"And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias and he was added to the eleven apostles." Acts 1:26
During the heyday of the church growth movement, hardly a church newsletter was complete, until the section was added that reported, WEEKLY ADDITIONS. Here the scalps were hung on the wall. BY BAPTISM. BY STATEMENT. BY LETTER. TOTAL ADDITIONS. These were considered to be the vital signs of the church.
The church growth movement was the foster child of the Jesus Revolution and the Deeper Life Movement. After the Holy Spirit was kicked to the curb, by those claiming credit for what He had been doing, since the late Sixties, something had to be done to keep the momentum going. The Church Growth Movement gurus stepped up to the plate. Formulas, surveys, demographic studies, interviews with unchurched Sally and unchurched Steve, and a host of other aids, were introduced to pastors passionate to make a name for themselves.
During the Eighties, all kinds of "How to" books were produced, and seminars spawned to empower churches to breakthrough to the next level of church growth. The continuing momentum of the previous spiritual movement, The Jesus Revolution, made everyone look like an expert.
Of course the fastest way to grow a Southern Baptist Church in the Eighties and Nineties was to escape a decaying, transitional neighborhood, and relocate deeper into The Burbs. Southern Baptists wrote the book on this. It was called "White Flight." Apparently, the Holy Spirit went into a period of self-doubt, unable to communicate cross-culturally, or across generational lines.
I was encouraged this week, by the attendance at the North American Board sponsored Send 2013 Conference. Close to 4,000 pastors and church planters met in Dallas, Texas at Prestonwood Baptist Church to make serious course corrections to the previous mentioned strategy. I pray that this is the beginning of a new day. We need it. God send it!
Additions are what man can do. Multiplication is what God does. The power of the Holy Spirit is rarely needed to put out a few lures, to see if unchurched people will bite on them. Moving unchurched people into the church without a life-changing encounter with God's Holy Spirit has not proven to be a winning strategy. It never will be.
Drawing a crowd is all about additions. Making disciples requires the Holy Spirit's power and Presence. The Spirit must multiply Himself in the lives of those who are weary of being full of themselves, and ready to be filled with Him. Filling the church with people who are full of themselves adds up to mob, not a movement of God. Big difference.
In the 1970's "discipleship" became a buzz word that made its way into the program dominated bureaucracy of the church. It eventually became homogenized into series of 12 week studies, the completion of a spiral notebook, participation in a student weekend, or attendance at a Sunday night study group held at the church. Remember DT? Discipleship Training. I didn't think so. As the spiral notebooks increased, genuine discipleship remained elusive. It still is.
The Acts account clarifies why. Matthias "was added to the eleven apostles." The disciples interrupted a prayer meeting with a business meeting, and rolled the dice. They bet the farm on Matthias being the missing component needed to complete the task assigned to them. They added up all the facts, and came up with good man. They settled for a good man and missed God's best. How did that happen? They strayed instead of prayed. To stay the course, God's people must pray the course.
In the late 1990's I served on an Evangelism Task Force that was charged with producing the North American Mission Board's answer to the Great Commission. We came up with "The NET." I wrote the devotional guides that were part of a training module churches could order, and use to train people to share their faith. Never heard of it? I didn't think so. It was a good idea. Apparently, it wasn't God's idea. It happens to the best of us.
The Bible doesn't record much, if anything, about Matthias after he was added to the apostles. He is the poster boy for Church Additions. Most churches don't hear much from those they add to their church rolls either. Mathias Members are a huge part of the religious landscape.
For eight years, I served as pastor of a church that bragged about having 5,000 members. We couldn't find half of them, but we weren't about to admit it. At one time in their lives, they had identified with our church. In most cases, "once saved always saved" didn't translate into, "I was lost, but now I'm found." You couldn't find these people with a team of FBI detectives.
I fantasized that at least half of our people, at the point of membership, must have immediately entered into a Witness Protection Program. We knew their names, and their last address, but they were either AWOL or MIA. We only heard from them if they wanted to get married or buried in the church. Why? They claimed their rights. Members got a discount on the fees, for use of the auditorium and the fellowship hall. Membership does have its privileges.
Acts 1 is a picture of a man-made church. Prayer is initiated, but it is easily interrupted by a business meeting. Logic is applied to an impossible situation, and a man-made solution is agreed upon. These people in the Upper Room were bright, busy, and totally impotent. They were in charge of the agenda, but not filled with the Holy Spirit. This never ends well.
Jesus had "commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, 'Which you heard from Me;...you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' " Acts 1:5
These straying saints were like "Brylcreem Baptists." You remember the Brylcreem slogan? "A little dab will do yah!" They started out praying, and ended up straying. It didn't take them long to get tired of praying. There was work to be done. Ron Dunn wrote a book, "Don't Just Stand There. Pray Something." Great advice. Too many times people are tempted to quit on prayer, before they are equipped for the task.
When they started saying what they had been thinking, instead of being obedient to the last thing that Jesus had said to them to do, they settled for what man could do, and missed what only The Holy Spirit can do. This only happens...EVERY TIME.
Acts 2 reveals what Jesus had in mind for His Church. "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:1-4) When we settle for what man can do, we are limited to our own resources to sustain and maintain what we initiate. When we pray for something only God can get credit for, then God furnishes all we need to complete what He initiates. Big difference.
Prayer is the climate that prepares us for a fresh movement of The Spirit of God, in our lives. Spiritual Awakening takes place, when what is The Spirit is doing in our lives, flows into the church and out into the streets. People are not impressed with how well we mop the floors of the church, but they can't ignore a flood The Spirit of God moving through their city.
Put up the mop. Pray for rain. Lord, let Your Spirit rain into the parched areas of my heart, and overflow to thirsty people ready to be filled by Him. May His reign on earth, bring glory to Your Son, seated by Your side in Heaven.
TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!