Should you grow your church wider or deeper?

A pastor once shared a story that many of us can relate to.

He spent months planning a massive community outreach event. They had a bouncy house, free hot dogs, a great band—the works. Hundreds of people from the neighborhood came. It felt like a huge success.

But six months later, the church was no bigger. Not a single person from that event had become a regular part of their community. The pastor was left exhausted and discouraged, wondering what went wrong.

This story cuts to the heart of a tension we all feel. We're called to reach the lost, but our best efforts often feel like spinning our wheels. This is the central assertion of the book From Lifeless to New Life: ineffective evangelism is usually a symptom of something more profound — a crisis of Christian maturity. Before we can expect our churches to grow wide, we must first ensure they are growing deep.

The Real Reason Your Outreach Isn't Working

Much of what we call "church decline" is actually a failure in discipleship. We have become experts at gathering crowds but have lost the art of making mature disciples. When our congregations are filled with people who have not been equipped to live out a vibrant, personal faith, any outreach effort is built on a shaky foundation. The chapter unpacks this idea by focusing on the critical link between spiritual maturity and the natural impulse to share one's faith.

Moving Beyond Surface-Level Christianity

Pastor, we need to look honestly at the spiritual state of our congregations. Are our people consumers of religious goods and services, or are they active participants in the Kingdom of God? It suggests that for many churches, discipleship has been reduced to attending services and gaining biblical knowledge. While these things are good, they are not the whole picture. True Christian maturity is about transformation—becoming more like Jesus in our character, our priorities, and our love for others.

When this transformation is absent, evangelism feels like a chore or a sales pitch. It's something we have to do rather than something that flows naturally from a life changed by the gospel. Chapter 1 argues that a lack of evangelistic passion is not a sign of disobedience but a symptom of spiritual malnourishment. Our people cannot give away what they do not possess. If their relationship with Christ isn't a daily source of joy and power, they will have nothing authentic to share with a skeptical world.

John 15: The Ultimate Model for Church Health

To reframe our understanding, the chapter returns to Jesus’ powerful metaphor of the vine and the branches in John 15. This isn't just a beautiful piece of poetry; it's a divine blueprint for a healthy, growing church. Jesus makes it clear: "Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

This single verse dismantles our program-driven, effort-based models of ministry.

• The Problem: We often act like fruit-producers. We exhaust ourselves trying to create growth through better strategies, slicker services, and more events.

• The Solution: Jesus calls us to be fruit-bearers. Our primary job is not to produce, but to abide. We are simply branches, and our one responsibility is to remain deeply connected to the Vine, which is Christ himself.

Fruit—including the fruit of new believers—is the natural, inevitable result of a healthy branch that is drawing life from the vine. Chapter 1 uses this metaphor to shift our focus as leaders. Our primary task isn't to organize outreach events. Our primary task is to cultivate a church culture in which every person learns to abide in Christ. When we get that right, the fruit will come. God promises it.

How to Make This Work for You

Rethinking your entire approach to evangelism and discipleship can feel overwhelming. But it starts with small, intentional shifts. Here are a few practical steps inspired by Chapter 1 that you can begin implementing this week.

• Conduct a Discipleship Audit: Review your church's primary discipleship environments (sermons, small groups, classes). Ask: "Is the main goal of this to transfer information or to facilitate transformation?" Begin tweaking your questions and content to focus more on application and intimacy with Jesus. For example, instead of asking "What did you learn?" ask "How did this passage challenge your relationship with God this week?"

• Introduce "Abiding" Language: Start using the language of John 15 from the pulpit and in leadership meetings. Talk about the church's health in terms of "abiding in the Vine." Frame spiritual disciplines not as religious duties, but as the practical ways we stay connected to our life source. This simple linguistic shift can begin to re-wire how your congregation thinks about their faith.

• Create Space for Testimony: Dedicate five minutes in every service for a church member to share a brief story of how they have seen God at work in their life that week. This does two things: it normalizes talking about God's activity, and it shifts the focus from the pastor as the sole spiritual authority to the priesthood of all believers. This practice builds a culture where sharing faith is a normal part of life.

• Model Vulnerable Abiding: As the leader, you set the tone. Share openly about your own journey of abiding. Talk about your prayer life—not just the highlights, but also the struggles. Share a specific insight God gave you during your Scripture reading. When your congregation sees you actively and honestly pursuing a deep connection with the Vine, it gives them permission and inspiration to do the same.