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“Church Growth” – it is now the stuff of books and seminars and college courses.  Men dedicate their lives to understanding how to achieve this holy grail.  Huge temples are built and marketing experts consulted with the goal of being “seeker friendly” and filling the huge hall with crowds of people.  Different denominations and congregations find different ways of fulfilling this goal.  Rallies and “Crusades” are held to “bring in the sheaves” (although that ancient hymn is not sung anymore by the majority of those seeking “church growth” ).

Over the years I’ve seen “revivals” and “crusades” and “rallies” performed with the intent of bringing growth to the church.  And over the years I’ve seen the same people flocking to the “altar call”, time after time after time.  Yes, there are some souls reached through mass means.  Yes there are some lives transformed.  But are they really effective?  The last figures I saw for a huge “Crusade” were something less than five percent (if I recall correctly it was less than one percent, but let’s be generous anyway) of the “decisions for Christ” actually resulted in  a person who joined in with a local congregation.

Over the years I’ve come to be skeptical of this type of operation.  When the same people go forward time after time to be prayed over by this, that or another “Pastor”, “Prophet”, “Bishop” or “Apostle” – what is really being accomplished?  When a new building is erected and dedicated and people from congregations around the city flock to it because of the “fresh anointing” – is that truly “Church Growth”?  When you siphon off members from other congregations that is not “Church Growth”, that is congregation expansion at the expense of others. The church grows when you live the gospel and bring people into the fold who had never before had a personal relationship with God. Focusing on numbers rather than individual souls is a common mistake.

Many folks look at specific events over the history of the church and try to emulate them.  They see three thousand people baptized in the name of Jesus the Christ on a single day and want to do the same – forgetting all the factors and happenings  that lead up to that landmark event.  When we see something of great magnitude happening we should ask ourselves, “What was the catalyst? What built up so that this could happen?”  It isn’t that God’s Holy Spirit does not work today – but He works in the same way that He did in centuries past.  For great history changing events to happen there must be ground work.

What was the ground work for the day of Pentecost?  God came down and lived amongst us (Emmanuel – God With Us). He lived and worked and taught and interacted with people.  He lived a human life as an example.  He Himself was baptized and He Himself was tempted for forty tortuous days.  He called to Himself twelve men, common men from all walks of life.  For three years He taught them.  For three years He showed His power to them and through them.  He fed multitudes. He healed multitudes.  And through it all He taught as none had taught before Him. He touched lives by touching their minds and appealing to their heart and focusing them on the Father.  But all that was as nothing to them the day that they stood before the Roman Governor and cried out as one man, “Crucify him!”  But as is common with mobs, once the heat of the moment was gone they came to themselves and started wondering “What have we done?”

And then the rumors started.  “The disciples carried off his body!” “But that can’t be, the guards are still living!” “I heard He is alive!!”  “I talked with Peter – the tomb was empty!” “Mary says an angel told her He is alive!” “I heard that He appeared right before them all!” “I, myself, have seen Him!” And this rolled around the city for weeks, until the next Feast Day.

From all over the known world they came, from fifteen countries or more. They came to celebrate the ancient feast as directed by the Law of Moses. The city of Jerusalem swelled and jostled with the teeming crowds.  Families welcomed relatives from afar.  Small houses were crowded with people.  And on the day of Pentecost they were celebrating before Jehovah when suddenly a sound as of a mighty, rushing wind was heard and every eye turned to see – twelve common men, betrayed by their provincial clothing as being from the scorned northern territory of Galilee, standing there, each with a tongue of fire over his head.  Now THAT was a sight to behold!  And then a hush fell on the crowd as one burly fisherman stood out from the rest and began to outline the events leading up to this day.  They heard the familiar history of their race and nation recited by these men – and then they realized “They are speaking MY native tongue!”  The familiar story was related in familiar accents, not the course country bumpkin dialect of Galilee!

But then the clincher – this common looking fisherman pointed his finger RIGHT in their collective face and said “YOU are responsible for taking the life of God’s Own Son!”  This man, who weeks before had been hiding from the authorities, quaking at the thought of cruel whips and a horrific  cross, was standing there today – facing them down.  And they KNEW he spoke true. Many of the same people were there who weeks before had yelled out “Crucify him!” and they knew that they had traded the life of a murderer for the death of God’s Son. The silence was broken by a voice asking “Brothers, what should we do?”

Now to put this in perspective there were likely at least a million people crammed together for this celebration.  Not everyone could hear the message, not all that did were convinced or convicted of their own sin on that day.  But from amongst the crowd streamed three thousand people to answer Peter’s call to “Repent and each of you be immersed by the authority of Jesus the Christ!  This is the way to be forgiven of your sins.  And you WILL receive God’s Holy Spirit! This promise holds true for YOU, for YOUR CHILDREN and for ALL who will hear the call of the Lord!”

Yes, an amazing event.  A history changing event.  But the ground had been prepared.  The seed had been sown.  And GOD brought forth the harvest on that day.

And today?  What are we doing to prepare the ground and plant the seed?  Many of us no longer live and work in a land where God’s Gospel has been proclaimed.  Most of us live and work amongst people to whom the historical accounts sound like fables and fairy tales.  No longer do most people build their lives around some semblance of Godly teaching like the jewish people did at that time.  So why do we expect to reap the same results as Peter and the Apostles did?

Our work for today is clear. Yes, there ARE some fields still ripe for harvest, but many more have yet to be sown.  And in each case we need to allow the Lord to work through us.  As in anything worth doing we must learn to get the fundamentals down.  If we allow God to help us build the foundations, He will build His church.

Of what good is a building full of worldly, carnal people who sing praises to God on Sunday but live like the rest of the world the rest of the week?  To be honest – it is of no good at all to God’s kingdom.  If we want real church growth then we must understand WHAT makes the church grow.  Swapping sheep or stealing sheep does not a flock build. How many christians drift from congregation to congregation, seeking a speaker who will tickle their ears?  That is not the path to building a church or causing true growth.

Here is what the Apostle Paul had to say about “church growth”:

¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:11-16

The work of the leaders of the church isn’t to “develop strategies” or “study market trends” or “be seeker friendly”.  The work of the church’s leaders is to “prepare God’s people for works of service”.  And what happens when we do that? “The body of Christ may be built up”. And THAT, my friends, is church growth.  REAL church growth.  For too long the church has been concerned with filling pews and buildings and programs.  But we have forgotten the true call of the church.  Note that the leaders are to prepare God’s people “for works of service”.  Serving the world around us is NOT a program – it is what God intended us to do.  Indeed it is also written that we are created in Christ Jesus “to do good works”.  A christian who is  not serving the community around him is a christian who is not fulfilling his purpose in God’s kingdom.  And if, as leaders in the church, we are not preparing God’s people to serve, if we are not allowing them the time and opportunity to serve, then we are failing – no matter HOW many people may come together each week to sing and feel good together.

If we want the church to grow, instead of just play musical pews, then we need to seek God’s leading in our lives.  Forget the studies and the “experts”.  Get back to God’s word.  Let HIM transform you and renew your mind.  Let Him give you hunger and thirst for His righteousness.  Let Him give you the power you need to serve the world around you.  And as you do – He will honor your faithfulness according to the ability you have to handle well that which is entrusted to your care.