Competing for the Sheep - A Treatise against the Modern Church Growth Movement

Main Idea

Churches and pastors are neglecting their call to care for the sheep because they are too busy trying to compete for the sheep. They are trying to create experiences that will draw unbelievers, but end up instead drawing believers from other churches. The result is not a genuine growth in the number of believers in a given town, city, or region, just an exchange of believers between churches. With the pressure of growing the church, pastors no longer focus on the biblical mandate to care for the sheep in their care because they are too busy trying to increase the size of the flock. Don’t hear me say that we should not be seeking after the lost sheep, we should. However, much of what we are doing in churches today cannot be considered “seeking” after the lost sheep. Rather, we are trying to create communities that will attract the sheep that we hope are “seeking” for us.

Potential Chapters

Shepherd the flock among you - our calling - Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-14; Ezekiel 34:1-31; Hebrews 13:17; Jeremiah 23:1-40

Plant and Water - Only God Causes Growth - 1 Corinthians 3

I will build my church - Matthew 16:18

Seek after the lost sheep - Matthew 18:10-14; Luke 15:1-7

Bigger and Better - Our Cultural Compromise