Why Theologically Conservative, Stylistically Modern Churches are Growing Faster than Everyone Else

Let’s say you had a choice of three cars to take you and your family on a journey. Option one was a modern looking car with all the fixings and trimmings, yet it lacked one essential element: an engine. Option two was a functioning car (with engine) yet it was an older car, manufactured back in the 1970s that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned or maintained since the day it drove off of the lot. Option three is a 2012 Toyota Corolla. Nothing fancy, not a high-end car by any means, but it was modern and it got you where you needed to go. In this circumstance, I think it’s safe to say we’d all choose option three.

A five year academic study in Ontario, Canada recently concluded that theologically conservative, stylistically modern churches grow faster than any other types of churches. Here are some useful quotes from the article where I first encountered this study:

Churches that are theologically conservative with beliefs based on a literal interpretation of the Bible grow faster than those with a liberal orientation, according to a five-year academic study.

Services at growing churches featured contemporary worship with drums and guitars, while declining churches favoured traditional styles of worship with organ and choir.

While my experience is not research-based, I’ve seen this truth play out in every place I’ve ministered in over the past twenty years. You want to find the fastest growing church in town? Go find the church that has a modern approach to ministry yet holds to a conservative theological view of the Bible. So perhaps the bigger question is, why is that? What makes this approach so effective?

Consider the car analogy I used at the top. A modern yet theologically liberal church is the modern car with no engine. The reason people seek out God and religion is because they are dissatisfied with their experience in life and they’re looking for something supernatural. They’re looking for something other. They’re looking for something different. Churches that hold to a literal interpretation of the Bible offer something ‘other,’ even if it might be counter-cultural. We hold to a revelation from God that is inerrant and unchanging. This revelation from God is the engine that drives our churches. When theological liberalism starts to play around with Scripture, removing parts that seem out-of-date and replacing it with more culturally acceptable beliefs, it removes the engine from the church. The church no longer seems supernatural, different, other. It looks the same as the outside world, so what’s the draw to outsiders if it looks no different than its surroundings?

A traditional yet theologically conservative church is option two in my car scenario, and these churches are prevalent throughout America. These are churches whose conservative bona fides are unquestioned, yet when you step through the doors you’re walking back in time at least 50 years. This is the functioning car from the 1970s that hasn’t been cleaned or maintained since. The main fallacy of these churches is that they’ve mistaken what’s unchanging with what’s ever-changing. While we hold that the Word of God is unchanging, cultural expressions of these timeless truths should be ever-changing. These churches believe it’s not enough to hold to a literal, unchanging view of Scripture. They also have planted a stake in the ground to say that how they worship, what programs they offer, and how they interact with society can never change either. There are many churches that fit this description within my denomination (Southern Baptist Convention). If America ever changed back to the 1950s, they’d be set and ready to go. Until then, they’re approach to ministry and society is out-of-touch and out-of-date, like driving that old Gremlin that hadn’t been cleaned or maintained since the early 80s: uncomfortable for everyone.

The fastest growing churches are those that are theologically conservative yet stylistically modern. They’ve successfully figured out the balance between what can never change (view of Scripture) with what must always change (modern expressions of worship and ministry). Over the past twenty years as a minister, I’ve seen this countless times. People are searching for something other, something transcendent when they search for a church. They’re innately dissatisfied with their approach to life and are searching for something supernatural. If the Bible has been photo-shopped to fit modern culture, it looks no different than culture and doesn’t add anything new to the spiritual seeker. That must stay the same. But since the Bible is timeless, those timeless truths can be accurately expressed in the 21st century, not just the 1950s or 1970s version of America. It doesn’t have to be over-the-top-fancy, but people are looking for a modern looking car with an engine that works to take them on their spiritual journey. Theologically conservative yet stylistically modern churches are the perfect vehicle for that journey. That’s why they’re growing faster than everyone else.