CHURCH GROWTH
Acts 2:36-41
INTRO.- ILL.- Many churches are like the church that was going to build a new building. The building committee passed the following resolutions:
1- We shall build a new church.
2- The new building is to be located on the site of the old one.
3- The material in the old building is to be used in the new one.
4- We shall continue to use the old building until the new one is completed.
Obviously, that church was not going to build a new building at all. They talked like they were, but they didn’t act like it.
Many churches today talk about church growth but they’re really not doing anything positive to accomplish their goal.
ILL.- I can talk to you about fishing for largemouth bass all I want, but until I come back with a stringer of largemouth bass you won’t believe that I am a fisherman.
Some people talk a good game, but they don’t play the game. Some churches talk about growth, but they are really not interested in growing. They are really not interested in reaching people for Christ. They are not serious about their Christianity.
Walter Scott was a preacher in the early 1800’s. He didn’t try to reform anything, but he did want to help restore the New Testament church as she was in the beginning. His slogan was “Back to the N.T.” This story is told about Walter Scott.
ILL.- One day Scott rode into a schoolyard on his horse. The children gathered around him and he told him to hold up their left hand. When they did, he said, “Put faith on your thumb, repentance on your forefinger, baptism on your middle figure, remission of sins on your ring finger, and the gift of the Holy Spirit on your little finger.”
THEN HE HAD THEM REPEAT THOSE WORDS. Faith, repentance, baptism, remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Over and over, they repeated those words. Then he told him to go home and tell their parents that a man would be down at the schoolhouse to speak on that subject that night. They all went home and told their parents about the strange man who would tell them about faith, repentance, baptism, remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In those days, people didn’t have cars, TV, etc. to keep them away from church so they went to the schoolhouse that night to hear Walter Scott preach.
This was one of those nights, however, when Scott was not up to par. It was said that Scott could be boring as they come at times, and at other times, he was one of the best preachers there was. But this was not one of those times.
The children began to fidget and the adults acted bored. Scott saw that he would have to change his tactics. He abruptly announced, “HOW MANY OF YOU CHILDREN EVER PLAYED THE GAME ‘TOAD SKY HIGH’? Suddenly, everyone woke up. There was nothing like a game to stir up people’s interest.
Scott said, “To play TOAD SKY HIGH, you get a plank (a board) and put it on the ground on a rock like a see-saw. Get yourself a toad and put it on one end and then get the biggest kid you can find to hit the other end of the board as hard as he can. Then you can see how high the toad will fly. MAYBE HE WILL FLY, SKY HIGH.”
Then Walter Scott told how one kid hit the board so hard that the toad went up in the air about 50 or 60 feet. When the toad landed, he went “kerplop” and split wide open. He was bloody and his eyes were bulging out even more than usual. He was in agony.
At that moment, Scott saw that he had their complete attention. He said, “I come here tonight and tell you of the suffering of the Lord and how He was beaten and crucified and you go to sleep. But I tell you about the death of a toad and you are all ears. WHAT MUST YOU THINK OF YOURSELVES?!”
Brethren, can you imagine how those people must have felt? And is there an application for us today?
ILL.- Old preacher Vance Havner used to say, “The same church members who yell like Commanche Indians at a ball game on Saturday, sit like wooden Indians in church on Sunday.”
We need to get serious about our faith in Christ and in reaching people for Christ. I’m not saying that we all have to yell and scream, whistle and shout, jump and jerk, but there should be some sign of seriousness to our Christianity.
Someone once said, “If there’s a throb in the heart there should be a thrill in the step.” Or I would say, at least a smile on the face and a song in the heart.
ILL.- Southeast Christian Church of Louisville, KY, is apparently very serious about reaching people for the Lord. For the weekend of August 4-5, their attendance 15,217. Their offering was $460,266.33. An additional $23,781.45 was given to their building fund. They’ve now had 1,402 additions thus far this year.
I won’t talk about the Southeast Christian Church every week, but occasionally, I will let you know what they are doing. What about our church? I said last week in regard to spreading the message that we need to increase our efforts. We need to do more. We need to do whatever we can to reach people for the Lord. This is our responsibility. God didn’t give this responsibility to His angels. HE GAVE IT TO US!
PROP.- I want to give some ideas of what it will take to make the church grow.
1- We must have a growth mentality
2- We must have some definite goals in mind
I. WE MUST HAVE A GROWTH MENTALITY
ILL.- Two men were digging a ditch on a very hot day. One said to the other, “Why are we down in this hole digging a ditch when our boss is standing up there under the shade of a tree?” “I don’t know. I’ll ask him.”
