Mike Breen wrote on July 28, “Why does church innovation = technology?” Ben Sternke followed it up this morning with an excellent post, “Why we don’t make disciples.” The posts address the topic of spiritual reproduction (which I also addressed recently).
Ben hammers home how our vision and values determine what we do. For too many, he says, salvation is essentially “signing the papers” so we get to go to Heaven when we die. For too few, salvation is anything bigger—like life in the Kingdom and participating in the work of God.
So, innovate to “solve the problem”: which is how to tell people in a way that is compelling enough that they “sign the papers,” they “walk the aisle,” they “raise their hands.” We innovate communications technology to enable us to get our message to more people, in more languages, in ways they understand, in styles that are compelling.
But the way to “solve” this problem leads us to mass communication, cost reduction, and infinite customization of the message. The bottom line is that we are “playing the numbers.” So many Gospel “exposures” (Bibles distributed, hours of air time, tracts left, etc.) to so many people, with such-and-such a percentage responding, enables us to determine the most cost-effective route to grow the church. More, it even enables us to buy conversions:
Exposures * Cost * Response Rate = Y people saved for Z dollars.
This approach yields conversions, but not spiritual daughters. Purchased salvations are sterile: we are buying eunuchs. We are servants and slavegirls, not sons and daughters: with no compelling reason or incentive to “be fruitful and multiply” the future generations. We steward the master’s riches properly, of course, building prosperity as a wise servant should. But—marriage? relationships? future generations? raising spiritual children to maturity in the faith? Please. Not our job.
But it is. If any single church wishes to survive long-term, it must move from a culture of service to a culture of sons-and-daughters. We must increase the rate of spiritual reproduction. We must focus our efforts not so much on making converts, but rather on making disciples.
Additional Reading & Updates
- Ernest Goodman writes on our missionary identity in Christ: a post I completely agree with and speaks to this issue.
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