From Nate Howard:
I don’t know if I hear God’s voice as clearly and strongly in anyone in the C&MA like I do when I hear Rock Dillaman. That was true when I first heard him speak to our missions gathering in Ecuador in 1987. That’s true in the guest blog Rock shares with us today.
In a day when God’s people desperately need to hear God’s voice, Rock’s gift is of great value. Thursday (June 17), a number of us will have the privilege of interacting with Rock. I hope this blog helps prepare us for our time together.
by Rock Dillaman
As someone who has spent the last 36 years in urban multicultural ministry, I am no fan of the so-called Church Growth movement. For a host of reasons, some of which should be obvious. But in the midst of the recent, escalating, and long overdue cries for racial justice I simply want to comment on one. I believe that movement set the wrong benchmarks for effective ministry and in so doing unwittingly stifled the prophetic voice of the church, thus costing the church much of its power and credibility. Here’s why I believe that.
“The prophets named idolatries. The prophets named strongholds. The prophets addressed economic and social ills. The prophets defined compromise and clearly outlined its borders. No one asked them to write best-selling books or host seminars. God commanded them to write out messages that were more often than not hated and rejected rather than celebrated.”
The CG movement placed undue emphasis on attendance numbers as the key benchmark of success. Caveats about disciple-making and impact were always offered up to give the numbers obsession an air of legitimacy. After all, someone was counting at Pentecost! But I don’t recall any church gaining notoriety and joining the “A list” of celebrated churches/movements because of its justice efforts, its service to the poor and marginalized, its growing diversity, its commitment to underserved neighborhoods, or its fight against bigotry. Instead, the success stories (and the models) all followed the same script—started as a Bible study with 12 people and now numbers 5,000 in 7 locations! And they almost always unfolded somewhere other than the urban core, somewhere where multiple acres for cavernous sanctuaries and state-of-the-art facilities could be found.
No one openly admitted the numerical criteria as the driving force. That wouldn’t sound spiritual. But our celebrations have a way of revealing what we value, and the celebrations always focused on butt count!
But the problem with numbers as the primary benchmark of success as I see it is this: it suffocates the prophetic. Let me explain.
The prophets named idolatries. The prophets named strongholds. The prophets addressed economic and social ills. The prophets defined compromise and clearly outlined its borders. No one asked them to write best-selling books or host seminars. God commanded them to write out messages that were more often than not hated and rejected rather than celebrated. No one asked Jeremiah to share his 7 keys to being ignored!
Over 30 years ago the congregation I’m privileged to serve responded to God’s gracious invitation to confess its bigotry and openly repent. It made the commitment to stay in a neighborhood most people wanted to leave and most churches had already left - save for minority congregations that had no choice but to remain. And it committed itself to doing justice.
In the ensuing decades, we have found the deeper we go in pursuing that goal the less people want to travel with us! It gets too uncomfortable! It calls for acknowledging the sins no respectable person suffers from! It requires blunt-edged repentance as lifestyle. And despite what they articulate, I fear many covet comfort and affirmation over transformation.
Every time we go deeper in the prophetic— in the naming of idolatries, getting honest about history, and having hard conversations about our past, our denials, and our ugliest thoughts we see some people leave. Every time we refuse to name “the side of the angels” in a presidential election we see some people leave. As our minority presence grows, we see people reach their internal tipping point and leave. Our numbers don’t increase; they decrease.
But as our numbers have decreased the sense of God’s presence has increased. Our impact in our community has increased. Miracles of provision have increased. And our credibility has increased. When we needed the approval of 28 neighborhood groups for a modest building addition we received unanimous approval, despite our uncompromised stance on biblical truth.
The recent cries for justice from our nation’s black citizens have spawned a myriad of “conversations.” But why did it take national trauma to get congregations to speak to an evil that has existed for centuries? Why did most churches have to initiate conversations that should have been happening years ago? Why did many mono-cultural churches in multicultural communities have to go outside and find a “safe” black voice or two for the conversation? Why weren’t they able to do what we did by God’s grace—walk across the hall and ask three black leaders to speak. Why weren’t there black men and women readily available inside the church? Why weren’t such conversations the ongoing albeit uncomfortable norm? And will the current crop of conversations prove to be the beginning of revival or merely short-lived, knee-jerk responses to the pressure to appear woke? Time will tell, for compromise has a short memory.
It’s my belief that unless the church changes its benchmarks for success we will continue to suffocate the prophetic and end up being pathetic. I often tell my congregation we are not going to prostitute ourselves to numbers. We want to impact as many as possible, but eternal impact requires the prophetic.