Secretly wanting to be a mega church.

The funniest moment by far was when Garrett Oliver, the Brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery, gave his speech immediately following a speaker from Google.

In the Google presentation, we were told by one of their key executives that they currently have something like “35 offices in 29 countries.” It was not a statement of arrogance, just a sentence used to support the notion that they had grown as a company.

The very first thing Garrett said when he spoke after the Google presenter was simple:

“I have one office, in one country, but I make beer. So I win.”

The crowd erupted in laughter and clapping. Garrett would never be the size of Google. He would never have that kind of growth, but he didn’t care. He was doing what he loved, what he was made to do and that mattered more than being big. Or in our case, being “mega.”

The more I think about that moment, the more I feel like it’s one that pastors across the world need to hear about. Garrett wasn’t just being funny, he was speaking some deep truth to the conflict between doing what you love and being really successful.

Pastors and churches struggle with this sometimes. I know there are thousands of churches that are content to remain intimate and small, happy that God has placed them exactly where He wanted to. And I think that is great. I love small churches. But there are also a lot of us that have gotten intoxicated by the idea of being mega. It’s scary that a reported 50 churches a week close forever, but it is more than just fear driving us. We have gotten drunk on the need for quick, neon growth in our community. We have gotten entangled in the idea that we have to be Joel Osteen and have a congregation in the thousands right this second.

I’ve never started a church. That, is a great reason to not read the rest of this. But I did grow up with a dad that founded one of the faster growing Baptist churches in New England. I did get to watch him go from meeting inside an old car wash to moving to a middle school to building their own campus to being on the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (I think they get decoder rings and secret handshakes but I can’t prove it.)

And during that time, I learned a few things about the danger of trying to be mega.

It will be disappointing if I publish a book and it sells 14 copies. I’m not going to give you fake Christian optimism. That will suck. A lot. But it won’t change who I am. The sales of the book won’t define my worth or my value. That part of my life is secure, but sometimes, pastors forget that. They forget to separate what they are doing from who they are and start to see the growth of the church not as a statistical indicator of how many people are coming, but more as an evaluation of how good they are. Young pastors get caught up in this a lot. If you don’t have a support system around you when wild growth hits, it’s really easy to lose your footing. I know of a huge pastor that is desperate to have his face on the cover of all his books. If his church isn’t growing, if his book isn’t selling, if he’s not speaking at conferences around the country, he starts to crumble inside because he feeds his ego with the church instead of resting on the foundation that he is God’s work of art. Please, please don’t equate your personal worth with your church’s growth.

There are a few things I could do to make this site grow faster. Talking about politics would be one of them. It’s a hot issue, especially during an election year and yet I don’t. The reason I don’t is that it’s not something I feel skilled in. Tell you how Indiana Jones is like the Bible or relate GI Joe to the NIV? I can do that all day, but politics is not my are of expertise. So even though I know it would generate a lot of comments from readers, I’ve not gone there. The same thing is true of churches. There are some quick, easy shortcuts you can take as a pastor to grow your church. But if you have to change who you are to take them, they are not worth it. If you had to become someone else to grow, than you have paid too much for growth.

There are certain topics that if you talk about, you will lose a percentage of your audience. I remember watching a woman at North Point storm out the Sunday they talked about the Jewish faith. She was offended and hurt, understandably so. It was a difficult sermon. But it was necessary and honest. What if there’s something God laid on your heart and if you share it, you’ll upset 20% of your church or maybe most of your staff? If it’s something true and from God, you’ll be in the tough position of choosing growth or truth. This doesn’t always happen, often honesty helps lead to growth. Please don’t read this as “I can be honest or grow,” because that’s not the case. But sometimes, growth and honesty will be on opposite sides of the fence. And you’ll have to choose which yard you are going to play in.

Garrett the Brewmaster told another story at the conference. He said that he often hears other brewmasters say things like, “How do we become the next Bud Light?” His response is always the same, “You didn’t get into this game to become the next Bud Light. You got into it because you love the craft and felt there was a need your skills could match.” It’s true of beer and it’s true of church. (How often have you heard that sentence?) Sometimes when you get successful it’s tempting to change the things that got you there. It’s tempting to go from being a church that is focused on small groups to a church that is all about the wild awesome experience on Sunday morning. It’s tempting to want to be the next North Point. But chances are, when you and a handful of people originally got together in your living room to start a church you didn’t say, “We want to be the next Willow Creek.” More than likely you said, “God, the people in this community need to be reached by you. Please let us be your hands.” Mega wasn’t a part of that. Mega wasn’t the point. So don’t let it sneak in and run the show when you grow a little.

I hope that your church grows like crazy. I hope it blows up and people have to stand in the back because there are not enough spaces to sit during the service. But if it doesn’t, I hope you’ll remember that lack of growth is not an indication of failure. It might just mean that God doesn’t want you to be mega. And that’s OK.