After 10 years in the mainstream ministry in the UK I had been brainwashed. Having been dragged from the ministry by the grace of God around the year 2000, I still have problems with defining growth. It was always spoken of as churches growing. Obviously this seems to be the logical green tick that God is doing something in your group. However, it is not the primary aim of God among your group of believers.
The aim of God is that people grow. The way Jesus instructed us to meet when we remember Him facilitates this growth. But if the aim of the body of believers you are in is primarily to grow the church it may be problematic. Believers need connection and proximity to the Lord to be able to grow. Leaders, if practising biblically, should be removing barriers to this connection and proximity and offering opportunities for more. I call it 'anchoring into our source.' In many churches the leaders are trying to grow the church organisation and less attention is paid to the individual growth.
The error continues. Many church leaders think that being part of the programs provided will aid growth. Indeed, they may add to the education, articulation or manifestation of Christian culture. But none of this is the growth that the Lord brings. so what is this growth that can only occur as we anchor ourselves into our source, Jesus Christ?
As a believer pursues the Lord Himself in devotional time, searching the scriptures and prayer, the Lord responds. If a person hangs around radioactivity for so long, the isotopes will damage the human body. Radioactivity emits unseen elements that harm the cells. Jesus is the same principle but opposite effect. Proximity through being anchored into the Lord will have him emit His power to us, power that heals, not hurts. This process is sanctification (Rom ch 5-7). It has us endure periods of trial as He works in the very core of our beings (Phil 2:13). This is a profound act of love towards us. We are entirely unworthy of this grace yet the Lord patiently keeps doing it. As this takes place we slowly surrender our wilfulness to God, and in tandem with this, we can perceive more of the Lord. Paul the Apostle called this going from 'glory to glory.' (2 Cor 3:18).
In churches that emphasise the growth of the organisation, it is dominated by programs and strategies. These distract the believer and are marketed as the way we grow as believers. I'm sure the Lord gets in on some level but as we can see, it isn't on the agenda to anchor people in to just Jesus. 'Stuff' peripheral to the Lord, risen and glorified, gets in and distracts the believer.
In these last days we see Mega Churches with thousands of people and they are impressive. Impressive... until we find what is really going on. They define God's fingerprint of blessing on numerical growth. So the investment goes into making the event excellent / contemporary / relevant / media savvy / attractive but the personal growth of the believer is not prioritised. A believers kudos at that church is attending, serving and growing it numerically. The net result is 10,000 spiritual babies that the Lord wants to grow but he cannot get their attention. Worse still the 10,000 spiritual babies are defining a relationship with the Lord wrongly and this perpetuates the myth that numerical growth is 'it' regarding God's approval.
Small house churches that meet around the Lords supper can also be having this mindset. As I said it was drummed into me for 10 years. However, our small group should celebrate not be concerned. The end times are 'as in the days of Noah.' It is a fact that even though a massive ship was being built and questions asked for 100 years precisely zero growth took place. But the faithfulness of the 8 who were in the process and then on the boat, meant they were the ones who were saved and set off the new world after the flood.
It's more than numbers.
Gary Ward
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