church growth is sexy

When I pastored a local congregation I was well aware of the fact that most often the visitors were disaffected members from other churches. We created our own disaffected members as well that went elsewhere. It’s an elaborate exchange program. Or, in keeping with the analogy, swapping program. A real swinging time!

Once a whole bunch of people left our church and started their own. Others left and populated other churches. One church got so many of our members that they actually asked if they could have our chairs as well. Isn’t that funny? Then once in a while a whole influx of people would come to our church all at once from another one. I always knew it was only a matter of time before they would all, every last one of them, move on.

It’s like sex that attempts to quench a deeper desire. There’s a deeper hunger that no church could ever satisfy. We should all just admit that and quit pretending to possess and offer this inapproachable “It”.