Why I Teach

Today I begin teaching the "Church Planting & Growth" class at Gordon Conwell Seminary.  I already have one job, so why, I asked myself at midnight last night while preparing, did I take this gig?  VERY briefly:

1. Jesus' Great Commission is a charge to plant churches.  When he says to 'make disciples...baptize...teach' the disciples understand that means to make disciples in groups called 'churches.' The entire book of Acts is evidence the original disciples, and then their disciples, understood Jesus telling them to plant churches.

2. After Jesus’ ascension to heaven, one of the key people through whom He built His Church in the first century was the Apostle Paul. The focus of Paul’s ministry was not merely on preaching the gospel to as many people as possible but on planting churches in every nation. In Acts 14:21-23 we read, “They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples … [and then] … Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church.”  Making disciples = starting churches for Paul.

3. The church is frequently called the 'Bride of Christ' in the New Testament.  Brides are radiant with beauty, reflecting their experience, identity, and joy from their beloved.  More radiant brides reflecting more love from the Divine Groom is better in this sometimes-loveless world.

4. America Has More People but Less Churches.  Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors forever; yet only 1,100 to 1,500 new churches are started.  Even though America has more people, it has fewer churches per capita than at any time in her history. Although the number of churches in America has increased by 50 percent in the last century, the population has increased 300 percent. There are now nearly 60 percent fewer churches per 10,000 persons than in 1920.- Bill Easum
     

Number of Churches per Americans

1920 27 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
1950 17 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
1996 11 churches existed for every 10,00 Americans.

5. In 1820, there was one Christian church for every 875 U.S. residents. But from 1860-1906, U.S. Protestant churches planted one new church for increase of 350 in the population, bringing the ratio by the start of WWI to just 1 church for every 430 persons. In 1906 over a third of all the congregations in the country were less than 25 years old.

 ^{As a result, the percentage of the U.S. population involved in the life of the church rose steadily. For example, in 1776, 17% of the U.S. population was 'religious adherents', but that rose to 53% by 1916.}

6. Church attendance and adherence overall in the United States is in decline and decreasing. This cannot be reversed in any other way than in the way it originally had been so remarkably increasing. We must plant churches at such a rate that the number of churches per 1,000 population begins to grow again, rather than decline, as it has since WWI.

These reasons, and more, are why church multiplication matters to me, to Lake Forest, to our denomination, to theological educators, to every Christian who loves the world like God does and wants to see people know and follow Jesus.  I'm thankful I get to play a part, and pray that perhaps a future Billy Graham or Rick Warren-type may be in this class.

Comments

[Cheryl Snellgrove]

You are a very gifted teacher and GCTS is lucky to have you! Will you students call you Dr. Moses? Dr. Mike? I prefer "professor" because it sounds Harry Potter-ish.

Have fun professor!

[Mike Moses]

thanks Cheryl. Its gonna be fun. As students began to email me, I found that I enjoyed 'Dr. Moses' a little bit. But i can only stick with that a little while. I suspect it will be 'Mike' pretty quickly.
what did you call the profs in all your GCTS classes - whats the norm? I actually don't know