Stealing Sheep: The Hidden Problems of Transfer Growth

Chadwick has written a courageous and shocking book detailing the truth--most famous "growing" churches in America are merely engaging in a popularity contest with other area churches. They are having negligible impact on the non Christian communities around them. My team has confirmed all that Chadwick claims and much more besides! During the past 12 years we have done on the ground research proving that famous megachurches in America are made up almost entirely of transfer. In fact, Chadwick's estimates are way too generous, according to our research. We have found that with only three exceptions, the well-known big churches we have studied have had less than 10% of their people state that they met Christ at that church. Many have less than 5%. The intriguing point Chadwick makes is that the church doesn't want to discuss these facts, and doesn't want to face them. They would rather sweep these facts under the carpet and continue competing for believers from other churches. I am forced to agree. Why do churches that measure every aspect of their growth consistently have no information on the composition of their membership in terms of transfers/converts? It's hard to imagine a good reason why churches would fail to gather this crucial statistic. -Dennis McCallum, author Organic Disciplemaking: How to promote Christian leadership development through personal relationships, biblical discipleship, mentoring, and Christian community

From my experience, William Chadwick hits the nail on the head-- church growth is not a numbers game where the largest congregation is necessarily the best. Church growth is helping unbelievers become believers in Christ. Sadly, the church growth movement has devalued the importance of the church to the the point that many individuals think that the ONLY measure of a successful church is ever increasing numbers of people, meaning that only megachurches would fit the bill as successful. Mr. Chadwick very correctly observes that the result is that Christians move from Church A to Church B, and then on to Church C, etc. In the process, various churches can say they've had an "increase" in attendance. But, in the movement, was one new soul added to the Kingdom of God? Instead of Kingdom growth, it becomes "all about me" as individuals move on to various churches. Importantly, Mr. Chadwick does recognize there can be times to change a church-- but more when there is doctrinal error. A key point that his important book highlights is the power of the PR machine available to the large churches. This is evident in many of the well-known Christian programs on radio or TV. While not wanting to criticize them, why are they considered so much better than say the local pastor who labors long hours, and also is able to deliver a credible sermon? The simple, but sad, answer is: money. Sadly, our values have merged with the secular society and now money tends to rule who is considered the "pastor or ministry of note", not the character of the ministry or pastor. The importance and value of the local church once again needs to be affirmed. Christians once again need to recognize that important ministry can occur when 2, 3, or more are gathered, not the hundreds or thousands. I'm personally familiar with a small church of Eastern European immigrants that is involved in an important ministry outreach. It may not be as flashy as the huge church down the street, but it is also part of Christ's work. All of this is not to say that large churches don't have a place and do important work, they do-- but the world and ministry doesn't solely revolve around them, either. Almighty God is able to work through both groups. In closing, it is interesting to note that through much of the scriptures many of the movements of note began not with large groups, but when an individual or small numbers of individuals became obedient to the promptings of God. Examples abound-- Abraham, Joseph, Moses, the prophets, and in different apostles in the New Testament. Let us go forth obediently, listening to the voice of God-- whether from small or larger church bodies.

I can't emphasize enough how important this book is. Here is an honest Christian pastor who was and is ready to examine all he has been led to believe in as God's truth in light of Scritpure. Once led to believe that all growth is God-pleasing growth, Pastor William Chadwick writes of how he discovered to his shock and surprise that Church Growth to date has failed in its goal: kingdom growth.It has succeeded in what Chadwick calls the sinful growth "Transfer Growth," or stealing sheep, rearranging the flock, etc. He details his discovery of large churches growing at the expense of other churches, shamelessly, unlovingly. Guilty here is the movements principles being drawn not from the mind of Christ, but from the mind of the business world and other enemies of Christ.What is truly remarkable about this is the fact the Chadwick still identifies himself as church growth believer. He sees a future and place for it still. Although I disagree with the author on this, the church is indebted to this work and his honesty, and what one could only pray and trust that his mind will continue to be open to the Lord's leading.This is must read for all interested in growing Christ's Church!

This book has a sobering and timely message: most churches have stopped growing. Sure, many are getting bigger, but that is only because others are getting smaller. Church growth, in other words, is largely that of transfer growth (people leaving one church to join another), with very little due to conversion growth (people being saved and brought into a local fellowship).This book examines the issue of transfer growth, and the larger phenomenon of the church growth movement. The author argues that transfer growth is wrong and it should be discontinued. In a nutshell, transfer growth gives a false view of the state of the church; it devalues evangelism; it promotes individualism instead of body life; and it detracts from the kingdom of God, exalting instead individual ministries.The sad fact is, transfer growth adds nothing to the Kingdom of God: it simply reshuffles the deck. The church growth leaders of the 1980s closely examined the data and came to just that conclusion: there was no appreciable growth in the American evangelical population during this period. And the author quotes Australian research to show similar findings here as wellIndeed, the whole issue of church growth needs to be questioned. Too many pastors have fell to the intoxicating spell of numbers - numerical growth is seen as evidence of God's blessing. But, if this growth is simple the recycling of existing Christians, one has to question its validity. The command to reach the lost has degenerated into the desire simply to be bigger. But bigger is not necessarily better, and raiding other churches to become bigger is an unethical means of growth.Of course this emphasis on numbers and the marketing techniques to obtain such numbers is a product of the secular culture around us. Says Chadwick, "The McChurch has replaced the traditional home church and its relational values. Fast-food Christians pull up to ecclesiastical drive-through windows, order their McGroups, consume the experience and then drive off, discarding relationships like burger wrappers on the highway of life. Savvy church growth pastors quickly learned that significant growth can occur if a church learns how to market its burgers to capture the appetite of this roving crowd."The truth is, church growth by conversion is a long and difficult task, while sheep stealing is quick and easy. In an age that values instant results, this is a plus. But for a church that has been told to make disciples, not steal sheep, this is a minus. Pastors must resist the temptation to take the easy path.Also problematic is the fact that people often leave churches for the wrong reasons: to avoid conflict and its resolution; because of personality conflicts; impatience with worship styles; etc. Christians have become shoppers - religious consumers who instead of seeking to plug into a body of believers and stick with it, making it a better place, simply flit from one church to another, much like we flip through television channels wi