One goal of church is to make disciples. Part of that process is conversion. The question is : Are disciples being made? Or is something else going on?
“Conversions” is one of the main things that a church may use as a statistic. But it can also be a problem for the church. How do you define a conversion? I am convinced that the institutional church are counting things that are not true to conversions or disciples being mad.
Here are six things that the institutional church think are responsible for true conversions.
Attendance = Conversions
It’s all well and good to have more people coming to church, but does that constitute a conversion? On the outside it looks like the church is healthy, new people are being added. But there may be a whole host of reasons that people “attend”.
The loud emotional music – Some get caught up in the buzz and just like to have that great experience.
The preacher’s persuasive words – Some keep coming to just hear a man give self-help stuff.
A certain friend or partner – That is, you have other reasons why you are attending.
All in all, attendance on its own does not give you conversion.. You could have a room full of regular attendees who have never become a true disciple of Jesus. They just attend because it is just the traditional thing to do or they enjoy the community. But as to being converted and disciples, they are not interested in that part of church. Many mega churches will count how many people come through the front door, but they fail to count how many people go through the back door.
Baptisms = Conversions
This may be closer to the mark, but just because someone got wet doesn’t mean that they are converted. It’s very common for a person to get caught up in the whole experience and then get baptised on the spot, not knowing why they are doing it. So a church may count “baptisms” as conversional points, even when that same person no longer comes.
Some people get baptised to have certain privileges in jobs or to be part of another baptism. But once they have done their bit, they are gone.
The same could be said for raising your hand up for Jesus. A teenager may come forward for an “altar call” or raise their hand up and commit to serving Jesus. That would only be a true conversion if the person continues in their faith and shows true fruit. Having baptisms is good, but don’t think it means conversions are happening.
Some just get “caught up” in the whole church-event experience. They haven’t really come to Christ.
Membership = Conversions
Membership is one element that is seen as someone converted or disciples. They may have to adhere to a certain doctrine or do some class, and if they do that, then they truly are a conversion. Just because someone has now committed themselves to a particular church doesn’t mean it is true discipleship. For all we know, it may be that church brand they like. It is the event they like, the buzz, the preacher, the lights, or the sheer size of the church.
Once those things fall apart (change of pastor, change of building, dwindling in size) it is common for a person to leave. What it means is that person was not in it for knowing Jesus or becoming a disciple but just being part of some “event”.
Prosperity = Conversions
Money is going up, buildings are being set up, more staff are being added and programmes are running smoothly. Maybe the production of the service is good and the website is getting better. All of this people may think is “conversion”. It may just be good business strategies, building a platform for a certain “charismatic” leader.
Are you converting to Christ or to an experience?
Just because things look good on the outside doesn’t mean real revival and conversions are happening. There are many churches that are not prosperous in this area, but they may be dong real conversions and discipleship.
Transfer Growth = Conversions
It is common for people to join a church from another church, and for the leaders of that church to see that as real conversions. The thing is, people are not being added to the kingdom, they are just coming from somewhere else. It may be a sign that your church is doing something good, that is, real discipleship, but it could also be people who want to be part of a better “service”. A lot of little churches can get annoyed at mega churches for sucking up Christians to attend their big empire. It would be unfair for that mega church to think that they are doing real conversions.
The Sunday Gathering = Conversions
One thing that today’s church really focuses on is the big Sunday church event. This is where everyone comes together, sings, hears a talk, and mingles afterwards. They see this event as the engine room of conversions and discipleship. But if there is no discipleship process happening throughout the week, then this way of doing church may well produce consumeristic Christians. They are not able to feed themselves and be a disciple of Jesus throughout the week in their workplace or family.
They all need to go to the “temple” on Sunday to get their discipleship fix. What churches should look at are things like : How many are in community groups? How many are sharing their faith? How many are learning about Jesus even though they aren’t coming to church on Sunday? If all there is is the big Sunday church gathering, then that is not a true state of conversion.
Don’t put all your Conversion eggs in the Sunday event basket.
All in all, I am convinced that the current model of dong church is not the best to promote conversions and discipleship. Part of discipleship is that this “disciple” needs to get into a particular “space” where they can be transformed. The current model of church cannot provide this.
So, throughout this series, I hope you can see some of the pitfalls that the church faces. Some of these problems can easily be fixed. Others, you may have to pull out that proverbial jenga piece at the bottom.
But my hope is that Jesus, no matter what his church looks like, will continue to build it.
Even though we can get in the way, he can still use our feeble attempts to bring him glory. And that is my hope, that the manifold wisdom of God continues to shine through the local church.
