"Growing" the Church

It seems to me most of the conversation these days in the churches (my church included) are about - how to GROW the numbers.

It is exciting to see churches are alive in their zeal to evangelise for the glory of God in obedience to His commandment. But problem is, most of the churches today are trying to grow their numbers for the glory of men.

Historically speaking, if we were to compare the "success stories" of the past, most of the Apostles "failed miserably" by today's standard.

Let's look at Jesus' ministry: for 3 1/2 years He "only" managed to gather a following of 120 dedicated followers DESPITE what He had accomplished! Yes, God HIMSELF only managed to attract a congregation of 120 in the Upper Room! DISMAL, isn't it?

What about Apostle Paul? Yes, he did planted many churches throughout Turkey & Greece...but IN SPITE of his PERFECT theology & teaching (not to mention workings of miracles)...most remained small, poor, confused & fearful. Why? Well, ONE THING he lacked - Paul had the WRONG church growth strategy. If ONLY he had read today's Health-n-Wealth, Purpose-Driven, Seeker-Sensitive, Ecumenical-Minded methodologies! Marketing, Paul! That's the KEY!

What about Apostle Peter? After his preaching on the day of Pentecost, the church in Jerusalem grew by 3000 overnight! (Kudos, Peter!) And the growth continued DAILY. BUT he was HATED by the government, by the authority, by the majority of his people. He was beaten, jailed & eventually died as a martyr. Well, u see, obviously Peter lacked a PR manager. If ONLY he could learn from the TOP evangelical ministers today - on HOW to dress for success, HOW to be culturally relevant & sensitive, HOW to water-down his Gospel message with the unbelieving authorities...he could have done SO MUCH more for the Kingdom of God. Such a WASTE, Peter!

Err...I hope u get the point.

Interesting note - of the 7 Churches "judged" by our risen Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation only the church of Smyrna & Philadelphia achieved PERFECT score. Where one is poor & going thru tribulation, and another is of "little power" :( NOT exactly the kind of attributes we want to be known today!

Today, what most churches aspire to be - RICH, POWERFUL, RESPECTED, BIG, INFLUENTIAL & LOVED (by the world).

Btw, there is NOTHING wrong with money, power or influence - so long as these are NOT the motivations behind ur church growth movement. Today there is a lot of men-made methods in trying to grow the church. Some out of well intention (though misplaced), others out of greed.

May the church of Jesus Christ be ZEALOUS for the harvesting of souls for the GLORY of GOD!

For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

(1Co 3:4-6)