One of the most vivid things I remember about the Baptist churches of my childhood was the annual event called “High Attendance Sunday.” Here’s how it worked: Every member of every Baptist church in our county was supposed to invite at least one person to church in order to pack the pews. At one point, the local association would give the church and its pastor an award for winning high attendance Sunday—yes, winning.

While this exercise in pragmatism probably didn’t result in much spiritual maturity of Christians in our county, I have to believe the heart behind it was a concern for lost souls. Most of the participating pastors would preach evangelistic sermons on that day and focus on the lost. There’s nothing wrong with that. The great Martyn Lloyd-Jones devoted every Sunday night to preaching evangelistic sermons aimed at unbelievers.

While most of us probably wouldn’t go in for high attendance Sunday, all pastors want to see their churches grow numerically. Yes, the priority is spiritual growth, but deep down, we all want to see those pews filled—no matter how much we may protest to the contrary. But is explosive growth always indicative of spiritual health? In the article below—an adapted excerpt from Aaron Menikoff’s new book Character Matters: Shepherding in the Fruit of the Spirit (Moody)—we see that there are virtues in embracing slow and steady growth.