A lot of people today place too much importance on the physical size of our churches. Some churches even participate in what we call Seeker Sensitive Service. It's true that God seeks to add more members to His church, but this is only so that He can change the inner man. The sad thing about many churches is that they are more concerned about growing the physical membership than about growing the spiritual man. This becomes dangerous when the message is compromised to suit the taste of the masses. Again, man being a physical creature trapped on a physical earth tends to think physically more than he thinks spiritually.

What is God concerned about?
³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matt 6:33

¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Matt 28:19

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matt 4:17

¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor 5:17

²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24

Nowhere in these scriptures do you see an emphasis being placed on the size of someones congregation. You do however see an emphasis being placed on the truth and sincerity of the ministry and the feeding of the Children of God with the word of God. This is their strengthening. This is spiritual health.
God seeks growth by revival. God seeks a close relationship with the real man, the spiritual one. God seeks to be such an overwhelming part of your life that you can't help but love him, yourself and others enough to change.

Who are the true people of God?
⁴⁷ Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. ⁴⁸ But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? ⁴⁹ And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! ⁵⁰ For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. Matt 12:48

²⁹ If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. 1 John 2:29

¹⁰ In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 1 John 3:10

¹ Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:1-3

We can clearly see that God consider the children of God to be people who are obedient to His word and in a constant state of improvement.
In short, God would be more pleased with a fifteen member church with ten God fearing, mature Christians than a church of two thousand with twenty. In reality, the smaller church would be the stronger one. There is a biblical principle of percentage that states that the more we are given, the more that is expected. This holds true whether it is money, knowledge, influence, and so on.

⁴⁷ And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. ⁴⁸ But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Luke 12:47-48

This principle can be plainly seen in the concept of tithes. The word tithe means a tenth or ten percent. The richer you are, the more you give. The same would be expected of a larger church when dealing with peoples souls. Church is not some social club for sinners to meet. Church is a hospital for sin sick souls. God expects it to change lives. The only criteria that we can use to see if it is the church is God's word. We must study to see if both its makeup and message are biblical. It should be loving but intolerant all at the same time. To tolerate things that God hates is not love for God. Church is suppose to sing and preach things that are pleasing to God, not man.

Some Questionable Things

Christians need to be very careful that what we are doing, teaching and even saying are truly according to God’s Word and plan. Simply put, if we are following, teaching or saying something that was not taught nor said in the original Church, why are we? Isn't scripture supposed to be our final authority about all things Christian? Listen to it.

And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. Romans 16:17

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Colossians 2:9

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21

“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” 1 Timothy 4:16

What are traditions and doctrines of men? Things that are not doctrines of God but men have saw fit to incorporate into church gatherings anyway. Not all these things are bad in themselves, just the idea that we must do them in order to be in God's will. Here are a few.

The first Church never built a “church” building (There is no scripture to support this). They understood that the believers were the church.

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Cor 3:16

To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4,5

As you can see, nearly 2,000 years since the church (ekklesia) was born, some very questionable activities have crept into the Body of Christ -- things the Apostles never taught or ordained, and the first Christians never practiced. If you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Search the scriptures for yourselves. Start beyond the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) and see.

No Seeker Sensitive Church

The early church was members only. The church was thought to be some sort or strange cultist movement that was met with horrible persecution. Only Christians came to received instruction and guidance. They, in turn, went out and converted others who then would come to the “gathering of the saints” and also be equipped. This took time. This took many discussions about why a Christians had the “hope of our salvation.” This meant contact with others so that they could observe our lives. Today's “church” converts people by inviting them to service and letting the pastor preach them to salvation.

One problem with this is that no one is really equipped to bring others to Christ but the pastor. This is not God's design. The other problem with seeker sensitive church is that it focuses so much on getting people in service it caters to their wants and desires and not God's! The name itself implies this, it is seeker sensitive not God sensitive. Why are there book stores and coffee shops in churches today? People wanted them. Many churches do polls and ask people what they would like to see in their churches and then do it. As you can expect the membership grows.... but is this a good thing? All we have to do is poll the Bible to see what God wants and do the best we can to follow it. No one will do it perfectly but shouldn't we do our best to follow it just the same? Tell me reader, if one thousand people came to a gathering and the Holy Spirit did not come is it still church? Never! Now, if two people came together and both were filled with the Holy Spirit is that church? I hope you can see that the most important factor in a church gathering is not whether a lot of people show up but if God does.

