Ted, again, your reflections are a prod to us...a welcomed one.
I very much agree also, with Shadonkeh’s reflections, and love the illustration you shared about those "regular" members who are church planters.
I'll only hope to clarify one things (with many threads of course...I was mentored by Ralph Winter):
These reflections are not new. (You were not explicitly saying they were.)
At least 2 years before Winter spoke about the Unreached at Lausanne 1974, he wrote a chapter in the book: Crucial Issues in Missions Tomorrow, (edited by Donald McGavran, published by Moody.).
It was first published before that in the Church Growth Bulletin (I couldn't look that up, but it was clear that the School of World Mission was discussing these things with their 100 students [from all over the world]. Not to mention the push back on the SWM's church growth ideas (and later initial Winter's Unreached idea by the mission world.).
Anyway, I thought a few quotes from Winter's chapter would be helpful. The pages numbers are form the book mentioned above. AFTER that, I'll put in a bit from the Perspectives Lesson Guidelines for Lesson #5: Unleashing the Gospel. IF anyone is interested in more on this, there were a few key EMQ articles over the years that addressed this. (Not to mention many letters/emails to/from Dr. Winter and mission leaders like Hesselgrave and the CEO of SEND - that had work among the Unreached, but also in "pagan" Europe.
First, from Crucial Issues in Missions Tomorrow:
175
Those who emphasize "church growth" are sometimes accused of being more interested in quantities of church members than in their quality. This is despite the fact that the very phrase church growth implies an additional dimension of emphasis beyond conversion, since it focuses not on how many raise their hands at an evangelistic service but on the incorporation of the new believer into church life.
177
A similar warning is necessary in regard to a careless use of the two phrases, quantitative growth and qualitative growth. These must never be squared off against each other as if they were something entirely different. Why? Because all quantities are measurements of certain qualities!
178
The crucial issue in missions in connection with quality arises when it is assumed that either any numerical measurement of quality must be superficial, or that any important quality cannot be measured. When you stop to think of it, these common and erroneous assumptions fly in the face of Jesus' insistence that "by their fruits you shall know them."
It may well be true that those who count things have not always counted the most important things, but the reality of the impact of Christ on the world today is a phenomenon real enough to be counted and measured in a host of different ways.
179
What I think this leader really is saying is: "You are measuring some qualities. I think there are other qualities that should be measured as well." Perhaps he feels we are satisfied with overall growth in church membership. Perhaps he does not see that membership statistics properly interpreted are a significant way of understanding qualities. His uneasiness about statistical measurements is fairly common among some Christian leaders.
180
We certainly do teach national leaders and career missionaries to calculate memberships accurately. But these membership figures are not so much glorified as qualified, and statistics as such occupy only a tiny percentage of our time.
We are almost always more interested in changes in church membership—and in the hundreds of factors that may or may not be related to such changes—and we recognize at least six components of net increase in membership (conversion in, reversion out, transfer in, transfer out, born in, die out), so that simple net growth is rarely is itself considered definitive. We talk not only about amounts of growth but rates of growth, and also rates relative to the growth of population and subpopulation. We talk about the relative numerical proportions of at least five different kinds of important leaders in a movement, the ratio of pastors to organized churches, the relative expenditure of income on theological education, and the costs of producing an ordained minister. These are
just a few of dozens of measurements of qualities other than, and in addition to, gross membership. One of our recent studies (on the Friends Church in Central America which
has been fathered by the California Friends) has over thirty graphs and charts, only a few of which focus exclusively on church membership.
181
Nevertheless, while membership totals are not adequate as goals in themselves, in many situations in missions today they are a "necessary though not sufficient" evidence of faith- fulness to God in evangelism.
186
I discovered that in the earlier period there were far more active evangelistic efforts and a willingness to found congregations on a very humble base-in houses and shacks. An intermediate level of leadership was widely and effectively used in the earlier period but was phased out as more missionaries arrived and more nationals were sent abroad for university and seminary training. Also, by 1947, money from the United States had become essential for erecting buildings, training pastors, and paying highly trained pastors. When those funds could no longer increase each year, the church itself could not continue to increase. Each new congregation cost the church about a thousand dollars a year to run, and the mission board in North America, which was giving $70,000 a year to this field, would not keep on giving more.
187
It is apparent that those who are alert to the quantitative measure of qualities are more likely to understand the situation than those who neglect the quantitative measures available.
And, from the Perspectives Lesson Guidelines for Lesson #5: Unleashing the Gospel
Most mission teaching focuses on missionary activity—why people should be active in God’s mission, or what people must do to be effective as missionaries, or how to support, receive or send missionaries.
This is all to the good and of obvious importance. But instead of putting primary focus on what missionaries do, the Perspectives course puts emphasis on what missionaries aim to accomplish: the movements that glorify God and bring blessing in societies. Envisioning the outcome of Christ-following movements helps us recognize the most fruitful and effective outreach of Christ-proclaiming messengers.
Evangelization is an outcome. Evangelism is an activity. Lesson 5 is an important part of this purpose-oriented paradigm.
I should have noted the School of World Mission had 100 students per year.
My main reason for posting, is to say that while there are important quantitive elements in the process of the church expanding globally, (which help us have INDICATORS about what is and is not happening) the qualitative has been central to the way Frontier Ventures (USCWM), Perspectives and Joshua Project have talked about these issues.
I couldn't agree more!! This was certainly the highlight of the week for me personally. I also loved the quote, 'walking a mile in the wrong direction is a two mile mistake'... Great week, thanks Ted and your team!!
This is going in the Roundup. Well done.
Thanks Ted! Great article.
Ted, again, your reflections are a prod to us...a welcomed one.
