By Matt Friedeman
August 25, 2005

(AgapePress) - I was on the National Review website the other day. That publication, like most, continually seeks to boost subscriptions for its hard copies. Mark Krikorian, on the NR blog, recalled this week that in the early days of the magazine, readers who cancelled their subscriptions over some perceived ideological incongruity were threatened.

Threatened? Yep -- with the risk of not being allowed to re-subscribe. Apparently, the reverse psychology worked for a while. One early reader who had huffed off in some disagreement had to beg for three months before finally writing to the lady in charge of such things. He penned: "I surrender, dear. Maureen, please, please resubscribe me. I promise to be good."

Ah, to be a publication so greatly desired.

An apocryphal story about the Wesley brothers relates how John, upon arriving home from a preaching venture in Ireland, was asked by his brother Charles about the trip. "Did you have a revival? Were there many additions to the church?" queried the younger brother. "No," said Wesley, "no additions ... but there were a number of blessed subtractions!"

The story, likely fictitious, wasn't intended to be humorous. What isn't fictitious is that Wesley frequently reduced the membership of his meetings through some serious discipline. In one society Wesley conducted a formidable number of interviews before expelling 64 people:

• two for cursing,
• two for Sabbath breaking,
• seventeen for drunkenness,
• two for selling liquor,
• three for quarreling,
• one for wife beating
• three for habitual lying,
• four for evil speaking,
• one for idleness,
• twenty-nine for lightness and carelessness.

The rest of the story, interestingly enough, is that of those ousted under such circumstances, many frequently sought readmittance. The Methodist movement was attractive; and with restitution, repentance, and a penitent group experience, one could be restored to regular fellowship in a society.

In 1972 Dean Kelley wrote a book challenging the notion that to grow a church required openness to all and challenging expectations for none. To the contrary, his Why Conservative Churches Are Growing articulated the benefits of doctrinal purity, preparation of would-be members, high standards, church discipline, and an unapologetic stance towards such "tough" methodology in an age that tends to loosen up member expectations.

Later critics of Kelley would cast some doubt on his thesis, but even authors like David A. Roozen and C. Kirk Hadaway hedged their own critical analysis by suggesting that, indeed, conservatism produces growth when a "higher level of ideological commitment to evangelistic action and a lower level of secularism" were in place.

These qualities, fortified by Kelley's list, separate the church significantly from, say, the Rotary Club. And even today, one senses that people yearn to belong to something with greater meaning and sense of purpose than the local civic organization.

At any rate, if you want to do something good for your local church and denomination, think of Jesus' two great commandments (Love God, neighbor) and add to that standards, discipline, doctrinal purity, preparation of the uninitiated -- in short, demand some things and stick to them. To lovingly but firmly expect loyalty to truth, personal commitment to evangelization, regular involvement in compassionate ministry, financial sacrifice, and daily time in prayer and Bible study certainly won't be found antithetical to biblical teaching.

Here's the spiritual sixth sense: Take that last paragraph seriously and your people, as a general pattern, will grow numerically and spiritually. And, for whatever it is worth, will be far less likely to "unsubscribe."