The Fastest Way To Grow Your Church, Part Two

by Fred C. Rochester. The Fastest Way To Grow Your Church, Part Two. Copyright 2011. All Rights Reserved.

In Part One we covered two out of seven things that is essential for church growth.

1. Worship and

2. Prayer and Evangelism

Without these two important things, your church cannot grow.

Church growth begins when there is a pursuit to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost. True church growth is never a shift in numbers. Transfer growth is when people that are already believers stop going to one church just to attend another church.

That’s church hopping.

They are pursuing membership, not discipleship.

When church hopping happens, this is an indication of immaturity on the part of the believer unless they are arriving at churches that are faltering or failing to provide true stability. Granted, there are some churches that do not provide genuine discipleship but God never called His people to uproot at random based on feelings.

You must have a solid discipleship plan to bring them along and help stabilize them in their relationship with the Lord Jesus.

If you are only counting numbers of people in a chair and not ministering to them so they can grow in the Lord, you will have a church full of babies that will never reach their full potential in Christ. The Lord wants you to be fruitful and multiply, however, maturation is a long term investment process.

It is important for the pastor and the people working with the pastor to establish an atmosphere of worship, prayer and evangelism.

Too often, many pastors look for natural means to do a supernatural work. In other words, when they see that nothing is happening, they look to do natural means alone to get the job done without inquiring the Lord.

What kind of natural means?

Marketing. Mailings. Attraction gimmicks.

I am not saying that we are not to do these things (except gimmicks) but we are not to be totally reliant on these things.

I encourage you to do like David. Before you make a move, inquire of the Lord. Get God’s counsel on what you need to do. When you get God’s counsel, anointing, and grace, you must be prepared for twists and turns.

You cannot rush God.

As a side note, when you are with working with people, there will be some that will not agree with what the Lord placed in your heart.

There is two kinds of opposition in the church.

All opposition comes from the devil, however, the opposition originates in the realm of the spirit and enters into the heart of the unsuspecting.

Demonic opposition is when the devil is fighting everything you do in the realm of the spirit. This is where the “Daniel kind of praying” is warranted. You go into prayer and fasting against what is against you, or against what is preventing you from receiving what God has in store for the local church. And you take a stand until there is a definitive release from the Lord.

People opposition is Galatians 5:7-26 in operation in the local church.

When the people inside the church is fighting one another, it is a clear indication that the devil has found someone to work through to stop the momentum. When people intentionally become unwilling to do certain things to help you facilitate growth in the church, it is people opposition.

When people disappear at the right moment or quit when they are most needed, it is people opposition. I should point out that not all disappearances and quits is a person’s fault.

There are other factors that do occur that makes disappearances and quitting easy. Sometimes, difficult pastoral leadership or difficult leaders alleged to be working with the pastor can make doing the work of the ministry difficult.

When people willingly agree to disagree, and it is their right to do so, it is still people opposition. If they disagree just over trivial things, they are being difficult and they want to control the pastor.

As a pastor, you cannot make people agree with you. You cannot stop people from opposing you when they’ve made up their mind to stand against you. You cannot stop people from disappearing when you need what they have.

What you can do is pray for those that are in opposition to come into agreement with you. Or, pray for new people to come and replace them.

Pray, as Pastor Robyn Gool would say, “for the right kind of help.” Don’t just pray for help because the wrong kind of help will show up.

Be specific.

Pray that God would send people that is agreeable with the will of God, the vision, and mission for the local church. Pray that they can receive pastoral authority and Biblical leadership. Pray that they are teachable and have a humble spirit. Pray that they have the wisdom of God.

Pray that they can work with little to no supervision to get the task done. Pray that they can discern the will of God for the house and work with each other, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

And when the Lord sends them to you, you must teach them that they are necessary for the body to function according to 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. Teach them to operate in the fruit of the Spirit according to Galatians 5:22. Teach them that their measure is required of them according to Romans 12:1-13.

You teach them that they cannot hold the church back by withholding what God gave them. You teach them that they do not have the right to withhold the gift of God. God gave us life, health, and strength. He has blessed us and we feel that we have the right to tell God that we are not going to give Him what is His all along.

All of a sudden, we assume the right to tell God how we are going to be used.

“In Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28.

In the same way He gives us breath, in an instant, we can stop breathing. In an instant, because we were obedient, the abundant blessings of the Lord comes. In an instant, because of willful disobedience against the known will of God, the abundance could be dried up.

Sometimes, only a few people will grasp what you see and join in with you to get the job done. Sometimes people are not patient and will exhibit frustration and anger. This is not the time to join in their frustration and anger. It is the time to be patient and teach them what the Lord told you to do.

As a pastor,  you must be faithful with what is in your hands.