I very much agree also, with Shadonkeh’s reflections, and love the illustration you shared about those "regular" members who are church planters.
I'll only hope to clarify one things (with many threads of course...I was mentored by Ralph Winter):
These reflections are not new. (You were not explicitly saying they were.)
At least 2 years before Winter spoke about the Unreached at Lausanne 1974, he wrote a chapter in the book: Crucial Issues in Missions Tomorrow, (edited by Donald McGavran, published by Moody.).
It was first published before that in the Church Growth Bulletin (I couldn't look that up, but it was clear that the School of World Mission was discussing these things with their 100 students [from all over the world]. Not to mention the push back on the SWM's church growth ideas (and later initial Winter's Unreached idea by the mission world.).
Anyway, I thought a few quotes from Winter's chapter would be helpful. The pages numbers are form the book mentioned above. AFTER that, I'll put in a bit from the Perspectives Lesson Guidelines for Lesson #5: Unleashing the Gospel. IF anyone is interested in more on this, there were a few key EMQ articles over the years that addressed this. (Not to mention many letters/emails to/from Dr. Winter and mission leaders like Hesselgrave and the CEO of SEND - that had work among the Unreached, but also in "pagan" Europe.
First, from Crucial Issues in Missions Tomorrow:
175
Those who emphasize "church growth" are sometimes accused of being more interested in quantities of church members than in their quality. This is despite the fact that the very phrase church growth implies an additional dimension of emphasis beyond conversion, since it focuses not on how many raise their hands at an evangelistic service but on the incorporation of the new believer into church life.
177
A similar warning is necessary in regard to a careless use of the two phrases, quantitative growth and qualitative growth. These must never be squared off against each other as if they were something entirely different. Why? Because all quantities are measurements of certain qualities!
178
The crucial issue in missions in connection with quality arises when it is assumed that either any numerical measurement of quality must be superficial, or that any important quality cannot be measured. When you stop to think of it, these common and erroneous assumptions fly in the face of Jesus' insistence that "by their fruits you shall know them."
It may well be true that those who count things have not always counted the most important things, but the reality of the impact of Christ on the world today is a phenomenon real enough to be counted and measured in a host of different ways.
179
What I think this leader really is saying is: "You are measuring some qualities. I think there are other qualities that should be measured as well." Perhaps he feels we are satisfied with overall growth in church membership. Perhaps he does not see that membership statistics properly interpreted are a significant way of understanding qualities. His uneasiness about statistical measurements is fairly common among some Christian leaders.
180
We certainly do teach national leaders and career missionaries to calculate memberships accurately. But these membership figures are not so much glorified as qualified, and statistics as such occupy only a tiny percentage of our time.
We are almost always more interested in changes in church membership—and in the hundreds of factors that may or may not be related to such changes—and we recognize at least six components of net increase in membership (conversion in, reversion out, transfer in, transfer out, born in, die out), so that simple net growth is rarely is itself considered definitive. We talk not only about amounts of growth but rates of growth, and also rates relative to the growth of population and subpopulation. We talk about the relative numerical proportions of at least five different kinds of important leaders in a movement, the ratio of pastors to organized churches, the relative expenditure of income on theological education, and the costs of producing an ordained minister. These are
just a few of dozens of measurements of qualities other than, and in addition to, gross membership. One of our recent studies (on the Friends Church in Central America which
has been fathered by the California Friends) has over thirty graphs and charts, only a few of which focus exclusively on church membership.
181
Nevertheless, while membership totals are not adequate as goals in themselves, in many situations in missions today they are a "necessary though not sufficient" evidence of faith- fulness to God in evangelism.
186
I discovered that in the earlier period there were far more active evangelistic efforts and a willingness to found congregations on a very humble base-in houses and shacks. An intermediate level of leadership was widely and effectively used in the earlier period but was phased out as more missionaries arrived and more nationals were sent abroad for university and seminary training. Also, by 1947, money from the United States had become essential for erecting buildings, training pastors, and paying highly trained pastors. When those funds could no longer increase each year, the church itself could not continue to increase. Each new congregation cost the church about a thousand dollars a year to run, and the mission board in North America, which was giving $70,000 a year to this field, would not keep on giving more.
187
It is apparent that those who are alert to the quantitative measure of qualities are more likely to understand the situation than those who neglect the quantitative measures available.
And, from the Perspectives Lesson Guidelines for Lesson #5: Unleashing the Gospel
Most mission teaching focuses on missionary activity—why people should be active in God’s mission, or what people must do to be effective as missionaries, or how to support, receive or send missionaries.
This is all to the good and of obvious importance. But instead of putting primary focus on what missionaries do, the Perspectives course puts emphasis on what missionaries aim to accomplish: the movements that glorify God and bring blessing in societies. Envisioning the outcome of Christ-following movements helps us recognize the most fruitful and effective outreach of Christ-proclaiming messengers.
Evangelization is an outcome. Evangelism is an activity. Lesson 5 is an important part of this purpose-oriented paradigm.
I should have noted the School of World Mission had 100 students per year.
My main reason for posting, is to say that while there are important quantitive elements in the process of the church expanding globally, (which help us have INDICATORS about what is and is not happening) the qualitative has been central to the way Frontier Ventures (USCWM), Perspectives and Joshua Project have talked about these issues.
Amen, Ted!
Hi Ted, I couldn't agree more. :-)
I wrote something a little while ago: "A Theology of Multiplying Disciples: Addressing the Seedless Grape Phenomenon"
https://muslimministry.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-theology-of-multiplying-disciples.html
I couldn't agree more!! This was certainly the highlight of the week for me personally. I also loved the quote, 'walking a mile in the wrong direction is a two mile mistake'... Great week, thanks Ted and your team!!