Published on: 10/02/2026
For 2026, in this Blog, we will be thinking a bit more generally about the numerical growth of the church, of which New Congregations are an important but specific part. This particular post is concerned with motivations for church growth and the values that go along with it.
There are, in fact, a huge number of possible motivations for us to see the church grow numerically. We might start locally and think about sustaining the future of the parish church, or we might think about new people joining so that the congregation grows younger or more diverse. We might be motivated by the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus sends us to make disciples and we might see growth as an end in itself or growth to give us the strength to bring about social justice. These may all be good motivations and they may well already be helping us to grow the church.
Sometimes our motivations are not always conscious, they remain unexamined even though they are behind our actions and priorities. From time to time its worth taking our time to consider what is motivating our priorities and decision making in church life and then comparing those motivations with what we might see theologically or biblically.
There are also associated values that underlie or derive from our motivations, conscious or subconscious and these might also be considered and examined from time to time. Again, it is possible to list a large number of these values that we might associate with mission and ministry, love, justice, peace, generosity and so on. All of which are also commendable and right.
There are however a linked pair of a value and a motivation that derive from a particular theological idea and deserve our consideration. The theological idea in question is that of the Missio Dei. This idea is that the mission in which the church is engaged is God’s mission. Therefore, God is always the initiator and director of the mission and from this we can draw two conclusions. Firstly, that the content and scope of the mission are divinely ordained, and secondly, that the responsibility for its ultimate outcome belongs to God and not us.
In his famous work, Natural Church Development, Christian Schwarz argues that the normal trajectory of the church is one of numerical growth. He argues this from the Biblical record and particularly the parables of Jesus and the story of the early church in Acts. He also supports this thesis with research involving 1500 churches on 5 continents. From this and from many other studies and biblical and theological writings, we can see the Missio Dei in action, the numerical growth of the church.
The motivation that derives from this understanding of Missio Dei, is to know that we have the amazing privilege of being God’s church and being invited to partner with God in his mission. The value is that we need to seek after God for what he is already doing and then wholeheartedly join in.
This week’s Blog post was written by John Marsh, Mission Development Adviser