So he climbed out of the hole and went to his boss and asked, “Why are we digging this hole in the hot sun and you are standing in the shade?” “Intelligence,” the boss said. “What do you mean, intelligence?” The boss said, “Well, I’ll show you. I’ll put my hand on this tree and I want you to hit it with your fist as hard as you can.”
The ditch-digger took a mighty swing and tried to hit his hand. The boss quickly pulled back his hand and the ditch-digger hit the tree. The boss said, “See? That’s intelligence.”
The ditch-digger went back to the hole and his friend asked, “Well, what did he say?” “He said we are down here in this hole and he is standing in the shade because of intelligence.” “What’s the intelligence?” asked his friend.
The ditch-digger put his hand on his face and said, “Take your shovel and try to hit my hand.”
That’s what I call being mental, but it’s certainly not good mentality. And, of course, we all do some dumb things in life. Why? Because we think that way at times.
We all could tell a story or two on ourselves about some dumb stunts that we have pulled in life. Hopefully, not as bad as the one in our story though.
ILL.- Churches do some dumb things too. They sometimes exhibit poor mentality. Many years ago Floyd Strater preached at the Knott Avenue Christian Church in Anaheim, CA. He was originally a Missouri boy, so he knew what he was talking about.
Floyd said that in every board meeting for 6 months they haggled over the purchase of a new lawnmower for the church. Should it be a rear-bagger or a side-bagger, self-propelled or push, four-inch wheels or three-inch, Briggs and Stratton engine or a Tecumseh.
He said that they spent 360 man-hours over a $200 purchase. He said that if every board member had taken a pair tweezers they could have manicured the lawn during that period of time!
SOME CHURCHES DO EXHIBIT POOR MENTALITY!
“As a man thinketh, so is he.” Prov. 23:7 Our thinking controls our actions. Our thinking controls our lives. Where we go, what we do. We must think right to do right. We must think church growth in order to go after it and experience it. WE MUST HAVE A CHURCH GROWTH MENTALITY IN ORDER TO EXPERIENCE IT!
The early church had it and we need to get it. Listen to the Word.
Acts 2:38 Peter said, “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
What happened after Peter preached those words to the people? Do you remember?
Acts 2:41 “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
They were added to what? To the Lord’s church! That’s church growth! Can you imagine? 3,000 people baptized in one afternoon. Things like that don’t happen unless people God is in it and people have their thinking right! The reason we don’t have more additions to our churches, more baptisms, is because we’re not thinking that way! If we’re thinking it, we’re doing it!
Acts 4:4 “But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.” In Acts 2 we read about 3,000 people being baptized. Now there are 5,000. What happened? CHURCH GROWTH! The people were thinking in terms of growth, outreach and it was happening!
Acts 5:14 “More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” MORE AND MORE people. That’s church growth.
Acts 6:7 “So the Word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly...” Increased rapidly. That’s church growth! And it happened because they had a “church growth” mentality!
Acts 8:1, 4 “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered.... V. 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”
The people preached the Word about Christ wherever they went! THAT’S CHURCH GROWTH MENTALITY! The early church had it and we need to get it.
ILL.- John Wanamker was a merchant, politician, and postmaster general in the mid 1800’s in the city of Philadelphia. But Wanamaker’s life certainly did not revolve solely around his business enterprises. He was also a devout and exemplary Christian. He was known around the city for his active involvement with the First Independent Church as a volunteer teacher. In addition, four years after the Young Christian Men’s Association or YMCA spread to Philadelphia, John Wanamaker was hired to provide leadership and guidance for the organization.
It was said of Wanamker that his religious dedication continued with the founding of the Bethany Church and Sunday School. No matter what was happening in his life or the necessity of his being at work for his stores, Bethany Church always came first, and Sundays were spent entirely with the religious life rather than resting from a hard business week.
DID YOU HEAR THAT? “No matter what was happening in his life or the necessity of his being at work for his stores, Bethany church always came first.” How’s that for a church growth mentality?!
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.
Bob Russell wrote an article for the Christian Standard publication entitled, “Ten Commandments for a Good Worship Service.” And the church must have adopted his ideas. Here they are:
1- Start on time.
He said, “We live in a very time-conscious society. Many events like ball games, etc. go by the exact time, but many church services start five or ten minutes late.” Bob said, “Few people notice if you start on time, but everyone notices if you finish on time.”
2- Provide an alternative for children.
Bob said, “Good nursing facilities, preschool and grade school programs benefit both the children and their parents.”
3- Avoid lag time.
