Frogs and Church Growth

            I want to write a little more about church growth.  First, though, I want to write about frogs.

            You’ve probably heard the old thing about how to boil a frog.  You don’t boil the water first and then throw the frog in; if you do, the frog will know that the water’s too hot and will jump out.  What you do is put the frog in cool water.  Then, very slowly, very gradually, you turn up the heat.  The temperature of the water goes up so slowly and gradually that the frog does not even notice it.

            So what does this have to do with church growth?  Well, last time, I wrote about how, for the churches of the Wheatland Parish, growth is not going to come in fifties or hundreds, or even in tens and twenties.  It’s more likely to come in ones and twos.

            The thing about growing by ones and twos is that, even on our scale, that kind of growth happens slowly and gradually.  It happens so slowly and so gradually that we don’t really notice it.  Averaging one or two more people in worship does not make the sanctuary feel any more full than it did before.  Then, when we start averaging one or two more again, it still doesn’t feel any more full.

            That’s another way growth by ones and twos can be discouraging.  After all, we live in a society of immediate gratification.  For breakfast, we have instant coffee, instant oatmeal, and microwave bacon.  We want instant church growth, too.  When we don’t see it, we can get depressed.  We can start to wonder what we’re doing wrong.

            If you’re starting to feel that way, do what I do.  Look around the sanctuary on Sunday morning.  Almost every week, in each of our churches, you’ll see someone who’s now attending regularly, or at least semi-regularly, who wasn’t doing so six or eight months ago.  Often, you’ll see several people like that.  That’s proof that our churches are growing.  It’s just that, because the numbers are changing slowly and gradually, we don’t notice them going up, any more than the frog notices the numbers on the thermometer going up.

            That’s where the analogy breaks down, of course.  When the numbers go up for the frog, he’s done for.  When the numbers go up in the church, we’re just getting started. 

            We have to keep working at it, of course.  Our churches can continue to grow, but it won’t happen by itself.  We need to continue to do all we can to spread God’s word to as many people as we can.  If we do our part, we know we can count on God to do God’s part.  When that happens, there’s no limit to how high the numbers can go.