I love to go on a journey, especially when I hop on my motorcycle and have nothing but open road in front of me. The destination is not the most important; I ride my bike because of the journey. I believe this to be true of most bikers; this is also true of postmodern thinking.
Neil Cole writes: "In modernist thinking, the finished product itself was the reason for putting in the work creating it. Today this is changing. The creative process itself is now as important as the product or destination.... I believe our churches will be much healthier once we are no longer concerned only with decisions to accept Christ but rather with the process of becoming like Him." (Church 3.0, p. 41)
More and more churches are discovering that increased membership or a growing number of converts and/or baptisms is not necessarily a sign of a healthy church. Now, don't get me wrong. I am all about numbers. We need to be growing numerically. The early church counted the thousands who came to faith immediately after Pentecost. These increased numbers were signs that the kingdom harvest was coming in. But as you read the epistles you soon discover that health was not just measured by the number of people who show up on Sunday morning or have their names added to church membership roles. Church health was measured in the way people and churches began to reflect Christ. The Christian life was about being "built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12-13) Numbers of converts were not only increasing (Acts 6:1), but as Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica: "We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing." (2 Thessalonians 1:3)
So what is the journey of your church like? What about your own faith journey? And what are you doing as a church to help people become more like Jesus?
The bottom line is not as important as the journey to the finish line. Focus on the journey and know the destination is secure!