CHURCH GROWTH AND HOW TO FIND IT

Life in the church is simply complex and complexically simple.

Yes.

Filled with ambition we are primed to roll up our sleeves and get at it.  Or, loaded with confusion we are ready to throw up our hands to say, I don't know what else to do.

Yes.

Church growth is God's responsibility.  Our job is to sow and water; He alone causes increase.

Yes.

A bottleneck in the church is usually found in elderships who feel inclined to dispense Permission Granted to work requests.  In the name of shepherding the flock, many congregations cannot proceed toward God's handiwork simply because some elder(s)'s most vital need is to control.

This is a trait belonging to God.  And haven't you noticed He operates with one constant surprise after another?  The Restoration Movement has not taken us back to God.  It has taken us back to what the second generation restorationists insisted upon as God's way when much of it wasn't; it was more of man's....again.

The Bible is not a tidy handbook of How-Tos.  It is simple in its call to God's refusal to be trapped by man's authoritative arm.  He will not be cornered by our weak and self-laden understanding.

After these many years in the church, I am increasingly enjoying learning that God still has it about His wits to present believers with the surprise and mystery of beyond-imagination kingdom.

Father didn't run low on creative concepts after He parted a sea and a river and then caused a jailhouse to look like it was constructed with Legos.

Church growth and how to find it is never to be found in man's conclusion for such is Tinker Toyish at best.  Participating in church advancement is found in God's provisional hand.

The surrender of our own efforts is a move in the right direction.  A belief in the Son is the absolute work called for....John 6:29.