Why Churches Don’t Grow!
I hope you will take time to read this article. I am going to be sharing some of my personal thoughts about church growth. There will not be statistical numbers, nor will there be revelations of grandeur broadly studied calculations; no in-depth study notes, perfunctory realizations brought on by great studies from major heads of thinking, just my observations from my 40 years of full-time ministry.
For a church to grow, the church must first want to grow.
There is a lot of talk about churches wanting to grow, but I have noticed little being done. Elders hire a preacher to come in and encourage and
motivate the members to better themselves and to live right in the sight of God
and man, but when it comes to actual “growth through the gospel” the church
seems satisfied with an influx of people who are already members of God’s
family who place membership with their local church family.
We have had great minds put together great methods of
sharing the bible with others and we get excited and think we will change the
world with our teaching and methods. The problem is we live in a world that
wants to see Jesus in the lives of those who are talking to them about Him. Too many of us have allowed excitement over methods and outreach programs busy ourselves, and for a while, even truly dedicated to sharing through those
methods with the world.
I am not trying to throw water on any fires that may bring
people to Christ that others are doing, but I want you and me to stop and think
about the reason people are looking for God and not finding the truth where
they look.
God did not tell us to create opportunities for people to
hear the message of Christ's life, death, burial, and resurrection. God told us to
share the story. Live the story. Be the story.
The only way we can do that is to tell our redemptive
story! However, it is not about us but it is all about good Jesus. We must come to
a point as Christians where there is no doubt we feel about God in our
lives. We must live the “new life” we were given with a deep understanding of
what God has really done in our lives.
God, for the Christian, has changed their outcome!
We have been given opportunities to be changed from an
unknowing, uninvolved, thoughtless, spiritless, unmoved “religious acting
person.” We as God’s children need to have no other gods before Jehovah, our
Father, our Holy God, and the only way that others will be moved to be a part
of that family of believers is for those who are “in Christ” to act like it. We
are to help people like Andrew did with his brother Simon Peter.
Even then, going and telling others was a desire to help someone come to know God, not a method to get them into the church.
The spiritual family of God will not grow spiritually (or
in number) until we are convinced in our own minds that we are truly God’s
people, and live that way. We are given abilities that we have not used, or desired. It doesn’t
take a monumental story of great feats of the Spirit working in our lives for people to be interested in what God can do for us
and our relationship with Him. It takes a true love of what God has done in our
lives and the desire to share it with others. If becoming a Christian, or
sharing Christ with others, is lacking in prominence in your life, you need to
rethink your priorities concerning your relationship with Him.
Just telling your story, along with a study of God’s word
with people doesn’t take a P.H.D., it takes a P.C.H., personal caring heart. A true
joy for the word of God and its ability to change men into Christians in a
spiritual family.
As I said, these statements are what I see now and in the last 40 years of preaching. I hope and pray that my preaching has been an encouragement to those listening. But more than the approval of the members of the spiritual families I have been a part of, I hope that I have shared the story of Jesus with others by sharing my story of how God worked in my life. How the Father forgave me by applying His grace to my life. It is not about me; it is about what God can do for anyone who wants to learn who God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are.
We don’t need methods to share the gospel, not that they aren’t good, but what we truly need is true believers who know that God works in our lives! He told us
through the Bible to spread the good news about Jesus and to share Him with
those we meet. It’s not a weekly time of going out, it is about living it!
Truly living it. Honestly believing that we are saved by the grace and love of
God.
Learning a method is good, but it will never be as
productive as living the Christian life and loving people enough to let them see the love
you have for God, your fellow Christians, and them. Churches must love! Love
each other, love those who walk through the doors, love talking about Jesus
(not the church, which comes later), and live for Him daily. And, when we
stumble and fall, get up, ask God for a boost up, and allow Him to move in your
life.
Some of you may be asking about where in the Bible does
this come from. Well, let me give you the scripture reference. Genesis 1:1 –
Revelation 22:21.
I love you all.
Britt
