News:

Is the forum a bit confusing for you? Are there some features you're not sure how to use? Check out this help topic!

Main Menu

Church Growth

Started by mini, June 06, 2011, 08:27:51 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

mini


I got fussed at for taking this off...so here you go! (again) :P

First, a disclaimer.  I am not a pastor.  I am not even good at outreach.  I have to work at it, and have to make myself do more and more.  Fact is, I am very introverted by nature.  So I work at being outgoing, listening, etc.  What I am about to share are things that God has shown me, allowed me to be a part of, and is dealing with me about now.

I hope this helps.  I think it may...also, I'm gonna use the ESV version of the bible here.

(Acts 6:4 ESV)
[Seven Chosen to Serve]
   [4] But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."   

(Matthew 15:21-28 ESV)
[The Faith of a Canaanite Woman]
   [21] And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. [22] And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." [23] But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." [24] He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." [25] But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." [26] And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." [27] She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." [28] Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.


(John 6:30-35, 48, 53-58 ESV)
[I Am the Bread of Life]
   [30] So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? [31] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" [32] Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." [34] They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
   [35] Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

   [48] I am the bread of life.

   [53] So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. [54] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. [56] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. [57] As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. [58] This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."


THE MINDSET OF US AND THE CHURCH
We have this Americanized mindset of soul winning that I think is wrong.  The mindset is this:  the more hoopla and fluff we do in the name of the Church and/or the name of the kingdom, the more souls we will win.  Its wrong.  To paraphrase Leonard Ravenhill, the church does not need another wiener roast, another activity, another gymnasium for sports.  It needs revival.  Good old fashioned revival.  If activities were all the world needed, schools would be the most effective place on the planet.  YMCA's would have waiting lists.  So there HAS to be another answer.

I've got 2 thoughts on how to get a church on fire, both closely related.  And its not better music, better preaching, ect.  It's US. 


The first thing involves the most precious part of our lives, our most hoarded possession, the one thing we give the least of, and never tithe on:  Time.  James 1:27 says it this way: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."  Reading between the lines, it takes ME and a lot of TIME to do this thing.

The second thing is our life, and how we live it as a whole.  When I got saved, I gave my life to God.  When I felt a call to the ministry, I gave my life to God.  I remember many times in the prayer room, giving my life to God.  Yet, somewhere, somehow, I seem to live my life as I want.  I am comfortable sitting in the confines of my own domain, plopped in my easy chair, sheltered and protected from the world.  But I gave my life to God.  And he calls for a accounting in this day, to see if I live my life for me, or for his kingdom.  We cannot coast along, thinking we have heaven made without any effort on our part.  We cannot continually feed our fleshly desires while living for God.



OUR LIFE IS NOT OUR OWN

The question I have to ask myself and anyone who will listen is this:  How are you living your life for Christ?  It plays a key factor in the outreach and growth of a church.

Think about it this way.  If you knew that Bobs Diner served always fresh, never frozen, meals, would you want to eat there versus Jack's Diner where they used frozen, never fresh, meals?  Or better yet, would you choose Bob's over some 3 week old piece of junk that was half moldy?  Of course you want fresh.  So why not stay fresh in the bread of life?  Why do we offer some poor hungry soul some half rotten crumb that we never bothered to make fresh? To do that, it takes a daily walk with God, not a sporadic hit and miss lifestyle.  Acts 6:4 says (paraphrased) they DEVOTED themselves to Prayer and Word.

That means our life cannot be lived as its our own.  When a man marries, he devotes the REST of his life to his wife.  Not Monday thru Friday.  But 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, for the rest of their lives, he is vowed to this woman.  Yet we find Christians who want to live for God with one foot in the church, the other foot in the world.  As the bride of Christ, we want to reap the benefits of being married to the King, yet keep our old lusts and loves around for our own entertainment and pleasure.  We don't necessarily sin, but we live in a comfortable state, watching the world pass by, never stepping to the gates of hell to intercede for a soul.  Jude 1:22-23 says this: [22] And have mercy on those who doubt; [23] save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

You ever shook hands with a man and thought, "This man is a working man."  You notice the strength in the hand, the callouses, the scars.  Oh that our knees would be calloused, oh that our hands would be scarred!  When you grab someone out of the fire, the fire will hurt you too!  But if we stay the same, never caring, it is the worse for us and that soul that perishes!




HUNGER


Have you ever been hungry for something?  Every taste you have of everything only furthers your hunger for that one thing you have not had.  And man, you want it worse and worse.

I was hungry one time for a steak.  I wanted it seasoned just right, with a little kick to it from the spices.  Marbled just right with the fat.  Cooked medium rare.  I had it in my mind just the way I wanted it.  I went to several restaurants, and none would come close.  Finally, one day, on a trip, I went to a place, ordered, and when the steak came out, it was perfect.  So perfect in fact, that to this day, I compare all steaks to that one steak I ate.

The world is HUNGRY.  It seeks drugs.  No satisfaction.  It seeks alcohol.  No satisfaction.  It tries cruelty, it tries peace.  It tries love, it tries war.  It tries every sick and sadistic thing in the world, no satisfaction.  Pardon the carnal song mention, but the Rolling Stones summed it up in their song:

I can't get no satisfaction,
I can't get no satisfaction.
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try.
I can't get no, I can't get no.

