Abstract

Studies on church growth and decline were done in different parts of the world. This article explores church decline that is continuing in the world’s mainline Protestant churches and is also affecting the Reformed Churches in South Africa (RCSA). It is done from a missiological framework, and the description goes beyond numbers in establishing decline to focus more on the quality of believers. Membership quality is all that the church strives for in all believers, and failure to reach that goal leads to decline. The study utilised only primary sources to describe the decline realised in these churches; thus, no human subjects were involved. The various reports of the RCSA deputies for turn-around and church growth as well as the relevant literature, provided the data required for the present research. The numerical data explain the trends in church decline that is taking place in Protestant churches globally and locally which includes the RCSA. These findings are substantiated by the definitions of church decline and church growth as well as indications of church health highlighting ‘what happens’ to the church in a specific context. The explanation of key concepts and the Natural Church Development (NCD) benchmarks provided the lenses to evaluate the membership statistics of Protestant churches including the RCSA. Through the application of these key concepts and benchmarks, it became evident that the ongoing numerical reduction in membership, which began in 1994, is proof of church decline in the RCSA. Contribution: This article chose a ‘missiological framework’ referring to the Great Commission and the missio Dei in order to challenge a more ‘static’ (numbers only) and ‘church survivalist’ approach to the current ‘church growth and decline’ reality within the Western Church. In this way, the focus on‘church health’ rather than the dominant Practical Theological approach to ‘church growth’ will lead to new knowledge that will benefit and subsequently strengthen the current debate.

Highlights

  • Based on the testimony running from the Old Testament through to the New Testament, God chose a specific people whom he tasked as his messengers in the world to take part in the missio Dei (Kaiser 2000:10, 22; Peters 1972:160)

  • Israel was called in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament as the agents making God present to the world

  • The present study pointed out that actual church growth and decline goes beyond membership numbers

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Summary

Introduction

Based on the testimony running from the Old Testament through to the New Testament, God chose a specific people whom he tasked as his messengers in the world to take part in the missio Dei (Kaiser 2000:10, 22; Peters 1972:160). This finding indicates that church decline continued in the RCSA even though the figures increased rapidly from 2009 to 2012 after the unification process. A healthy church is able to lead as many people as possible to Christ and endeavour to make them disciples of Jesus as in the case of members who are committed already Such transformation is reached when converted members adhere to the biblical principles in their daily lives, being led by the Spirit of God. The members’ desire would be to glorify God in all aspects of life as articulated by Paul in his letters (e.g. I Cor 10:31; Col 3:17). The trends of membership seem to point at a lack of the quality dimension in the church

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