Does Attracting A Crowd Make Discipleship Harder?

Going along with the crowd has never been the Jesus way. Standing apart from the crowd? Now that sounds like Jesus.

Drawing a crowd to church may not be the best way to start people on a path to discipleship.

In fact, I’m beginning to think that it may hurt our discipleship efforts more than help them.

For at least a generation now, the predominant thinking in most of the pastoral training I’ve received has gone like this:

• Do whatever is needed to attract a crowd
• Use the opportunity to preach the gospel in a compelling way
• Know that a significant percentage of the crowd won’t come back, but...
• If the crowd is big enough, the small percent who stay will be enough to grow your church
• Those who stay can be discipled

I used to believe that method was the best way to build a strong church. I’m finding it harder to believe with every passing day.

Drawing a crowd may not just be unhelpful in discipleship, but possibly counter-productive to it.

When a person’s first encounter with the gospel (and their second, and their one-hundredth) is as a member of a crowd, they can get a twisted perception of what discipleship means. They start to think that Christianity is about being a passive observer, consumer and judge of religious content.

That perception, once established, is almost impossible to dislodge. Read More