Oh, but it is! That is right – the membership of the church of the Christ is increasing in a number of areas of the world, and thank God for it! I personally know of a number of countries in the world where people are obeying the gospel, and as a result new names are being added to the Lamb’s book of life. New congregations are being established, new converts are being trained, and the work in those places is either already booming or appears to be on the verge of really taking off. They are experiencing net growth in numbers, as well as spiritual growth within. It is also the case that some faithful churches in the States are also enjoying true, scriptural numerical growth.

Yet, the undeniable truth remains that great numbers of local churches are not growing in number. Some have experienced an increase in attendance, not due to new converts or restoration of erring saints, but because members of the church have moved into their area or "transferred" from nearby congregations. In this article, we are focusing our attention on why so many congregations are not growing in number by means of people obeying the gospel. We do not pretend to list every possible aspect of every answer to this inquiry. We do hope, however, that what we do express will at least be thought provoking, and perhaps even action stimulating.

When it comes to a particular congregation’s lack of numerical growth, there are Outside Factors to consider. These would be matters that are out of the control of Christians. In some parts of the world, government law restricts the activities in which brethren can engage and the approaches they can use to spread the gospel. This certainly hinders their efforts and potential growth. In the States, in a number of rural areas, local churches that were once thriving are now "barely keeping the doors open." For some of them, the reality is that their young folks have grown up and moved away for schooling or job opportunities and have never returned. This exodus has taken a serious toil on the church in a number of areas. With great numbers of people in those areas, not just Christians, "moving out," the population decreases and grows older, as in folks-who- are-set-in-their-ways older.

Another matter beyond our control is the change in the general religious and moral climate in our society. The old E.F. Hutto punch-line was, "When E.F. Hutto talks, people listen." Decades ago, when you told people what the Bible says, that meant something to them because they respected the Creator. Now, however, the falsehoods known as humanism and evolution are widely propagated, resulting in less and less people believing in God, believing in the Bible as His inspired word, and really searching for the truth. There are exceptions, of course, but there is no denying that in many locations it is more difficult to arrange Bible studies with truth-seeking people. Wayside soil abounds – so many hearts are cold to the gospel, and we cannot force them to change.

There may be a combination of outside factors that the devil is using to prevent people from believing and being saved (Luke 8:12). We should pray for open doors (Colossians 4:3) and "that the word of the Lord may have free course" (2 Thessalonians 3:1), but then we must go to work sowing the seed, not whining about the difficulties that are out of our control. It may very well be the case that in some places brethren are zealously teaching the gospel, but the time has just not yet come for the harvest to come in (Isaiah 55:11). It may be just around the corner in the weeks or months ahead.

Now it is time to turn our attention to Internal Factors and analyze what, if anything, is there on our part that we are doing (or not doing) that might be contributing to minimal or zero numerical growth. We all sincerely desire to see people being saved and added to the church (Acts 2:47). What internal factors do we have to face and possibly work to improve or remedy?

Some have apparently developed a mentality of just hanging on. They for sure do not want to see their numbers decline, and if folks want to come into their facilities to learn the Scriptures, that is fine, but their zeal to reach out to others has long vanished and they just want to be able to come together and worship God in peace and calm. Do you ever recall reading in the Bible about anything akin to a let’s-just-hang-on mentality?

Others take comfort in the fact that they are small, because, as many say, "I like a small congregation." There is nothing degrading about being a part of a numerically small church. Some of God’s strongest local churches have few members, and we ought to thank Him for every one of them! Furthermore, from a human standpoint, we realize that there are some "plusses" that come from having a small number – things like being able to get to know everyone better, having a feeling that we are needed, and being able to use our talents. But, please, brethren, though we may feel comfortable in a small-congregation atmosphere, we must never develop the idea that we want to stay small! We need to set our goals higher – "And so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily" (Acts 16:5).

An element that cannot be overlooked or disregarded is the plain truth that, let’s just tell it like it is, we do not have enough members making a diligent effort to teach lost people. A lot of people zealously sowing the seed is no guarantee that there will be a huge harvest, but it just stands to reason, does it not, that if we want there to be any kind of harvest at all that we have got to be sowing the seed?! God’s gospel is His power to save (Romans 1:16), but folks cannot believe and obey it until they hear/learn it! There may be a number of explanations, but the bottom line is this: we are not doing enough private teaching. We need to get into the trenches, roll up our sleeps, and like Philip did, open our mouths and teach! (Acts 8:35).

Do most members of the church have a genuine desire to see others learn and obey the gospel? I am confident that they do. But, and this is not a knock on them, many Christians feel unprepared to teach. Why? They lack confidence and perhaps lack an organized method of approaching and teaching a lost soul. Church leaders need to understand that the soldiers in the Lord’s army need to be trained. Church leaders need to make arrangements for the troops to be given frequent opportunities to learn and practice personal evangelism. If elders observe that, in general, the troops are not really doing much teaching, then they need to make immediate plans to train those non-teaching troops to be teachers. There is no greater work needed in the Kingdom today! And, it goes without saying, there are a whole lot of folks watching how much, or how little, the church leaders themselves are teaching the lost.

There seem to be instances where a local church and its leaders are so devoted to contending for the faith and keeping out error, that they give so much of their attention to these matters that they have nothing left in their tank to give to evangelism. The apostle Paul was dedicated to defending the gospel (Philippians 1:7), but he still had energy and time to reach out to lost people with the gospel. Evangelism and contending for the faith are not optional – both are required, and doing one well does not mean we can slack off in the other area.

Some have convinced themselves that, as much as they would really like to, they just do not have the time to give to teaching the lost. We do, indeed, live in a fast-paced, busy time. We all seem to be in a hurry-up mode. We plan more and more activities, buy more and more things, work more and more hours to pay for those extra things, and, whew, when we finally get home we are totally wiped out and just feel like locking the doors and having a few minutes of peace and quiet. Arrange and conduct a Bible study with a lost, hell-bound soul? Who has time for that? We just want to catch our breath. Note it: there is not a thing wrong with being busy. But, when our state of affairs do not allow us to make any effort to talk to lost people about the gospel, well, it is time to do some revamping of the old schedule. If we care about lost souls, we will do so; if we don’t really care about lost people, we will just continue the same old, same old.

Nehemiah and his fellow Jews rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15). They quickly got it to the halfway point because "the people had a mind to work" (Nehemiah 4:6). Do you and I have a burning desire to help lost people become saved people? The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37). Oh, how we need workers/teachers today to help bring in the harvest!

Some congregations are doctrinally "off," so I am not one whit interested in learning about how they suck in big numbers with their compromises. But, we also must not develop the mentality that says if congregation X is enjoying numerical growth, then something suspicious has to be going on over there and their soundness is questionable.

Our task is to sow the seed. God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). If we will give our greatest effort to teach the gospel, then according to God’s will the numbers will take care of themselves. Here is a final plea: the salvation of souls must become our top priority.

-- Roger D. Campbell