The vast majority of Church Leaders and pastors that I speak
to want church growth. There are only a few, those chosen frozen, that spout
the old adage, that they want quality not quantity, -to be very honest, I tend
to ignore these people and work with those who recognise that it is the mission
of the church to grow. Let me state clearly here, that I believe, that it is
God who makes the church grow and it is the church leaders that help create the
atmosphere in churches to facilitate that growth.
Do you want your
church to grow? If the answer is yes, then read on.
There are four areas that need to be explored and clarified
in your mind before any church growth can occur.
1) Are you a Church leader who wants growth and is prepared
to work hard to see that growth? Do you have a strong vision for growth and
believe that you are the leader, of a church far larger than what you lead at
present? You may find this strange but unless you are clear on what you believe
about these questions you cannot move forward.
2) Is the congregation you lead prepared to work alongside
you, to build the church and be the ones to reach out to a lost and dying
world? Are they prepared to pay financially and sacrificially towards the programmes
that will need to be set up to reach the lost? Once the congregation understand
that the church is not a fellowship of believers, but a place where all are
welcome and all can find Christ, then and then only can you begin to create the
atmosphere for a truly welcoming church.
3) Understand that the goal, of every evangelistic outreach
programme, is to make disciples. It is not to have a well run event, where
afterwards all the Christians pat themselves on the back on a job well done. It
must be a given that the event will be well run. Disciples, the lost, the
unbeliever are always the goal.
4) There can be no church growth if the church is terminally
ill. What do I mean by this? If there are issues within the leadership or
division in the church that could cause decent, this is an illness. Or it could
be something simple, such as, If your congregation is made up of old age
pensioners and you, the leader, are also on the verge of retirement. In reality
you will attract others who are in this same demographic. These people are no
less important but the church in a literal sense is dying not growing, and for
you it is terminal.
Once these four areas and the questions raised by them are
clear in your mind, it is then and then only can you begin to move forward.
Food for thought?.... maybe.
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