many joined the church? Only three.
The church had no follow-up in place for guests.
The church of 225 in attendance had a high attendance day of 360, with 75 guests attending that single day. How many of the 75 eventually joined the church? Only two.
The church had no follow-up in place for guests.
The church of 550 in attendance has had a Christmas event the past ten years that draws 1,500 people each year. That’s 15,000 in ten years. How many new members can the church trace to the Christmas event? Zero. None. Nada.
The church had no follow-up in place for guests.
So what’s going on? Why are so many of our churches lousy at follow-up? I can point to at least six clear reasons.
The church has no plan in place for follow-up. Follow-up does not just happen. A Great Commission church will know exactly what it’s supposed to do and who is supposed to do it every time a guest visits the church.
Follow-up takes place outside the walls, a place of discomfort for many church members. A church’s follow-up ministry team needs to have the most outwardly focused members doing the ministry. Too many church members fear connecting with people outside the comfort of the walls of the church building.
Follow-up ministry is not as splashy as other ministries. It often goes without encouragement or recognition.
Follow-up ministry can become discouraging. Most of the time we focus on the five who expressed no desire to connect with our church rather than the one who did. We need to celebrate our follow-up ministries more.
Follow-up ministry is not emphasized or recognized by leadership. That which is rewarded by leadership often gets the attention of the rest of the church. Not many leaders recognize or reward this ministry.
Follow-up ministry is not even considered a ministry in many churches. Go to the websites of a number of churches. See how many of them mention some type of follow-up ministry as one of the ministries of the church. For many church members, that ministry simply does not appear to exist.
If our churches and their leaders would begin to elevate the importance of follow-up ministries incrementally, we would likely see a disproportionately positive response. It’s an incredible opportunity most churches are missing.”
(http://thomrainer.com/2016/03/six-reasons-why-most-churches-are-lousy-at-follow-up/)
There are many things wrong with this article I could point out, but I will stick to what I consider the main ones in keeping with this article.
Mr. Rainer makes no mention of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The type of church recruitment he writes of in his article is not a biblical ministry. It is about packing pews instead of filling the hearts and minds with the teachings and knowledge of Jesus Christ. This article is not, I repeat is not, talking about any type of true ministry. This is part of a marketing plan for churches to generate customer service and bring about a better customer experience. It’s about numbers and man-made growth instead of praying for the Holy Spirit to bring true followers in to hear the Truth.
Mr. Rainer needs to realize, God doesn’t care about numbers and growth so church leaders can add another wing to their campus of hypocrisy. He cares and commands that His Truth be taught and His complete Gospel be proclaimed to all. This article would be more properly titled, “How to Grow Your Church and Show Potential New Customers You Care.”
Pastors, if you want to see growth in a church, be more concerned with the growing knowledge of the Bible in those that attend. Chasing after new members just because they visited is not a ministry. People aren’t as naïve as you may think. They know genuine love and concern when they hear it. Most people who are chased after well tend to think, “Well great! Here is another one wanting me to join their church so they can have more in the collection plate!” Let’s be honest, increasing numbers and packing pews is about pride and the bottom line. Maybe if more churches would be true to the Word of God and teach what the Bible actually says instead of what goats want to hear, this country and this world would be a better place.
Mr. Rainer wrote, “The church has no plan in place for follow-up. Follow-up does not just happen. A Great Commission church will know exactly what it’s supposed to do and who is supposed to do it every time a guest visits the church.” By way of reminder here is what The Great Commission actually states. “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20
Nowhere in this passage of scripture does it talk about waiting for someone to come to your church and then make a disciple of them. It does command, however, for every Christian to share the gospel and pray for Christ to grant the listener the gift of salvation. In addition, Christ not only commands the sharing of His true Gospel, but He also commands they be taught to obey all of His words. A disciple is not one who chooses Christ, a true disciple is one chosen by Christ. If your model of church growth echoes Mr. Rainer’s, I would have to wonder what your idea of evangelism actually is all about. Evangelism is not inviting someone to church. Evangelism is sharing the complete and entire gospel of Christ.
You will never get a goat to listen to the one who is not his master. This proposed type of “goat herding” is spoken of elsewhere in the Bible. In Matthew 7:13-14 we read, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
And in Matthew 7:22-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” “And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.”
Yes, Mr. Rainer’s idea of church growth is actually a modern day marketing plan that is designed for goats, not true sheep of Christ.
From “Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary”:
“Matthew 28:16-20 This evangelist passes over other appearances of Christ, recorded by Luke and John, and hastens to the most solemn; one appointed before his death, and after his resurrection. All that see the Lord Jesus with an eye of faith, will worship him. Yet the faith of the sincere may be very weak and wavering. But Christ gave such convincing proofs of his resurrection, as made their faith to triumph over doubts. He now solemnly commissioned the apostles and his ministers to go forth among all nations. The salvation they were to preach, is a common salvation; whoever will, let him come, and take the benefit; all are welcome to Christ Jesus. Christianity is the religion of a sinner who applies for salvation from deserved wrath and from sin; he applies to the mercy of the Father, through the atonement of the incarnate Son, and by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, and gives up himself to be the worshiper and servant of God, as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons but one God, in all his ordinances and commandments. Baptism is an outward sign of that inward washing, or sanctification of the Spirit, which seals and evidences the believer’s justification. Let us examine ourselves, whether we really possess the inward and spiritual grace of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, by which those who were the children of wrath become the children of God. Believers shall have the constant presence of their Lord always; all days, every day. There is no day, no hour of the day, in which our Lord Jesus is not present with his churches and with his ministers; if there were, in that day, that hour, they would be undone. The God of Israel, the Savior, is sometimes a God that hides himself, but never a God at a distance. To these precious words Amen is added. Even so, Lord Jesus, be thou with us and all thy people; cause thy face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.”
It is better to have a small room with 10 true sheep than an empty tomb filled with hundreds of goats.
The western church’s obsession with follow up at the expense of biblical, gospel preaching inevitably fills the churches with goats, and causes apocity to abound. Without biblical knowledge exalted over man-made measures, an environment is created for the lost to thrive, and gospel preaching to disappear. This in turn leads to more apocitic members which continue churning out more goats because it’s no longer about Christ and the gospel. But about marketing, membership, and maintaining numbers.
It’s interesting how different people can see different things from the same article. I just find it curious that you don’t seem to care about the possibility that God’s grace can turn a goat into a sheep. Not long ago, I read “Bring ’em Back Alive, a healing plan for those wounded by the church” that pointed out that the lack of follow-up ministry had created a situation where people are hurt by their churches and chased away rather than are bought together for healing and forgiveness. The good shepherd left ninety-nine to go after one. There’s no one person who is a goat who is beyond God’s love to the point where God wouldn’t want to save him or her. Unless “For God so loved the world” actually means “For God so loved the sheep that he sent Jesus in the world to Judge the goats and send them to Hell to burn for eternity.” I’m far more concerned with the individual person whom Jesus died to save, I don’t know if Jesus will judge that person to be a sheep or a goat, that’s not my or your call. We’re just told to tell them the good news and let God take over from there. When my pastor talked about the parable of the scattered seed, he pointed out that the farmer didn’t seem to care where the seed fell, on the rocky path, on the weed-covered ground, on the fertile soil – so we should be equally careless because we never know what kind of hearts someone has – we might think somebody to be a ‘goat’ who has a fertile heart for soil – had he or she been told the story, they could have been saved. But we can’t hold back the good news to anyone based on our own prejudice of what we think they are.
Good post!