This excellent article (and other things) has gotten me thinking. How much do churches really expect their people to change? How high of a priority do churches make it that their people grow in Christ-likeness? Is the church willing to confront their people who show no sign of growth? Do we even know people well enough to be able to do so?
I also wonder how much the “you get what you measure” principal applies to this. The major things that churches measure are attendance and money, and this tends to lead churches to put more effort into increasing those things. Other common things to measure are conversions and/or baptisms. That’s fine, but one hopes that this doesn’t lead to the type of “conversions” where people just say the sinner’s prayer and never exhibit any fruit of the Spirit.
What other things might churches measure? Is it even possible to tell if people are growing in their faith? The early Methodists in their class meetings certainly thought they could. Can today’s churches tell anything about their people other than how many of them sat in an audience Sunday morning and how much money the congregation gave?
Perhaps this is why giving has become such a big deal to many churches. Maybe it’s the only indicator they have of a person’s spiritual state. I’m not suggesting that is correct by any means, but your piece leads me to that conclusion.