If “church growth” means that a church is seeing people (a) come to faith in Christ and (b) grow in faithfulness to Christ, then “church growth” is a good thing.

Notice that church growth defined in these terms is not just a matter of increasing numbers. I’ve seen periods of increasing numbers in most churches I’ve served. Most of our increase in membership at these churches has been from “shuffling sheep,” from attracting Christians from other churches (whether near or far). Merely having increasing numbers can be good for morale. It can be a factor in producing the kind of church growth I mentioned in the first paragraph. It can also become an end in itself, puff our egos, or encourage idolatry.

Church growth defined in the terms of the first paragraph is also not a matter of increasing business or activity. To some degree getting more people to do church stuff or getting people to do more church stuff can be a factor in real church growth. Often, however, it’s just busyness in the name of Jesus.

In my own context I keep going back to Zechariah: “‘Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD.”

Carey Nieuwhof has a short talk (without too much advertising) about valuing engagement over mere attendance. I’m not sold on his big push for “productivity,” but I do think he’s right on valuing engagement. I seek engagement because it is more likely to help people come to faith in Christ and to grow in faithfulness to him. Getting them to just be on site, just to sit and listen, just to be busy – I don’t see that producing what we’re looking for. Face to face, person to person, life to life engagement – that can make a difference.