The Blessed Church, by Robert Morris

If you live in the Fort Worth/Dallas area and have any awareness of churches, you probably know of Gateway Church in Southlake.  And if your church is anywhere near Gateway, some of your former members probably now attend Gateway.  This church, founded a mere 12 years ago, has grown into one of the largest churches in the nation.  Tens of thousands attend services every weekend at their shiny new multi-million dollar main campus, as well as several satellite campuses.   

In The Blessed Church: The Simple Secret to Growing the Church You Love, Gateway's pastor Robert Morris tells the story of Gateway, and gives insight into the principles that have shaped their church and fueled its tremendous growth.  There is much here that can benefit pastors and lay leaders of all kinds of churches.  I have visited Gateway a couple of times, and have friends who are active attenders (including several who used to go to my church!).  Based on my experiences and the reports of my friends, Gateway does accomplish one of their goals: excellence.  The teaching, worship, and childcare are top-notch.  From the start, Morris wanted Gateway to do these three things as skillfully as possible, and few would argue that the teaching is consistently solid, the worship and music are world-class, and the childcare is attentive, creative, and intentional.

While not a manual, The Blessed Church lays out some of the core values the have helped Gateway grow.  Morris is clearly a gifted communicator and leader.  His vision of leadership is feeding, and the focus of his work is his teaching role.  He strives to craft messages that will speak to new and mature Christians alike.  In terms of governance, he describes the church as pastor-lead with support and accountability from a group of elders.  He provides very practical examples for church leaders who seek to emulate the structure and culture of Gateway.

In spite of Morris's title, I didn't pick up any "simple secrets" here, and I kept thinking about factors in Gateway's growth that went unmentioned.  First of all, it helped that when seeking a place to start a church, he chose a part of the D/FW metroplex that has had a lot of population growth, and located the church in Southlake, which has one of the highest per capita incomes of any city in Texas.  He started with a core of wealthy, charismatic lay people.  No matter how great your vision or how passionate your leadership, it sure helps to have people with deep pockets to bankroll your work.  Morris talks about Gateway's culture of giving.  When that kind of culture is cultivated in a high-income community, you can do things like drop $86 million on 206,000 square feet of building.

Second, Morris himself is a uniquely gifted communicator.  His experience at Gateway and the message of the book support the growing trend of pastor-centered megachurches, which center on the pastor's teaching, to the extent of broadcasting his message electronically to satellite locations.  Run-of-the-mill preachers need not apply.  Third, the worship, as I said, is world-class.  The worship team has produced a number of CDs and gets radio airplay.  Listening to Gateway's talented musicians sure has a way of making the worship leaders at your smaller church sound second rate.

My take on the message of The Blessed Church is that if you follow the principles Morris describes, your church can grow, too.  I totally agree, especially if you have those other factors: a wealthy, highly educated congregation, a superbly gifted teacher, and fabulously talented musicians.  Unfortunately, Morris doesn't spend as much time on these other factors, and leaves the reader with the impression that if you're not growing, there's something seriously wrong with you and your church.  He repeatedly says, "not to boast" when talking about how great Gateway is, and constantly gives credit to God, but it's easy for the pastor of a smaller church with less growth (90-99% of churches) to feel rather inadequate.

My final thought: Morris writes that healthy things grow, so church growth is a sign of church health (thus a church that isn't growing must be unhealthy).  But what in nature continues to grow?  Healthy things grow to a certain extent, and then they multiply.  I don't know what constitutes a church that is too big, but it seems like a truly healthy church would be multiplying, not growing and growing.  Oh, and by the way, lest you accuse Gateway of stealing sheep, since it is full of people who used to faithfully attend other area churches, Morris has an answer: "I am not a sheep stealer.  But I do plant delicious grass."




Thanks to Waterbrook/Multnomah for the complimentary review copy!