Most people ask the question, "What do we have to do to make our church grow?" The answer most of us expect is to add something - more prayer, a better Sunday School, increased advertising, more small groups.
A better question is, "What's keeping our church from growing?"
Growth is the natural process of living things, and growth is God's will for his church. God doesn't desire that anyone should perish because they don't know Jesus Christ as their savior. So, if we're not growing, we need to ask, "what's blocking us?" Is it our attitude toward guests? Is it an inward focus? Is it that we're focusing so much on doing lots of good things that we're not really doing the best thing?
The answer may be that we need to stop adding, and start taking away some good things that are keeping us from doing the most important thing well.
I'd be interested in your answers to the question. Care to chime in?
I always think of how to spread christianity and I think it should be attractive, if I have to promote Jesus or try to talk people into becoming christians i feel I've missed. Christianity should be attractive and the way I carry myself should be my testimony and eventuallyif its God's will someone will ask me,hey what have you got, I want it also. It is then I have a voice.But let's not get the cart before the horse, it seems to me some Christians think that because they have turned their life to Christ that they immediately go out evangelizing, there's work to be done, inside work first find out what wrong with you ,give it to God, the creator and ask him to recreate and if it's God's will,something like a miracle happens I've heard it described as a spiritual awakening. Remember Peter walked with Christ and still denied Him three times, and he wept bitterly, at that moment he had hit bottom, he realised that of himself he was worthless ,then God got his attention ,then Peter became the clay, Jesus's words, blessed are the poor in spirit ,thatt's where Peter had to get for God to work his miracle, then read Peter's epistles , A different person, removed of the bondage of self ready to have God work through him ,So we are incapable of leading anyone to Christ on our own. We need to first see our poverty of spirit, realize that of ourselves we are nothing, that God could change us ,(if we let him) take our own inventory ,confess our faults, place ourselves at the foot of the cross ,clean up all possible relations with our brother's and sister's (
ReplyDeleteusing prudence of course) pray and meditate for a closer contact with God and then when the miracle happens, go out into the world doing God's will all for His glory( not ours) and remember to stay right sized with no personal motive, only with the motive of being of service to a dying world and not caring what church they go to, some will stay some will go elsewhere . It's not about our church, It's about God's church.