Yet failure and smallness is only one part of the story. In contrast to John’s depiction of Jesus as a lonely hero, the synoptic gospels frequently emphasise the size of the crowds that follow him and hang on his every word. And the account in Acts is punctuated by summary statements showing how much the message has spread and how many have come to follow ‘The Way’. A recent critique of Church of England statements dismissed the language of discipleship and growth as belonging to ‘only one section of the New Testament’. But when that section is the synoptic gospels and Acts, I think we need to take notice of it! Even today, this fondness for failure is in marked contrast to the vibrant growth of Christian faith seen in many parts of the world.
And the focus on failure doesn’t actually make much sense. Fraser comments that, on the cross, ‘failure is redeemed’. But redeemed into what exactly? More failure? Held Evans notes that ‘the New Testament church grew when Christians were in the minority’ but that very growth changed the church’s minority status. This highlights a basic misunderstanding of a key saying of Jesus in which he explains in advance the meaning of Easter: “Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).
The ‘failure’ here is not about lack of growth or fruitfulness; the death of the grain of wheat is about rejecting self-interest and turning from attempts at self-preservation. As we let go of our own agenda and focus on God’s agenda in the kingdom (Matt 6:33), the result will be fruitfulness. And the whole purpose of fruit is the production of more seeds, more plants and further fruitfulness. Dying to self, in Jesus’ teaching, should not lead to empty churches, but to a crop of thirty-, sixty- or a hundred-fold (Mark 4:8).
I like this. I don’t like the obsession with numbers as an indicator of success (e.g. Joel Osteen has one of the biggest churches in the USA, and I don’t understand why people attend it nor do I trust his preaching…). On the other hand justifying institutional collapse like Giles Fraser is warped (though not surprising, given the fruits of so many decades of toxic and weak theology). In some parts of the world Christians witness faithfully, and it draws persecution. In other parts of the world the same sort of witness bears fruit. We are not responsible for how people respond, but we ought always to bear witness in hope that people will respond to Christ and come to him. We shouldn’t be apologetic in desiring our churches to grow numerically.
One of my mentors, Bp. Dan Herzog used to say, “Any farmer can tell you, if it ain’t growing, it’s dead.”
I’ll echo David’s comment — if a congregation can’t show converts and changed lives, it’s (at best) reached an equilibrium with its surroundings and won’t be changing much. There are a number of older congregations in this country that have been quietly and gradually in decline, but trumpet their partnerships with the food bank or community garden, and how they host a preschool. That’s nice, but it isn’t the core work of the church.
Jeff that is profound. You captured what I was trying to say but you said it in such a clear way. Thanks