"How To Get A Crowd In Church?"

Title:

“How to Get a Crowd in Church?”

Every preacher wants the blessing of God upon his Church. I too, want to see a crowd in my Church, but how to do it is another thing to consider. There are only two points to this message. May God challenge your heart, as he did mine, in preparing this message and preaching it to the people of Bible Baptist Temple.

1. Forget about the Crowd… (miracle and bread crowd)

Jesus did not have a problem getting a crowd. He had just performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand with the loaves and the fishes. The problem was that that was the reason why people crowded around Christ. They only followed him only for the loaves and the fishes!

If we had a potluck every Sunday, and put on a really good show every week, we too, could have a crowd. But that was not then, nor is it now, the "crowd" that Jesus was interested in.

Remember when Jesus would do no more miracles among them because of this pervasive attitude? He asked his disciples, "Will you also go away?" It was Peter who gave the answer that Christ was looking for,

(John 6:67,28) Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

That is the "crowd" that Jesus is looking for!

Which brings me to my only other point on the subject of "How to Get a Crowd in Church?"

2. Go after One…

Read again our text. Jesus would leave the "loaves and fishes" crowd behind, and headed for Samaria. Their was "one" person that he wanted to see there.

Why? That God’s house may be full.

Sometimes I think that I must be an unspiritual Pastor because I always want a crowd in Church. If getting a crowd to come to Church is all about "me," I would be unspiritual. But getting a crowd to come to Church is all about Christ.

Why is it important to get a crowd in Church?

Notice that God wants his house full.

(Luke 14:23 KJV) And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

And He has called upon me to fill it.

I always take the scriptures personally to my heart. I assume in this parable about the wedding feast, that God is calling me the "servant" in the text. I believe that God wants me to "Go out into the highways and hedges, and to compel people to "come in" that HIS house my be full!

Why? Because Jesus is worthy to be praised.

Next question: Who am I going to get to fill the house?

Read (Luke 14:21) So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

The woman at the well falls into this category. That is why Jesus "must needs go through Samaria."

Note these five things about her:

The woman at the well… a Samaritan

The woman at the well… a woman.

The woman at the well… lonely.

The woman at the well… sinful.

The woman at the well… lost.

Instead of working to get a crowd in Church on Sunday, we need to concentrate on winning one soul to Christ for eternity!

How do you get the woman at the well saved?

Let me summarize the rest of story found here in John 4 with just these two quick points on being an effective "soulwinner:"

1. I need you…

Jesus told the woman, "Give me to drink." She was surprised that a Jew would actually talk with her, let alone ask her for a drink. God needs people in the ministry. Always keep in mind as you are witnessing to someone, that you could be winning a future "Sunday School Teacher" to Christ!

2. You need me… (Jesus)

Of course this woman at the well needed Christ! She had gone through five broken marriages. She had given up on the institution of marriage altogether. She was a "sinful" woman. But Christ could change all of that. If she would drink of the water that Christ would give, she would become a "new creature in Christ Jesus!"

(2 Cor 5:17 KJV) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

“How to Get a Crowd in Church?”

This ONE would bring her entire city to Christ!

In the words of Paul Harvey, "And that is the rest of the story!"