Total Church - Chapter 13 - "Success"

"The Bible calls the church a family. It describes the church as a community that shares together. The church is a body whose members perfectly fit together. We belong to one another. Our friend’s church was neither a family nor a community. It had no vision for involvement in its immediate community. The truth is, it was not really a church according to any New Testament definition. It was a preaching center. You drove to their large parking garage for your weekly dose of religion just as you traveled to the out-of-town supermarket for your weekly groceries.

Living plants are growing plants. The plants in my garden are either growing or dying. In the same way living churches are growing churches. Members will grow in their love for God and for
one another. Unbelievers will encounter the aroma of Christ. Such growth is rarely straightforward. Often it is three steps forward and two steps backward. But growth is normal. God’s word will achieve what he purposes for it. And so, as people are saved, the church will
grow numerically.

But numerical growth need not equate to larger congregations. There is another model for church growth: growing churches by planting churches. As we have argued, planting churches offers the most biblical and most effective way to reach our towns and cities for Christ. But it requires a different vision for church growth. If we measure ourselves by the size of our congregations, there will always be a strong deterrent to plant."

- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, p. 194