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The Big Three

   Within the life of any church, there are three broad umbrella areas—what the church is about—out of which a mandate must be drawn.

   First, the church is about the salvation of the lost. Second, it's about the maturing of the saved. And third, it's about the spiritual fellowship of the saints—the believers. All evaluations of a church's mission and activities need to proceed from these three fundamentals.

   Let's say, for example, that a church decides its mandate is evangelism. Then going out and reaching the unsaved is what they are about. They have to ask themselves, "What are we going to do to win the lost? What is our specific program? How best can we appeal to the nonbeliever?"

   According to church consultant Lyie Schaller, as much as 85 percent of "church growth" is actually transfer growth. If the church whose mandate is to reach the lost is in reality only attracting other Christians, then that church is merely poaching other churches. It isn't evangelizing. Such churches have to come back to their mandate.

   It's the same with maturing the saved. First, a church has to define a "mature Christian." Then it has to determine what activities will accomplish this end. A leader must be able to give honest answers to these questions:

   Are people more mature today than they were last year? How have they grown? What sermon series were done? What Sunday school programs? What are the evidences of maturity?

Regarding spiritual fellowship, the same kind of honesty and objectivity applies. I see a lot of activities in the church, but many are not always for spiritual fellowship; they're for social fellowship. Even Bible studies and small groups may not bring about that kind of spiritual growth and connecting. Are people learning accountability? Is there a sense of strength, of belonging? Are Christians striving for Christlikeness?

   It's important to distinguish a program from a mandate. Programs come and go, and they should. Leaders should always be looking at programs in light of whether they serve the mandate. If they don't, they should be cut.