This might be up there with my all-time favourite quotes.

In his book titled Invading Secular Space, Martin Robinson said this: 

What would it look like for a church to function in such a way that the primary goal of church life was not to attract more people into attendance and membership, but to produce people who had a profound sense of their personal relationship to God, their resource in Christ and could take that reality into the world with them”

I love Robinson’s acknowledgment that our goal is to be people who live in and transform the world by our lives – not by inviting people to church.

It’s not bad to invite people to church, but that ought not be the main game for us. Instead as Robinson states, each Sunday we want to send out people who genuinely know Jesus, who are secure in themselves and their way of being.

The goal is not to be a street preacher evangelist or a pastor who spends his days trying to recruit new members. The goal is to equip and send out the people we already have to embody the person of Jesus wherever they go.

It may not see our church grow – it may be that everything looks kinda the same – but reality is that it’s not. If every church in the city took this as their calling rather than simply trying to grow then I imagine it would feel very different.

And to be sure ‘The Church’ would grow – but it might not be yours and you might not get any kudos for it and your stats may look horrifyingly similar year after year – but that’s because we only measure tangible stuff and this kind of stuff while very tangible in it’s shape defies being measured.

Jesus never told anyone to go to church – but he did send out teams of people to be present in the community healing, teaching and getting alongside the people – especially the people who would have never thought the invite was for them anyway.

Anyway – if you’re a pastor and feeling the pinch of your church not growing – then I know your pain – but perhaps you can contribute the expansion of God’s kingdom by preparing people to live in their communities and workplaces in ways that inspire and pique people’s curiosity.