JUST THINKING ON THIS THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 7, 2011

“TO GROW OR NOT TO GROW THE LOCAL CHURCH”

Most churches start small. The problem is that some stay small. The even bigger problem in all this is that sometimes that smallness is due to distorted thinking (although often well intentioned) on the part of the leaders and lay people alike.
What does that thinking look and sound like, and how might the church overcome this idea of smallness?

1. So many folks want to blame the small size of the local church on God.

“If God wants our church to grow, it will grow humanity says.” This is our easy way out of the obligation to the work of God. Now as human beings we shift the blame from us to Him. If one thinks through such a thought pattern, the folly of such thinking is so feeble on our part. For example, does that mean that churches that are growing are the result of God playing favorites? I don’t think so. Should saints of God ask God to allow a church to grow when He may have already decided that is not His plan? Where is such thinking found in Scripture? I can honestly say it is not. If a church is small simply because few people live within driving distance from the church, that is understandable. But otherwise, God wants a church to grow because it’s winning the lost and making disciples of them and teaching them to reach other people for the cause of Christ. The answer: Look inward, not upward. Ask the question, “Why is our church not growing?” Usually when we find the real problem we find people standing in the way. Those people in the way may be church members and even church leaders who have not taken time to be involved in evangelism and surely they have not trained their people in evangelism.

Internal strife may make the church everything but inviting to outsiders in the community who have heard that the church specializes more in squabbling and infighting than fellowship.

2. These saints see their neighbors but not the needs of their neighbors or their neighborhood.



The thinking of the average saint of God in a small church is like this “If one person receives the Holy Ghost this year, it’s worth our being here. God may have us here for just one person He wants to bring to Himself through us.”



No one should, could or would question the value of one soul, but God’s love doesn’t stop with one; it extends to everyone whosoever will. It is not only the person up the street that needs salvation, but it is every person on every street who is in need of salvation.


The answer to the small church syndrome is called vision. If we will simply specialize in contacting people and let God specialize in conversions. Bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone within driving distance of the church. As the Seed is sown, God in His time will bring forth fruit of His harvest. God responds to prayer and vision from His Church. The issue is not the worth of a soul who lives within the community; it is the worth of every soul who lives within every community.

3. Have a church that is spiritually attractive but is physically repulsive



Forgive my frankness, but some churches look like the building needs to be redeemed, not just the people. I Samuel 16:7 says man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.

Both parts of that sentence are true, not just the latter part. God looks at the heart, but man looks at the outward appearance.


I said to a pastor, “Let’s drive by your church as non-Christians.” We did and he saw my point. The church had a chain length fence around it to prevent burglaries. It made it look like the headquarters of a cult. They took the fence down and the church started to grow. Another had a sign on the front of the church facing the street. It read, “It is appointed unto man once to die and after this, the judgment”. It made it appear that the two things that church specialized in were death and judgment. The answer: Do what I encouraged my pastor friend to do. Drive past the church as a non-Christian. Would your church beckon me in or scare me away? It’s amazing what a little paint, flowers, a cleanup crew and a little remodeling might do.

4. Shifting pastors every few years keeps a church from growing.



Anything solid is built on consistent long-term stability. Starting over in any organization every few years is seldom productive. Adjustment and readjusting takes its toll. Try doing 5- or 10-year planning when the leadership may change every 2 or 3 years.
The answer: Go for long-term leaders—ones who come to stay and develop a reputation that enhances that of the church. That way the community not only becomes part of them, they become part of the community. Since they have developed a spirit of trust about them, people respond with an attitude “Lead on, and we’ll follow”. Since they have seen him weather good and bad times, they know he’ll be there even if there are roadblocks along the way. Ask a new pastor, “Is this a stopping point or staying point?” The staying point may not be 30-40 years but it ought not to be just 2-3 years either.

5. No prayer no planning keeps a church small.


Planning is a must, but planning without prayer doesn’t work nor does prayer without planning. An unbeatable combination is when God does His part and we do our part also. Some churches stay small because they do not have a personal relationship where they can talk to God and ask God to do His part and in like manner neither do they do their part either.

The answer is very simple, pray as you plan and plan as you pray. For the sake of the lost, ask God to help the church to grow. We must pray that God will help us see the essentiality of evangelism. “As we grow there may be many people we do not know” and who do not know us, nor what our position in the church is? It is more important that others know Him than that others know us.

We must plan and decide how many we are going to contact with the gospel, over the next week, month and year?
Conclusion: God is not hung up on numbers nor should we be. But, God is concerned for the lost and a church that impacts the lost grows by conversion and that equals numbers. Numbers ought to be one indicator of His blessing. The church grows when God and His people are in partnership. The focus then is so on the work of God that people are asking God to increase the small church. More people in the local church mean more workers, more funds, and more giftedness-all things that increase the influence of a church in the surrounding communities.

Some of these ideas were derived from other writers...but all made me start thinking and writing.