Introduction
Over the last four weeks we have been looking at the theme of Growing in God. We have looked at how we can grow as individuals and as a church. We said that Church growth involves growing in four areas at once, and we saw these growth areas rather like legs on a chair - they all need to grow at the same rate if the chair is to maintain its purpose!
Three weeks ago we looked at growing spiritually. We said that whatever else we do as individuals and as a church, everything rested upon and started with a relationship with God which is growing. We said that growing spiritually meant praying each day, attending worship each week and to strive to live disciplined lives of holiness. We have produced prayer booklets to give us a format for our daily prayers and we give them out each week as a resource. Using this, making a commitment to be in worship each week and making a commitment to model one's life on Jesus' example will help us as individuals grow in spirituality and will enable our church to continue to grow in this way.
Two weeks ago we looked at growing in maturity. We said that this involved, dealing directly with those whom we disagree, being willing to be part of the solution, not the problem and taking seriously the Biblical teaching on giving.
Last week we looked at growing in service of others and we suggested getting involved in our monthly Amnesty International letter writing campaign that Steve organises for us, giving of our time, our talents and our tithe to the work of God here and donating food for the Booth Centre for the Homeless in Manchester. Taking these things seriously will enable us to grow in love and service of others.
This week we are going to look at the area everyone thinks church growth is all about, growing in numbers.
Will you pray with me?
Lord Jesus,
Help us to love and serve the people you call to us,
Help us to welcome them in your name,
That more and more people will come to a saving knowledge of you
And become your disciples.
Amen.
Growing in Numbers - Why?
Our reading today from the end of St Matthew's gospel tells us why we are commanded to grow in numbers. Jesus tells the disciples to go and baptise making disciples of people from all the nations. The term translated "nation" here comes from the word "ethnos" meaning "ethnic" or "peoples". It means groups or races of people more than it means modern nation states.
We believe that MCC was raised up by God to have this ministry of making disciples but particularly, though not exclusively, working with one particular group of peoples. We are called to go to our people and to preach and make disciples of them. We are called to call our people into a living and saving relationship with Jesus.
This is why we need to grow. It is not because it would nice to have more people in worship - though it would. It is not because it would be nice to have more people getting involved in our ministries or programmes - though it would. It is not because new people would mean greater resources for our budget - though that would be nice. We are called to make disciples, not for our sake, but for theirs and for Jesus'.
We are called to grow in numbers for one reason only, so that more people may know that God loves them, that Jesus died so they could be forgiven and that they can filled with the Holy Spirit to be given strength to follow as committed disciples of the Lord. We wish to attract people to this church not for the primary purpose of making friends with them, but for them to make friends with God. This is our calling.
Growing in Numbers - My Part
We all have a part to play in this business of growth. One of the problems with the modern church is that we have been taught to see clergy as chaplains. We ask the clergy to do those things which the rest of the people should be doing. The New Testament pattern of being church sees the work of the church being done by the people and the leaders of the church being seen as those who, in the words of St Paul, "equip the saints for service".
I was speaking to a student minister sometime ago who was planning how he would start a new MCC, and in the process criticising quite a few other pastors. He held that MCC pastors should be constantly out in gay bars and clubs in their clerical collars. I think he meant that this visible badge of office would be a good evangelistic tool. In my experience it isn't - you either get drunk ex Catholics trying to make their confession or people with an interest in uniforms being over friendly! This is not to say that we shouldn't be out in the pubs and clubs - but it is to say that we shouldn't be there instead of you folks!
Evangelism is not a task that can be delegated. We are all called to the work of evangelism - which is a grand way of saying we are called to the work of sharing what Jesus means to us.
My task is to encourage you to do this, to train you in ways of doing this and equip you with the skills you need to feel comfortable doing this. My task is not to do this ministry for you. Think about it, 20 of you talking to your friends about Jesus and this church will be much more effective than one of me doing it!
