Yesterday’s blog on Relational Evangelism reminded us of simple actions any of us can take. But there’s always the temptation to try to go bigger and faster. In a Christianity Today article about the difficulty of doing ministry in Japan, Growth Is Good. Survival Is Too, I was shocked by this story of an ambitious Japanese pastor, Mizuno Akiko:

The congregation increased to about 40 members and became self-supporting in five years. It outgrew the little house and moved into a new church building (which also served as Mizuno’s home).

Mizuno got ambitious. It was the 1980s, when American televangelist Robert Schuller was pioneering church growth strategies that transformed the imaginations of evangelicals in the United States—and hers as well. Schuller’s model, epitomized by his polished, wide-reaching broadcasts and his shining Crystal Cathedral, dazzled Mizuno. She brainstormed evangelism tactics for her own church to draw crowds and win souls. “I was very energetic,” she said. “With my ideas and energy, I would drive the church to do programs.”

Event followed event, and 10 years later, “my church got physically tired and spiritually thirsty,” Mizuno said. “And I didn’t notice their thirst. I had lost sight of loving my members because I was focused on programs and church growth.” By the time Mizuno realized her error, the church had shrunk by half.

Same old story. Big events don’t get it done, as I’ve written about before.

The solution?

Mizuno almost gave up. “I was so down emotionally, spiritually, and mentally that I didn’t have the confidence to continue serving or even to continue living as a human being,” she recalled. “I was so engrossed with doing something that I forgot to be a person who loves God and people.” She prayed: “Lord, help me be that person.”

Mizuno downsized and reset. Instead of focusing on growth, she focused on helping each person in the church meet God. She did start one new project: She encouraged everyone to read a chapter of the Bible with her every day. Most did. It changed their conversations, she said. People talked about what they read. Together, she and the church have read the entire Bible 10 times over two decades, and they’re still going. The congregation has grown to about 120 members.

“I forgot to be a person who loves God and people.” AND, why not encourage people to read a chapter of the Bible every day? How about that? Simple. Relational.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3.13, NIV)