If we start focusing on the size of our congregations then we may lose focus on the condition of their souls. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better but it doesn't mean worse either. In the end, only God can judge a man's heart. The only criteria that we can use to see if church is for us, (besides listening to the Holy Spirit), is to see if its messages are sound and sometimes convicting. (It should be loving and intolerant all at the same time).

Spiritually shortsighted and carnal men walk by the evidence of what they see. They consider a church filled to the brim with members, owning acres of land, having the best choirs, seating and parking, as being the apple of God's eye. I agree that the end results are impressive but I can't help but wonder just who was Jesus talking about in Matthew 7:13,14 when He said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Man wants a crowd, a big building, and to make a big splash. But God often chooses a simpler route. Our Lord wasn't recognized for this very reason. The King that the Jews expected was a man from a far away land, with a parade of armor bearers, a golden scepter, riding on a stallion, what they got was a carpenters son from Galilee on a colt.

The million dollar question is, “Why is the church full?”

Why are the people coming?

Why does this church have thousands and the one across the street only a few?

To what lengths are we supposed to go to seek and save the lost?

Do the Ends justify the means?

Your church is located in the worst of neighborhoods and in the midst of corruption. (A perfect place to spread the gospel). As a member the outreach committee, you have the dubious task of finding the best way to get the unsaved inside of its doors.

As you ponder your course of action, you look outside and see the crack houses, liquor stores, and prostitution. Loud music echos throughout the neighborhood with lyrics filled with profanity.

“They need songs about Jesus,” you mutter. You decide to throw a gospel concert. You put it on the church billboard and pass out fliers. When the day arrives, only a few church members come.

“What they really need is the word.” Next, you decide to host a revival. A speaker is chosen and again you advertise with the billboard and fliers. The results are the same.

Discouraged, you decide to think outside of the box. You realize that if you cater to the interest of the neighborhood, that they would come. You throw one more event. First, you eliminate the singing and gospel message. Then you canvas the neighborhood for talented prostitutes. Last but not least, you visit the local crack house. On the day of the event, the church is packed. There is no room for parking and standing room only. Loud music can be heard as well as whistling and applause. You've done it. You've accomplished your goal of packing the church with sinners.

But how? How was this accomplished?

The church billboard reads. “Saturday @ 9:00 pm. Church Stripper Night. $2.00 Beer. Raffle held at midnight. First prize -10 ounces of CRACK.”

Clearly, the ends don't justify the means. If we open our churches to the desires of the unredeemed and close them to the desires of God, we have welcomed them in and ushered God out. The major purpose of church is not to fill it with sinners but to change them through Christ Jesus. We are suppose to imitate Christ, not the world. If the "seeker" accepts or rejects Jesus, let's just make sure that He was offered in the truest possible light.

The truest possible light is not a show orchestrated by a single man, in a financed building, to be played out before a passive audience. Study for yourselves and if what you see is not what lines up to what our church founders did and taught, why are we doing them? There are those who will refuse to let go of the traditions of men because that's what they are used to. This is what they have always been taught and no matter what they read in scripture or what I write, they will refuse to even consider that these things are not biblical. This is just the reality of life. There is one last thing that every reader should be aware of:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:21-23

Our Lord had something else to say about worship. Again it must be asked, just who is He talking to. Notice here that the people in question tell Jesus that they prophesied, exorcised demons, and did many miracles in your (His) name! It didn't say in the name of Buddha, Allah, or Confucius. In the name of Jesus means that these people thought themselves to be Christians. They thought themselves to be doing God's work but God saw their actions otherwise. He plainly called them evildoers.

Many people are confused by this because man can't get beyond the fact that through these ministries many people are feed and preached to. God can't get beyond the fact that it was done by ignoring His example.

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22