Growing in Numbers - Your Part
Another myth about evangelism is that good PR is everything. For a long time I believed that if we got enough of the right sort of publicity then the doors wouldn't be wide enough for the number of people desperately wanting to find us. Well I have been pastor here since 1996 - 7 years. In that time I have appeared on local television, national television, local and national radio, I have been interviewed twice for the Manchester Evening News for in-depth stories and have lost count of the number of times smaller articles have appeared on us. We have an internet ministry which Philip facilitates which is second to none and we have thousands of people look at our site each month. We have had excellent publicity fliers and cards and posters produced.
Yet these things alone have not resulted in a flood of people banging at the church door. This does not mean these things are wrong - they are vital. But it does mean we have to think a little further.
Each piece of publicity we produce or we are given, like every hit to our site on the net, is like a robe being thrown over a chasm. On one side of the chasm is MCC on the other side are the people whom we want to attract. Some of us got over the chasm because of one piece of robe - they saw a poster, they saw the net, they had heard of us. Two years Neil had heard of MCC through an advert in the Pink Paper, he called me and we had a very long chat on the phone and he has been here almost every Sunday since. Ian saw a small listing about MCC in the Gay Times, rang the number and went along, 7 or 8 years later he is still here.
However, both had a background knowledge of MCC that was "out there" in their consciousness. Maybe they had seen posters, or newspaper articles about us. So maybe they had three or four pieces of this robe bridge built.
I had heard about MCC first when I was 16 in a Christian youth magazine with the inspiring name "21st Century Christian". They had done a series on sex and sexuality and MCC was mentioned, in some detail, as being quite evangelical but obviously wrong. Four years later I went to my first MCC service - because a friend invited me and took me along.
The "central" stuff we do - producing publicity, getting good PR, giving out leaflets is essential because it raises consciousness that we are there. Every time we respond to some bigot on the news or in the paper, every time I appear on a TV or Radio show more people hear there is a church where our people can welcomed and where they can live out their discipleship without prejudice or fear.
Yet for most people this knowledge is not enough.
So there are some things you can do to help build this robe bridge across the chasm.
First, you can pray.
Second you can invite
You can invite people you know who would value our ministry, or people you know who need our ministry. We all know people, close friends, friends, drinking buddies, work colleagues. Many of these people do not know Jesus. Many of these peoples lives are a mess and they need to find the peace and calm of a relationship with Jesus. Many of these people would never dream of going to a church as they know the church condemns them. At the moment, in the aftermath of the Bishop of Reading stuff, there are many opportunities to talk and share with people about our church where all are welcome to become disciples.
Third, you can welcome
When we have guests we can help to welcome them. We can chat to them, get to know them, hear their stories, tell our stories. We can tell them how we came to MCC, what we value here, we can tell how we became Christian and what it means for us. We can show love, care, and practical concern. This too is part of the task of evangelism. And when our guests come back for a second visit we make them at ease again by remembering their name, asking about their week and showing love. We would not have come back to this church if we ourselves had not been made welcome, so we too have a responsibility to go on to welcome others. We have been blessed so that we may become a blessing.
What's it all about?
So why do we do this. The answer is found in two places, our reading today and our mission statement.
Jesus calls us to go to our nation and to make disciples. We do this through our growth in spirituality, in maturity and in service of others, but we primarily do this by reaching out to our friends and inviting them along, we do this by welcoming our guests and being a place of generous hospitality.
We believe that we are raised up by God to be transformed disciples who follow Jesus using our gifts so that our people may be saved. As we grow in numbers we need to challenge ourselves to use our gifts of hospitality as we welcome people in the name of Jesus, our gifts of prayer as we pray for those who need to come and who have come and our gift of faith as we share the dream of God for this church.
Will you pray with me?
Loving God,
We thank you for raising us up to serve our communities,
We ask you to bless us as we reach out during the Europride festival,
Bless us as we welcome people in your name,
Inspire and challenge us to pray more diligently for our friends,
Help us as we show by our maturity and service
that we are transformed disciples,
help us use our gifts as we follow Jesus,
so that our people may be saved.
Amen. (Our Mission Statement)
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.