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From the 1975 classic “WHAT’S GONE WRONG WITH THE HARVEST” by James Engel

THE IMPORTANCE OF MEASURABLE GOALS AND CHURCH GROWTH

It has been repeatedly stressed that the intent of Christian communication is to bring about change! This also is the basic thesis of church-growth theory. Because of the importance of church-growth concepts, no discussion of the requirements of the Great Commission is complete without an analysis of these precepts.

The church-growth thesis is a simple one: The goal of any program of evangelism is to produce disciples. If disciples, therefore, are being produced, the outward manifestation will be measurable numerical growth within the Church. Making disciples is defined in terms of the numbers of those who accept Christ, show evidence of regeneration, and are incorporated into the Body of Christ. The proclamation and cultivation ministry of the Church has received less emphasis in this context, at least according to the published writings on the subject.

The church-growth model obviously encompasses the persuasion ministry and is appropriate only when people have reached stage -3 in Figure 3. Prior to that time, there is not sufficient understanding and felt need to permit much reaping in terms of lasting life commitment, and the fields are judged to be green and immature for purposes of evangelism. Advocates of church growth concentrate on ripe fields, therefore, and mount an aggressive strategy of persuasion to achieve measurable growth in numbers on the church rolls. The ministry is to take individuals through the stage of incorporation into the body (stage + 2).

The emphasis on church growth has produced salutary effects in many parts of the world, but the discerning reader will quickly grasp that the church-growth model is not applicable to every situation. For example, most people in the country of Japan fall at -S on the continuum and aggressive persuasion is clearly out of the question until sufficient proclamation has been undertaken to bring large numbers to stage-3. Much of Catholic South America, on the other hand, is presently characterized by sufficient numbers at stage -3 to warrant the church-growth emphasis. Indeed, a failure to produce church growth in such ripe fields is nothing more than a clear sign of an inactive and even moribund church.

If the fields are not ripe, however, utilization of the church-growth model can have some adverse effects:

1. It is probable that relatively few will become converts.
2. The conclusion may be reached that people are not open for evangelism at this time and that efforts ought to be concentrated elsewhere. This would be an erroneous conclusion, however, because the strategy is wrong. The stress should be on proclamation and not on persuasion
3. A strategy of evangelistic proclamation may be minimized or avoided altogether as resources are shifted toward those fields or audience segments where there is evidence of greater problem recognition. The net result, of course, would be that nothing is done to help these people advance in their decision processes.

Let it be noted again that the church-growth model is explicitly designed for use only when there is evidence of widespread problem recognition. For this reason, the various writings place heavy emphasis on discovering fields that are “ripe for harvest” and concentrating resources there.

Church-growth advocates have rightfully stressed the importance of numerical, measurable goals. Numbers added to church rolls, of course, are not difficult to measure.

The results of proclamation and cultivation, however, present some measurement problems. In fact, Wagner argues that some have been proclaiming for too long without any discernible results. If reference is made only to numbers of converts, such a criticism is not valid, because the results of proclamation can be detected only in terms of shifts in awareness and attitude. Such shifts, in turn, are measurable by using known methods.
While measurement is the subject of later chapters, it should be stressed once again in broad terms that successful communication moves people in their decision processes (Figure 3). Success does not require a prayer of commitment, but it does require discernible movement. If this does not occur, it may be a sign that people in an audience segment for some reason cannot be reached with the gospel or that the methods used are inappropriate