God created the church. It wasn’t Paul, Constantine or some conspiratorial faceless group. God, right out in the open, brought the church into existence through his own power in Christ. Matthew 16:18, Acts 20:28
God put the church into the middle of this corrupt world. He didn’t cut it off from the world. He put the church, His holy bride, right in the middle of this unholy mess called the world. Ephesians 5:25-27
God planned that His church would grow through the rescuing of people from this lost world. The future Christians will be the sinners who presently resent, oppose or ignore Him and us. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
But what makes the church grow? Experts (I am always a little bit suspicious of people who speak as experts in the kingdom. Is that just me?) tell us there are many factors. They list them. Researchers conduct surveys and write books and explain to us why the church grows when it does grow. These are helpful but they are not the authority on this question. God is.
Here is what He says.
“ From 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 4:16). The church grows as it functions together in a healthy way (love) just like our bodies. “As each part of (the church) does its work”. Hmmm. Each part.
It is up to each part to do its God ordained job (1 Corinthians 12:18). Some have strayed from this principle. They talk of some parts being more important and how that we need to hire the right people and that will make the church grow. No part is more important than any other. They all have their part. That’s why they are called parts. Is it that obvious?
It seems to be common in churches today to give the preacher all the credit for the growth of the church. I am a preacher and I wish I had that much control but it is not true. The preacher has his part but without the other parts working with him, he would be preaching to empty seats. For a church to grow preachers need to preach, deacons need to serve, inviters need to invite, encouragers need to encourage, teachers need to teacher, cooks need to cook etc. etc. Do we get the point? I don’t know, but God keeps trying to get through to us.
Paul, in considering the growth of churches reveals to us more detail of how God causes the growth.
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:6, 7). He goes to great lengths here to make it clear that it is not the planters of the seed that cause the growth. We may idolize teachers, scholars, preachers and authors (Paul was every one of these) but God doesn’t. He claims the power for growth of His church is God, Himself.
When we think we have come across the magic bullet of church growth we need to think twice. God is clear on this. The planters of the seed and the seed are important but the real cause for growth lies in how God brings life from human actions and words.
Too often we try to take over God’s job. We want to be the judge of the world. That’s God’s job. We want to grow the church. That’s God’s job. We want. We want. We want. God give me the humility to realize that the kingdom of Jesus is about me doing what God wants and getting out of the way. Do your part and God will do His.
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