SCHALLER ON COOPERATION
One of America 's outstanding church diagnosticians, Lyle E.
Schaller, has come to similar conclusions concerning
hyper-cooperativism and church growth. He says, While this runs
completely counter to the hopes and expectations of the advocates
of church unity and intercongregational cooperation, the evidence
is increasingly persuasive. Church growth and cooperative
ministries are not compatible!
Schaller's five reasons concerning hyper-cooperativism and lack of
church growth bear examination and commentary as a summary to this
chapter. To the degree they are understood, hyper-cooperativism can
be avoided.
A cooperative ministry may blur the distinctive identity of each
participating congregation. This was seen in the case of the
military chaplaincy. Churches that have a well-understood
philosophy of ministry have growth advantages over churches that
continually have to ask themselves, Why are we here, anyway? What
is our specific contribution to the kingdom of God ? Fuzzy answers
to these questions will lessen growth potential.
People unite with a specific worshipping congregation, not with a
cooperative ministry. There are some exceptions to this, as
Schaller admits, but it is generally true. This is a chief reason
that it is not conducive to eventual church membership if the
person's decision for Christ is made in a neutral public place such
as a stadium, particularly in the midst of a week or two of
high-energy meetings. The new Christian may attend several crusade
rallies that focus on their spotlights and crowds and 300-voice
choirs and celebrities. It is a tough act for any local church to
follow, and when reality sets in, disappointment often sets
in.
People with a strong interest in evangelism and church growth
rarely are interested in interchurch cooperation and vice versa.
The exception to this is the parachurch evangelistic associations,
which have strong interests in evangelism and by their very natures
depend on interchurch cooperation for exercising their ministries.
That is certainly true of many dynamic, growing local churches.
Participating in cooperative evangelism is frequently determined by
a different kind of motivation. These churches may not think they
need the citywide effort for church growth and vitality, but at the
same time they are aware of the effort's high visibility in the
community and thereby understand that if they choose not to
participate, their decisions would likely be interpreted as
unsupportive of Christian unity. This is not the public image they
desire, so they frequently go along with the movement, although
somewhat reluctantly.
Many cooperative ministries come into existence as the result of
pressures of dwindling resources. Church mergers, in particular,
are often a clear sign of approaching decline, if not death. On the
other hand, church splits, whether unintentional or planned, are
often signs of vitality and growth. Cell division, not cell fusion,
produces healthy, growing bodies.
Interchurch cooperation does use the time and energy of ministers
and laity in creating and maintaining a new institution, and thus
that time is not available for membership outreach. The broader
the cooperation, the more complex the social relationships
necessary to hold it together. Add to this the seemingly
incompatible doctrines and policies, and the result is an
association that is extremely demanding of available energy.
In a more recent work, Lyle Schaller applies these principles
directly to the reasons certain churches grow and others do not. He
says, It is only a minor exaggeration to suggest that [the
compulsion for promoting interchurch cooperation] is one of the
most influential differences between large and numerically growing
congregations and most small churches. The former assume that
competition is the norm. The latter believe that cooperation should
be the norm. That difference in perspective is one more reason why
large congregations are large and small churches are small!
IS THERE ANY HOPE?
Because both evangelism that helps churches grow and interchurch
cooperation are commendable activities, it seems reasonable to
assume that there must some way to join the two. Putting past
disappointments to one side, it does appear now that some models
for programs of cooperative evangelism, that in fact do result in
measurable church growth, are emerging on the horizon.
Edgardo Silvoso, an Argentine evangelist, is one of the foremost
leaders in developing strategies for evangelizing cities that
combine the two. Silvoso's pilot project, called the Rosario
Plan, was designed and executed in Rosario , Argentina , in 1975
and 1976. More than half of the Protestant churches in the city
joined the movement, so it was a good example of interchurch
cooperation. The difference was that as early as 15 months before
the public evangelistic eventwhich featured Silovoso's
brother-in-law, Luis Palauteams of church growth experts,
including Vergil Gerber, Juan Carlos Miranda, Edward Murphy and
Silvoso, worked with the cooperating churches. They helped each
church develop plans and goals for growth in its own congregation,
as well as in new churches they would plant.
