Editor's note: Here’s another in our series of guest columns on church decline. Just a couple more to go. Articles in April will focus on renewal. Our ninth guest column is from Aaron Metcalf, a native Oregonian who preaches for the Westside Church of Christ in Hillsboro, Oregon . The Westside church has experienced significant loss in the past decade, and Aaron’s perceptive thoughts help us look a little differently at church decline. The View from Aaron Metcalf The great passage from Acts 2:27, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” has never been part of my ministry experience in West Coast Churches of Christ. I’ve never been a part of a church community that experienced rapid or even significant gradual growth. Most of the churches I’ve been a part of, in fact, would have been happy if the Lord sustained our numbers daily and stopped the decline. Forget growth; let’s just keep who we have! In my current ministry context decline ha...
