A bigger piece of the cake?

Mal Nygren was the senior pastor of our church from 1954 until 1990.  He had a huge impact on our church and on our community and is much loved still today.

In 2000, he wrote a wonderful booklet celebrating 150 years of our church history.  It is really moving to read story after story of our church sending groups of our own members out into the community.  He describes the experience of our church planting several other churches in the area.  It is really a story to be proud of.

But as he describes different ways of thinking about church growth, one paragraph really stood out for me:

A church that grows entirely by taking members away from existing churches isn't growing at all.  It isn't baking a bigger pie.  It is simply cutting a larger piece for itself. 

I love that sentiment.  I desperately hope that we grow, as a church.  But I am not interested in growth by "stealing sheep" from other churches.  I hope we grow because God is using us to reach out to and connect with people who are disconnected from the body of Christ.  As we continue to push ourselves to invite people in, can we agree to focus on inviting the disconnected rather than trying to pry people away from the place they've already been planted?

Thanks for the reminder Rev. Nygren!