Bob said, “If a five-second blank space appears during regular TV hours you know that somebody in the control room is making a mistake. TV producers know the importance of every second. Yet in the average worship service there are 15 and 30 seconds of ‘lag time’ which leaves the impression, ‘We’re unprepared’ or ‘What we’re doing is not very important.’”
4- Change the order of worship periodically.
Bob said, “Worship services need a basic structure and a repeated form. If nothing is familiar, people feel ill at ease. But if nothing is ever changed, worship can become boring or a vain repetition.”
5- Take advantage of new music.
Many churches are going to what is called “contemporary” worship services. Some churches have two services: one contemporary and one traditional. Why do they do this? To meet the needs of all the people. However, having two completely different types of services can be problematic.
ILL.- Recently, I heard about a church that has an early service which has contemporary gospel music. There is a lot of standing and repeating of choruses, over and over. The second service uses the traditional style of worship with old gospel hymns.
I was told that in that particular church that 2/3’s of the people attend the early service with contemporary music and only a third attend the traditional worship service.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, but in some churches they become divisive and argumentative and there is a power struggle over who is going to run the church. AND THAT’S WRONG!
We should never let the style of music divide us. I think the best solution is to have blended services which many churches are doing.
6- Keep public prayers brief.
Bob Russell said, “You may think it’s spiritual to drone on and on with clichés and pious phrases, but almost no one is listening. Public prayer should generally be short.”
7- Keep to communion service to five minutes.
Bob said, “Most of us have a difficult time praying silently for more than five minutes. There is nothing more spiritual about a twenty minute communion service.”
8- Preach expository messages to Christian people.
Russell said, “I am of the opinion that the Sunday morning service should usually be a worship and instructional time for the believer.”
I believe that too. I believe in preaching sermons that motivate and inspire, but also give instruction and teach something solid.
9- Don’t prolong the invitation hymn.
Russell said, “It degrades the gospel to beg people to respond.”
Brethren, when I was a kid we used to sing 40 stanzas of “Just As I Am.” At least, it seemed like it. The invitation would drag on and on.
And I remember that some people would go to other people during the services and try to get them to go forward. I remember distinctly one time when some older kid came to me and tried to get me to go forward. And all he did was make me mad. HE SURE DIDN’T INFLUENCE ME OR ENCOURAGE ME FOR CHRIST.
We need to let God convict and lead and give increase in people’s hearts.
10- Quit on time.
Russell said, “Respect the fact that people have schedules and our culture is accustomed to keeping time commitments. If you quit on time, people know what to expect and are much more likely to return and be blessed by the worship.”
ILL.- One church advertised their worship service as running from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. When I preached there we got out every Sunday by 11:30. The next preacher who came along continued preaching many times until 12 noon. Can you imagine the effect that had on the people?
Brethren, these ten commandments for a good worship have been incorporated in the Southeast Christian Church. They are short-range goals which they have used to help reach their long-range goal of church growth. AND APPARENTLY, THESE GOALS HAVE WORKED FOR THEM.
WITHOUT GOALS THERE WILL BE LITTLE OR NO CHURCH GROWTH!
What about our church? What goals do we have? In the church newsletter of May 23, 2001, we sent out a letter containing some goals. Here they are:
1- Grow the membership
2- Start local missions
3- Expand the Christian education and youth programs
4- Achieve financial stability
5- Evaluate building needs
Of course, our major goal is to win souls to Christ!
All these goals are admirable. But they are general goals of what we would like to accomplish. Now, we need to establish some specific goals in order to accomplish these general goals.
A CHURCH WITH NO GOALS WILL GO NOWHERE. You aim at nothing, you hit nothing. You plan nothing, you do nothing. You do nothing, you accomplish nothing.
CONCLUSION-------------------------------------------
ILL.- John Bisagno former Pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church tells the story of going there to interview for the position of pastor many years ago. He said that as he entered the auditorium it was dimly lit, with just a few people huddled together. They were singing some old funeral type song that was depressing.
Later that day he took a walk in downtown Houston and came to a jewelry store. It was a grand opening and there were bright lights and a greeter at the door to welcome people with a smile. Inside there was a celebration going on. There were refreshments and people having a good time talking and laughing with each other. They welcomed him and offered him some punch.
And John Bisagno said that after attending both the church and the jewelry store, if the jewelry store had offered an invitation, he would have joined the jewelry store!
Surely this ought to tell us something about growing a church! If we don’t make a strong effort to win and woo people, and dish out good stuff, we won’t win anybody to Christ and draw them into the church!
I vote for church growth!
