We in the #ELCA need more #exponential conversations

Mariner's Church central lake, it was prettier than the classrooms

Recently I had the opportunity to go to Exponential West at Mariner's Church in Irvine, CA. This is a an Christian church growth conference that attracts, pastors, church leaders and church planters from across the evangelical spectrum and mainline traditions as well. Whatever the background of the leaders though, the main goal they all had was the same: Help make disciples that make disciples and plant churches that plant more churches.

The idea is exponential growth. Don't just grow your own church, but help plant new churches to help spread God's kingdom in another community who will then do the same in another community. Don't just let pastors or a few leaders teach and lead, but help train every willing Christian to become a disciple who teaches the faith to others then train those people to do the same. This way more people can be reached. The church grows in multiple places through multiple leaders: exponentially.

There is no one model to do this, and Exponential is not the only group to do this type of work. For a couple examples: There is an organization called 3DM Movements that has a similar philosophy. Also our own Gulf Coast Synod  has the LEAD program for growing disciples in the church.

Now there was a lot going on at this conference I could write about but I want to bring up 3 main points that my congregation and many ELCA communities need to have more conversation around. I don't write this to criticize any church leader. I am not blaming anyone. I write to challenge myself, my church and my denomination, the ELCA, to consider what we are actually doing in our congregations in the long term. What is the main purpose we have beyond survival and security.

1.) We need to be serious about growing the church: Lutherans, as a rule, hate to talk about church growth. We hate to talk about numbers, especially our own. But it's not about the numbers, or not the regular numbers of attendance and income. Rather, we need to talk seriously about how we are making more disciples for Christ. Not members, not giving units, but disciples. We need to talk about how we will continue to share the Gospel through the lens of Lutheranism. Other churches/dnominations are having this conversation and will do this work whether we do or not. While it wouldn't be a bad thing if God's kingdom grew through other churches, and while I don't want to compete with another tradition , I think the message we have to share as Lutherans is crucial for the the world to hear. I also think it has an appeal particularly for those who have been burned by the church in the past. With over 156 million people in the United States unchurched and growing, there is a lot of "blue ocean" opportunity for all. We need more diverse places for all people to be able to hear the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that they can actually hear it.

2.) We need to be serious about raising up leaders who are disciples AND not pastors: We don't need more pastors in the church. I don't care what the seminaries say, or retirement trends are or blah blah blah, we don't need to prioritize recruiting pastors. What we do need to do is raise up more disciples who are working and living outside the church and in the everyday world. We need people who will live their faith with grace and generosity and not just in the pews. We need them in the street, in the cubicle, in economic trends, in legislation, for the good of all people and following the model of Jesus. Christians report time and again that the church doesn't give them much direction on how their faith concretely affects their workplace or profession. The church should share a faith that makes as much sense in an office meeting as it does in a congregational meeting.

3.) We need to see this as the mission of every congregation of every shape and size: This is not a large church program that takes lots of money and expertise and people. And it's not about making verse quoting super Christians who say Jesus every other word and are too pious to stand. Rather it's about passing on those key parts of following Jesus that we know are important and we have cherished in our life. We need normal, everyday people of every background and we need churches of every size to do this work. Who do you know who could grow in their faith and be a leader, a person who model's following Jesus? How are you investing your time, your energy and resources to help them get there? Where do you think our church needs to go to share the gospel? How is your congregation working to make that happen ? These questions can help us start down the right path.

I have no idea what shape this will take in our churches. I have a feeling it will take many different shapes. But we have to focus on growing disciples, because focusing on growing programs is failing, focusing on growing worship attendance is failing and focusing on growing church treasuries is failing. Let's try following Jesus's own command to grow disciples and let him take care of all the rest. I have feeling that won't fail and we'll see the kind of growth we know is really key for our world.

If you'd like to learn more beyond my own ramblings. I'd reccomend reading The Shaping of Things to Come by Alan Hirsch and/or Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen. and/or The Sacred Valley by Peggy Hahn. They all talk about this topic in really meaningful ways.