Growing Part II

In my last post, I stated some facts about our numerical growth....or lack of...in churches of Christ. I never referred to it as "numerical" growth, because I assumed the reader would know that was what I was talking about. I am sorry if I assumed too much ( I should remember the little story about assuming anything) and gave the impression that numerical growth is the ONLY kind of growth a Christian should be striving for or concerned about. YES........there are MANY ways churches can grow and many ways we as individuals can grow also! If you go back and read most of my posts, I think you will find a lot of posts about "growing" in ways that are not measured by numbers. So I am not a numbers freak. Mike's post was awesome yesterday (duh!) and I doubt there was anybody yelling "Amen" louder than I was! His post was about motives, and he was exactly right.........we should be people who have pure hearts and motives, and we for sure should not be motivated by the end results, but more motivated by the means we get there. I didn't refer to any motives at all in my post..........just facts. My post was very shallow, stating figures in black and white........his was deep to the core of who we are and why we do what we do. They are apples and oranges posts. And one other thing I need to clear up before I move on.....I said "Rick" and should have identified him by his complete name so you might not think I was referring to Rick Nelson or Rick Dees.
The men who did this class were Dave Stone and Rick Atchley.


Ok, let's continue this discussion now about NUMERICAL growth. :) Remember, churches of Christ have DECLINED in membership in the last 15 years. You will hear it being said by some folks, "Well, I am not into growing numerically......I just want to grow in my faith and be a faithful believer. I am not into quantity, I am into quality". Couple of thoughts about that......when does being "faithful" and "growing in my faith" include reaching lost people? Not because they are a "NUMBER" or because you want your congregation to have more numbers in their roll book, but because you want a lost person to be saved, and live with you for eternity? Sure our motives have to be pure! That is a given, so let's put that discussion to bed right now and not mention it again. Our motive should be the same as Jesus's motive when he said in Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost". It wasn't because of numbers, it was because each of those numbers had a soul......and each of those numbers had a name, a face, and he knew the amount of hair in each one of those "numbers" head. His motive was love, and our's should be too. Do numbers mean anything? Well, of course they do........or, absolutely not. It depends on what you are talking about, doesn't it? Take the numbers 1, 3 and 190,000,000. If one is how many times I have wished for a good breakfast this morning, then no...it is very insignificant. If it is one child that you have lost, then you better believe it is important. Ask Mike and Diane and Phil and Judy Hoggard if ONE is important. If 3 is how many times I schooled Keith Riley with a cross over dribble before he caught on, then no.....pretty meaningless. If 3 is how many hours you or a loved one has to live, then it takes on a different perspective. Ask Mike Bucchi if the 3 hours he was informed he had left with Marilyn were important. And the 190 million....well if that is how many times my mom told me to clean my plate, then forget about it. Not a biggie. But what if 190 million is how many unchurched, LOST people there are in the United States alone.......let alone the rest of the world. Then all of a sudden it should be pretty important. It was important enough for Him to come and die for. You see, you count what you care about, you count what is important to you. And that gets us back to the "quality vs quantity" discussion. What if a father and mother of 3 kids are out camping, and on a hike the kids get separated from the parents.....lost. Can you imagine the dad calling up the mom on her cell phone and saying "honey, I found the 2 QUALITY kids". Again, you count what you value.

The Great Commission was not a suggestion. Look at all the parables Jesus told about growth.......the sower, the yeast, the fig trees, the mustard seed, and the wedding feast where he says he wanted his house to be full! You tell me, was Christ concerned with numerical growth? DUH........again, because he LOVED lost people. And those numbers represented LOST children of His. Read Acts 2:41, 2:47, 4:4, 5:14 and 6:7 and ask me if the early church was concerned with lost people. They sacrificed for growth, prayed for growth, and praised God for growth......numerical growth. It's the nature of the Church, it's what a healthy church does. The church is not a hospice only, where you are called to simply sit by and watch the current members slowly die off. Jesus could have taken us back with him, so why didn't he? He could come take us now, so why doesn't he? There are two basic things we can do while we are here........sin or witness. Which of those do you think he wants us to do?

Rick suggested that the question is not "what will make us grow"? The question is "What are we doing that is keeping our churches from growing?" That is what I want to get to the next time I post. 190 million people matter, that is why we ask the question. Each one of them matter to Him, and they should matter to us too.