How Can I Help My Church to Grow? part 1

The first thing you can do to help your church to grow is put this question down (on your immaculate kitchen counter) until you’ve answered preliminary question number one:  Why do I want my church to grow? 

Is it because your church is getting smaller and the volunteer workload is becoming unbearable? That is a difficult situation, but not a great reason to want to grow your church. There are lots of organizations out there with an aging and shrinking volunteer base, but does this reality motivate you or me to join these organizations to solve their problem?  Yeah, not really. Wait you say! What about our declining budget, surely people will want to come help solve our church’s financial problems? Yeah, not really. 

Ok. How about I want my church to grow because my church has been important to me? You've grown in faith there, made friends there, been supported through the best and worst moments of your life there. You've been challenged and equipped to live life differently and impact your world with love at your church. Those are pretty good reasons to want your church to grow. Those reasons aren't just about you and your church’s needs, but about how other people can be blessed because of your church, too. There are other reasons. All sound reasons for church growth should align with Jesus’ Great Commandment to “Love God and Neighbor” (Matthew 22:37-40). 

Speaking of God, that I hope, would be an obvious reason to want your church to grow. There are lots of organizations, groups, and movements that help address social ills or bring people together for mutual support (like my Thursday night Texas yodeling class) but it is only the Christian Church that exists specifically to help people encounter God through the person of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ Great Commission, “Go…make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:16-20) should also motivate our efforts at growth. The Great Commandment and the Great Commission should complement one another, resulting in growing numbers of disciples, growing in the practice of love.

Now that you’ve answered the why question, you’re ready to answer a second preliminary question: What do I mean by church growth? (Yes, for original readers that means you’ll have to wait until next week for the next post. You can clean your counter in the meantime).

PS: Feel free to share in the comments why you want your church to grow.