The thing that they are searching for is simple:  The bread of life.  And, *GASP* WE HAVE IT IN US!  The next question is simple.  Does your hunger for souls and babies surpass the worlds hunger that they try to quench?  A mother does not just wait around till the baby nearly starves before she tries to prepare a bottle.  Instead, if she is out and about, you will see her diaper bag prepared, bottles ready to go at a moments notice.  I wonder if we are "...always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you."

You want to know how to set a church on fire?  Start handing out the bread.  Funny thing is, we look at the miracles of the loaves and fishes and think, man, wouldn't that be cool to see?  But we have that same supernatural residing in us, and we don't share!  Hand out a piece today.   You have a coworker that is searching.  There is a gas station attendant that is searching.  And the funny thing is, the more you give out, the more you have to give.  You get in the word, and the bread is fresh.

The thing is, there is no such thing as a dead church.  There are dead people in a church.  God is alive.  When we start digging in the word, and start praying, life comes.

Our problem is we read the story in Acts 6 and think, "I'm supposed to wait on tables and that's it."  NO!  You are supposed to dig into the word and prayer.  Its not just the pastor that is supposed to pray and study.  Its the church.  Yes, even the ones "waiting on tables" need to be praying and studying.  How are you gonna serve anything at that table if you haven't been preparing?

Some people don't want the whole loaf.  But give them a crumb.  How?  Man, you can tell about a message you heard last night.  How people were praying in the altar.  How you read a verse and how it effected you today.  That's the crumb.  We need to feed the people.


WHO TO LOOK FOR
Remember, there are devout religious people in the world.  Look at John 4.  That woman at the well?  She was religious.  We like to think, man, she was a whore, she married something like 500 times and probably slept with half of the town.  Take a fresh look at what she was saying.  She knew scripture.  She may have had terrible morals, but she was in church somewhere.  So when people come to me and start telling me about their church service, how God has been dealing with them, I LISTEN.  I'm excited for them.  There are hundreds of people in churches in every town, all being religious.  All of them are searching for God.  And if we don't listen, and give them crumbs of the Bread of Life, when they reach that point of revelation, they will not turn to us.  So listen to them.  There are hungry people there too.

John 5:2-3: [2] Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. [3] In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

Next, we want every Joe and Susie that comes in to be model Christians.  They need to be perfect.  Forget that...where are those that are blind in spirit?  They are searching, reaching out.  Where are those that are lame from past hurts?  Where are those that are paralyzed from wrong decisions?  If our churches look like everyone is saved, we got a problem.  In goodard American redneck language, we ain't got no babies if everyone looks like a Christian.  Where are the guys that have 90 piercings, tattoos up and down their arms?  That cat wont look like a Christian.  Wheres the gal that's struggling with cigarettes?  Wheres the single parent?  Those are the ones that God is looking for.  They are hungry.

There ain't nothing like a crazy service with 15 new people.  Man, you don't know what will happen.  Pastor may say something like "We have prayer meeting tomorrow night" and three of them will do a victory lap around the church.  No, they wont be perfect. But where there are no oxen, the stall is clean.

When we get desperate for babies, we will cry out like Rachel "GIVE ME CHILDREN LEST I DIE!"  We will get the Hannah mentality where you say, "Ill give this baby back to you Lord!"
   

HOW TO GROW A CHURCH
Simply put, the answer is you.  You start growing, the church will grow.  When you as a saint stop growing, the church starts to die.  We are the BODY of Christ.  If you stop being healthy, you start to die! When you start seeking God in your own life, looking for his power, you quit caring if service is slow or fast, who's singing, or what was said.  Its about God time.  Your focus is right, and you can worship freely.  And the funny thing is, people will start worshiping too.  You become a catalyst for revival, as long as you keep you focus on God.

A oft overlooked principle in sheep is the shepherd does not make sheep.  The sheep make sheep.  Funny how nature works like that.  Its the same in the church.


When you get on fire for God, things happen.  People come to watching you burn.  When you get excited about how great God is, people start coming.  All this boils down to a personal thing between you and God.  When you get excited, you tell.  You share the bread.  You share the life!

Get in there.  Study the word. Rightly divide the word of truth.  Be instant in season and out.  GROW!  And watch God work!  You must be the change you wish to see in the church.  Because, you ARE the church of the living God.
DISCLAIMER: All rights reserved. Meant for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Not necessarily the view of this website. This supersedes all previous notices.

I wonder if we made a wax figure of Mini, and then melted it, if we'd get Roscoe... -MellerYeller

sunlight

  :attackhug: Be full of hugs!

Roscoe

Just so you know- I'm stealing some of this to go with the bible Study I have put together tonight..... Thanks again, amigo. Powerful Stuff.
Potstirrer and snoop extraordinaire   "I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world."- Thomas Edison

mini

If it went over well, good.  If not, I'm blaming you!  :ugly:
DISCLAIMER: All rights reserved. Meant for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Not necessarily the view of this website. This supersedes all previous notices.

I wonder if we made a wax figure of Mini, and then melted it, if we'd get Roscoe... -MellerYeller

mini

Just read this:

It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction.

Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 162.

Wow!

DISCLAIMER: All rights reserved. Meant for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Not necessarily the view of this website. This supersedes all previous notices.

I wonder if we made a wax figure of Mini, and then melted it, if we'd get Roscoe... -MellerYeller