My modest proposal is this: instead of emphasizing church growth, emphasize church depth. I feel that it is better to have a small core of dedicated disciples than a nation full of nominal, half-hearted, semi-Christians. That was the curse of the Roman emperor Constantine: he ended the persecution and made Christianity the thing to do.

I wonder if I may be permitted to make a modest proposal? No, my “modest proposal” has nothing to do with eating Irish babies, a la Jonathan Swift. For years now, I’ve been reading about the consistent decline of Christianity in terms of numbers in the churches across the Western world. American Christianity has hitherto been stronger than in Europe, because church in America is not the government monopoly that it is in Europe, and by now everyone knows how inefficient government monopolies are.

But now the statistics are alarming in America, too. For years, evangelicals took comfort in seeing that the more liberal/progressive “mainline” churches were experiencing decline, while the conservative/traditional/evangelicals continued to post robust growth.

More recently, however, we’ve seen such conservative denominations as the Southern Baptist Convention and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) either sitting still in the water or else showing small declines. In its early years, the PCA exalted in the fact that it was the fastest growing denomination in the country; apparently no one noticed that it was all transfer growth, and once the transfers from the PCUSA were completed, the growth stopped. I suspect the EPC, now the destination of choice of so many that are disenchanted with the PCUSA, will shortly experience the same thing.

Along comes a phenomenon called the “seeker-friendly” or “seeker-sensitive” church movement. The idea is to attract those who’ve said “No thank you” to church by transforming worship services into entertainment events: in-house rock bands, drama and comedy teams, interpretive dancers, gift shops, coffee bars (in which a customer may complain there’s not enough foam in his low-fat latte), etc. Churches are now offering Christian cruises featuring Christian comedians.

I once attended a Christian singles’ Christmas party that was a gala dress-up affair including ice sculpture. The singles’ pastor later advertised a singles retreat in which we were promised “You’ll live in the lap of luxury.” Is this how we learn to follow the One who said, “Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head”?

Shortly after getting married, I was sitting in my wife’s home church and an evangelist was speaking. He told us that he got invitations to speak at seeker-sensitive churches, but that he was told beforehand not to mention things like sin, judgment, or hell; it might offend the seekers. When it gets to the point that you must delete key components of the gospel, can you really call them seekers? What exactly are they seeking?

Now, ask yourself, how many seeker-friendly churches can you find in the Book of Acts? Oh yes, that’s right—in those days they had to rely on the Holy Spirit. Where in the world is the church growing today? In places where being a disciple of Jesus is dangerous, where there is potentially a heavy price to be paid – places like the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, the Middle East, and North Africa, places that duplicate Book of Acts-like conditions.

I teach church history for a living. The recurring theme throughout history is that Christianity is its truest, its purest, whenever it’s a persecuted minority. Whenever a society makes Christianity its default setting, you don’t get the New Jerusalem, you get the salt that has lost its saltiness.

So my modest proposal is this: instead of emphasizing church growth, emphasize church depth. I feel that it is better to have a small core of dedicated disciples than a nation full of nominal, half-hearted, semi-Christians. That was the curse of the Roman emperor Constantine: he ended the persecution and made Christianity the thing to do.

Perhaps denominations such as the PCA and EPC should think in terms of cultivating intimate house churches that are not intended to become mega-churches with parking lots the size of Delaware. Maybe they could drop the all-American ideal that bigger is always better. How big were the churches we read about in the New Testament?

Preachers are always boasting that their church is a restoration of New Testament Christianity, but would they be willing to pastor a Corinthian or Smyrna – sized congregation? Think of it – No building fund, no endless list of committees, no plethora of ministries to be run simultaneously, just fervent worship among familiar fellow saints that an unconverted friend could be invited to. And then be willing to divide when it exceeds house church size. Could this be the future of Western Christianity?

I am aware that mega-churches frequently offer small group neighborhood weeknight gatherings, and I myself have participated in them and received blessings. But I contend that mega-churches of the “seeker – friendly” variety, simply by being themselves, inculcate values that are in contrast to “mere Christianity,” which teaches it’s not about me, I should get over myself.

Larry Brown is a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a member of Central South Presbytery, and serves as Professor of church history, world history, hermeneutics and missions at the African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi.

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