August
29, 2021
How the Church Grows
Some churches are growing. Some are treading water. And some are dying. Wise pastors want their church to grow. So what is the key to healthy church growth?
Healthy growth is a steady increase
in the number of people who get connected to Jesus. This connection occurs when
a person surrenders his life to Jesus. Growth in the number of people who simply “join” the church must never
be the primary goal. Joining the church can, of course, be the initial step
toward surrendering one’s life to Jesus.
We
learn helpful lessons about church growth by studying the New Testament. Soon
after the resurrection of Jesus, the church was “born” at Pentecost. Three
thousand people were baptized that day, publicly repenting of their sins and
seeking forgiveness for their sins. They got connected to Jesus by meeting
together in homes to pray, study, and break bread together in Christian
fellowship. Doctor Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, uses the word
“saved” to describe these early believers. He tells us that the church grew as
a result of the Christians worshiping together. Luke writes in Acts 2, “And the
Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Why
were people being saved back then? The answer is found in the Acts of the
Apostles. As the church began to grow, the leaders of the Jews and the Roman
authorities saw the Christians as a threat to the way of life they cherished. Luke tells, for example, how Saul, an
influential Pharisee (who became Paul), began going door to door in Jerusalem
arresting Christians and jailing them. Stephen was falsely accused by the Jews
and stoned to death. Peter and arrested and imprisoned. All this was the result
of what Luke calls “a great persecution that broke out against the church at
Jerusalem,” causing the Christians to “scatter throughout Judea and Samaria.”
This
is where we learn why the church grew. In Acts 8, we read this remarkable
sentence: “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”
Boldface in your mind those three words: “wherever they went.” The
Christians were talking about Jesus wherever they went. Luke cites Philip as an
example. While on the road to Gaza, Philip encounters a man with an inquiring
mind and he tells the man “the good news about Jesus.” Hearing this good news
led to the man being baptized and saved.
Is
this not missing in many of our churches today? It may explain why some
churches are treading water or dying. The church grows when its people tell
others the good news about Jesus “wherever they go.” If it has been a long time
since you heard about someone in your church being saved, it may be because the
members of your church are not talking about Jesus at work, in the marketplace
and at home.
Have
we who are church leaders and pastors failed to teach and encourage our people
to talk about Jesus? We have taught them many things – how to study the Bible, learn
and grow in small groups, make prayer blankets, play soccer, sing exciting new
songs, sell Boston butts, fry fish and chicken, and play entertaining games. We
take the kids to water parks and send our people on mission trips and help them
reach out to the poor in our community. All of this is good but is it the best
we can offer? Is it helping the church to obey the Lord’s mandate to “make
disciples”? When all is said and done,
have we taught, inspired, and dared our people to tell their friends and
neighbors “the good news about Jesus?”
Two
thousand years ago the church grew because the Christians talked about Jesus
wherever they went. Could we see an explosion of healthy growth in our churches
in our time if we Christians began telling others the good news about Jesus
everywhere we go? Surely that is the primary message God wants us to offer our
world. And surely it will grieve God if
we remain silent and tongue-tied in a society where the voices of evil are loud
and clear. + + +