Pound for Pound and Growth

So if a church decides that a certain weight class (size) is optimum for them does that mean that they don't evangelize? No! I believe that evangelism is part of what a church is all about and that will never change. So maybe this is how it works.

A boxer must train hard to be in his best condition. For many that means shedding the fat. In the case of a church it must work hard to constantly build muscle and shed fat. Now the metaphor breaks down here in that to a boxer fat is a bad thing. But in the sense I want to use it fat is something that is very useful but not really needed by the body. It must be sent out to find its place of ministry.

Many rural churches already know about this. The have experienced a large number of people who have been nurtured in their churches and then moved on to greater oportunity. That is why it is often difficutl to determine the health of these churches. They may have maintained the same attendance for the last 100 years but during that time they may have nurtured and sent out thousands.

Developing this metaphor is in process for me right now so it could easily lead to wrong conclusions. I guess the key things from this post is that churches must work hard at evangelism even if they have targeted a certain size. In fact they possible have to work harder because of the added demand of sending people out.