But I do know that a church can grow without getting souls saved. That is the grave danger the evangelical church faces today. Getting new people on the porch but not in the door. Getting people into the church but not into heaven. It is not an emphasis on soul winning, but on building a church.
Denominations are worse.
We run around in self-congratulation, show our marvelous videos about how we are growing. We attend conferences and brag to other denominational leaders how many new people are in The Wesleyan Church, telling ourselves what a good job we are doing for the Kingdom. And we are winning people to Christ. If the trend continues, we will have thousands upon thousands of Wesleyans, many of them members of our boards, who are one hour a week Christians with no change whatsoever in their lifestyle, values, and attitudes. That is the alarm that para-church leaders, some larger church leaders, people like Chuck Colson, and some denominational people are feeling.