In 1707 a hymn by Isaac Watts was published by the name “How Sweet and Aweful is the Place.” The evolution of language over the last three centuries led to the alternate title “How Sweet and Awesome is the Place.” In the hymn the “place” referred to as “sweet and awesome” is the local church. One stanza begins, “We long to see your churches full” and for every churchgoing Christian that is true. A full church makes for a full heart.
However, a question worth asking is “At what cost?” What is the Christian’s responsibility to increase church attendance? A more pointed question is, “How much money, time and energy should church leaders spend on growing the local church?” On its face, church expansion seems like a virtuous goal, but an example from church history reveals that, in truth, it isn’t.
In the century following Constantine’s “conversion” to Christianity church membership increased by 300 percent. According to one historian, by A.D. 500 the Christian church was “the overwhelming majority of the [Roman] Empire.” What a tremendous triumph of grace, right? Well, no. The churches were full because it became fashionable to be a Christian. It was popular to be in a Christian church.
Of the many factors that resulted in a bad outcome, one of them was the significant increase in the number of church officers. To manage the rapidly inflating workload, unqualified people were elevated to the role, including many women. One author writes, “The prominent (Christian) women wore gold-brocaded clothing, kept a retinue of eunuchs, [and] surrounded themselves with flatterers and parasites.” He added, “What thus began in the spirit (haughty fanaticism) ended almost without exception in the flesh and in filth.” He goes on to describe illicit adulterous behavior that took place during these “diaconal visits” and the criminal acts that were committed to cover them up.
The conspicuous lesson from this is that church growth is not, of necessity, a sign of God’s blessing. While this is an extreme example, the fact remains that the expansion of the church (in any era) may simply be the result of compromise. Unarguably the post-Constantinian church looked like the world and the world, as a result, was attracted to it.
This perspective sheds fresh light on the question regarding the money, time and energy that should be spent to grow the church. Frankly, it reveals it’s the wrong question. Growth of the church is a consequence, not a command. The directive is to make disciples, baptize them and to teach them all that Christ has commanded. What’s more, evangelism takes place through faithful preaching and teaching. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The product of faithful obedience to the Great Commission is, as God sees fit, the growth of the church.
Here is how this impacts you today. Encouraging so-called “unchurched” friends to attend church is good, but it is not what God has commissioned you to do. Nowhere in the Bible will you find a verse that directs you to woo sinners into church attendance. Since faith comes by hearing, what your unchurched friends need to hear is that Jesus is the way, and the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. More important than pointing friends to the dynamic pastor or life-changing programs of a church, is for you to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Through your faithful witness of the truth of God’s Word the Holy Spirit may convict them of sin and draw them to the family celebration that takes place in the church on the Lord’s Day.
When the preceding stanza is included, the lyric by Watts is given its proper context:
Pity the nations, O our God, constrain the earth to come;
Send Your victorious Word abroad, and bring the strangers home.
We long to see Your churches full, that all the chosen race
May, with one voice and heart and soul, sing Your redeeming grace.
It is God that constrains the lost to come. It is His Word that goes out to the strangers and the power of the Holy Spirit that brings them home.
Pray that Christian churches would abandon compromise and commit their money, time and energy into making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them all that Christ commanded. Prepare yourself to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and pray that God would give you opportunities to deliver that greatest of news. In His providence your faithfulness may lead to full churches that, with one voice and heart and soul, sing His redeeming grace!