Church Growth

One time someone asked Wanamaker, “How do you get time to run a Sunday School with 4,000 students in addition to the business of your stores, your work as Postmaster General, and other obligations?”

Instantly Wanamaker replied, “WHY THE SUNDAY SCHOOL IS MY BUSINESS! All other things are just things. Forty-five years ago I decided that God’s promise was sure: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God...’”

That’s having a “church growth” mentality! John Wanamaker had it and we need to get it! We need to believe in our hearts, and say with our mouths and practice with our lives, “THE SUNDAY SCHOOL IS MY BUSINESS! THE CHURCH IS MY BUSINESS! REACHING PEOPLE FOR CHRIST IS MY BUSINESS!”

II. WE MUST HAVE SOME DEFINITE GOALS IN MIND

ILL.- There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other.

As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Henry, you’re holding the bat wrong. You’re supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark."

Aaron didn’t say anything, but when the next pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn’t come up here to read."

Hank Aaron knew exactly what he was there to do: HIT THAT BALL! And he wasn’t going to be distracted by Yogi Berra’s chattering.

ILL.- Henry David Thoreau once said, “In the long run men hit only what they aim at.”

WHAT ARE YOU AIMING FOR IN LIFE? And what is the church aiming for? We hit what we aim for. DO I NEED TO TELL YOU WHAT WE HAVE HIT THUS FAR IN OUR CHURCH?

Phil. 3:14 Paul said, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Apparently, Paul had heaven as a goal in his life. And that should be our goal too! WE SHOULD WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN! But that cannot be our only goal in life. And nor was it Paul’s only goal in life.

He wasn’t thinking about himself all the time. HE WAS THINKING OF OTHERS!

Rom. 10:1 “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.”

This Scripture could read: “Brothers, my goal in life is to see the people of Israel saved.”

One of Paul’s major goals in life was to bring people to Christ so they could be saved. This, too, must be our goal. But how do we accomplish that goal?

Just to say, “We want the church to grow” is not enough. If the church is going to grow, we must have some definite goals in mind.

ILL.- The Southeast Christian Church of Louisville, KY, started with about 130 people. Thirty-six years later the church is over 15,000 people. How did they do it? They laid plans. They set goals.

Here is an example of some of their goals. They apparently believed that for the Southeast Church to grow the worship services had to run as smoothly as possible and be meaningful.