Approximately 40 churches decided to cooperate. By the time Palau
arrives, 45 new churches had been established. A strong growth
process had been initiated, and new converts were already being
made at rates not seen in Rosario for years. The evangelistic event
then was introduced into the growth process at the most appropriate
time. The evangelist was coming, not to begin the harvest, but
rather to accelerate a harvest already begun. The barns were by
then ready for the increased harvest, so to speak.
In the traditional models of citywide cooperative evangelism,
between 3 percent and 16 percent of those who make first-time
decisions for Christ become responsible members of the local
churches. In Rosario , however, of the decisions registered during
Palau 's meetings, an amazing 57 percent were incorporated as
members of churches. The follow-up gap had been considerably
reduced.
THE PROCESS AND THE EVENT
As I see it, the secret of the success of the Rosario Plan,
compared to the more traditional models of communitywide efforts in
other cities, is skillfully coordinating the evangelistic event by
using a growth process in the cooperating churches. When churches
cooperating with citywide crusades are not in a healthy growth
pattern themselves, the big meetings or the media blitz will not
usually stimulate real growth. When the church is already growing,
however, and when it is in the habit of folding in new converts
before the start of the large, public evangelistic event, the event
can then help the churches to grow.
The following are two examples:
In 1969 when Billy Graham conducted his crusades in Anaheim ,
California , many Orange County churches reported a pleasant,
stimulating experience, but little resultant growth. On the other
hand, The Crystal Cathedral, which already had been growing at a
10-year rate of more than 500 percent, received hundreds of new
members. The church had been tuned up for the crusade by previous
growth momentum. It knew well how to take care of new converts. It
was ready for the harvest.
The national follow-up rate for Here's Life America was 3 percent.
Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena , California ,
however, which had previously developed a sophisticated pattern of
folding new converts by Pastor Kent Tucker, folded 30 of 74
decisions, a rate of 42 percent. The evangelistic event helped both
The Crystal Cathedral and Lake Avenue because it fit properly into
an already established growth pattern.
My view is that a long-range component of church growth planning
and consultation should be provided as part and parcel of a great
high-visibility evangelistic event sponsored by some
interdenominational association. This should start as much as one
or two years before the event. The timing of the event itself needs
to remain flexible until all cooperating churches (or a
predetermined percentage of them) have corrected the problems
causing their nongrowth or slow growth and are reasonably sure that
by the time of the event they will be growing and absorbing new
converts. When the cooperating churches are growing at an estimable
rate, bring on the evangelist or the media blitz or whatever method
may be appropriate. The follow-up gap will narrow dramatically
because the barns will be ready for the harvest.
This kind of thing can be done well through interchurch
cooperation. Because the primary growth goals are not focused on
the stadium, but on the local church, the local churches remain
central to the program. Many local churches together can combine
their resources to pay for areawide media, the professional
evangelist and the church growth consultation services, which most
churches by themselves might not be able to afford.
THAT NONE SHOULD PERISH
Edgardo Silovoso contracted a life-threatening disease soon after
the Rosario Plan had ended and he was forced to curtail his
ministry for the better part of a decade. The Lord healed him
miraculously, though, and he is once again strategizing citywide
evangelism, this time using the added dimensions of power healing,
prayer and spiritual warfare. Silvoso's book That None Should
Perish (Regal Books) is in my opinion the state-of-the-art
exposition of how to combine high levels of evangelism and
Christian unity in reaching a city for Christ.
If I were to write a prescription for a cure to
hyper-cooperativism, I would require reading That None Should
Perish , but in tandem with another of the finest recent books I
have seen, Primary Purpose (Creation House) by Pastor Ted Haggard
of New Life Church in Colorado Springs . Silvoso is the master
strategist, and Haggard is the practical, down-to-earth local
church pastor, who, out on the front lines of his own city has seen
pastors come together across theological lines for the purpose of
evangelizing his city. Haggard's advocacy of Christian unity is not
unity as an end in itself, but unity aimed at the goal, which he
uses as the subtitle of his book: Making It Hard for People to Go
to Hell from Your City!
Notes
This research was reported in Win C. Arn, " A Church Growth Look at
Here's Life America," Church Growth: America (January-February
1977); 4ff.; and C. Peter Wagner, "Who Found It?" Eternity
(September 1977); 13-19.
Lyle E. Schaller, "Reflections on Coperative Ministries," The
Clergy Journal (September 1977); 21.
Lyle E. Schaller, The Small Membership Church (Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 1994), p62.