{"id":17356,"date":"2013-12-06T05:50:39","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T10:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=17356"},"modified":"2013-12-05T18:51:34","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T23:51:34","slug":"church-growth-for-confessional-lutherans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/church-growth-for-confessional-lutherans\/","title":{"rendered":"Church growth for confessional Lutherans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

OK, I\u2019ve been kind of hard on the church growth movement lately (e.g., here <\/a>and here<\/a>), but I acknowledge its good intentions and practical advice.\u00a0 My CCLE <\/a>colleague Paul J. Cain (not to be confused with Paul McCain), is a confessional Lutheran pastor in Wyoming who has published a little book entitled\u00a0 5 Things You Can Do to Make Your Congregation a Caring Church<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He knows that God grows the Church by means of the Word and Sacraments.\u00a0 But there are are some kingdom-of-the-lefthand aspects that can help encourage people to come to receive them.\u00a0\u00a0 He talks about common-sense things like parking and the state of the building, greeters and ushers.\u00a0 But he cuts quickly to a far more important factor that can make a congregation attractive in a good sense (or, if this is not present, send both visitors and members screaming away).\u00a0 Namely, the ethos of the congregation.\u00a0 Do people here care about one another?\u00a0 Does the congregation care about anyone besides one another, showing compassion to people in need and to others outside the church?\u00a0 If not, how can that change?<\/p>\n

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The book is short, extremely practical, and illustrated with Pastor Cain\u2019s personal experiences.\u00a0 After the jump, the product description from Amazon and a link to buy it.<\/p>\n

Discussion topic:\u00a0 What are some things confessional Lutherans\u2013or orthodox, traditionalist congregations of other church bodies\u2013might do to \u201cgrow their churches\u201d that would not compromise their doctrines or practice?<\/p>\n

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5 Things You Can Do to Make Our Congregation a Caring Church (You Can Do It): Paul J Cain: 9780758641939: Amazon.com: Books<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Our salvation is not dependent on how we feel, but certainly our relationships with one another very often are. Fostering and nurturing good relationships, removing stumbling blocks of perception and communication, and sweating the details, both inside and to the outside of the congregation, are key to having a caring congregation.<\/p>\n

This volume will equip you to:Establish a pattern of caring that flows out of the Means of Grace<\/p>\n