Growing

Excerpt from "Growing the Church", posted Jan 18 by Scott Aughtmon at Awaken2008

I’ve been thinking about something recently. When we talk about “growing the church” we’re usually talking about growing the number of people at a Sunday gathering.

It’s a good thing to desire more people to be a part of your church, but what if we changed what we meant by “growing the church?”

What if, instead of focusing on growing the number of people, we focused on growing the people (the church) that God has given us?

Isn’t that what Paul is telling us that a leader’s purpose is in Eph 4:11-12?

^“11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” (NIV)

• I wonder how that would change our churches?
• I wonder how that would change what we do as pastors/leaders?
• I wonder how much our churches would still grow numerically as well as spiritually?

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