This idea came from notes I recieved from my Mentor Jerrie Barber.
I Want The Church to Grow But I Don’t Want Any More People
Acts 6:1-7
During the summer of 1993 I was working with a missionary congregation in South Georgia. We were having a Men’s meeting to discuss how our summer had gone and the preacher at this congregation was addressing the group. To put it mildly the preacher was flat wore out. He had just returned from directing a week of camp that followed a very stressful VBS. You could hear the weariness and frustration in his voice as he addressed the men of the church. “We need this church to grow! We need to seek and save the lost! We need to reap the harvest! And I cannot do this alone. I need every family every member to share this load.” And he went on and on pleading with the men to get involved and do something. Then he finally asked the men “Do you want the church to grow?”
There was silence in the room as the men looked at the floor, the ceiling, and the walls anywhere but at some one else. Finally after what felt like an eternity one of the men spoke up and said, "Yes, I want the church to grow, but I don’t want any more people here." You could have heard a pin drop. I was appalled, and refreshed at the same time. I couldn’t believe what he had just said but I was excited about his honesty.
He went on to explain that he wanted the Church to Grow because that is what God desires, but he wasn’t so sure that it needed to grow in this small South Georgia town. It would be great if the church would grow in Valdosta, or Columbus, or even Atlanta but you know it could make it uncomfortable, and was sure to cause a ruckus if all these new people started showing up here.
If we were to be totally honest with one another we would have to admit that this brother in Christ is not alone. Most of us don’t like to fight or deal with stress or any type of hassles. And I have never seen a church grow without some type of conflict. And that is not new with us. From the very beginning of the Church there has been conflict with Church growth. Let’s look at Acts 6:1 – 4 and we will see a church on the grow and in conflict.
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
You see the church wasn’t even a year old and they were already struggling with the problem of growth and they were in conflict. You see the Hebrews were letting the Hellenists know that they were not wanted in the church. That’s why they were neglecting their widows. The wanted to serve and worship with people that they chose and the Hellenists were not the chosen ones.
And you know I have been in churches from California to New York, Canada to Florida and I see the same thing happening 2000 years later. Now we may have different ways of handling it but we still let people know that they’re not wanted.
For example there are subtle ways that we handle it.
The first way is called screening: Screening is done by a subtle movement of your body, if someone you don’t want at church comes up to talk to you or the group you are talking with you just move a little so the person is behind you.
The Next way is Exclusion – This is a little less subtle. We do this by inviting someone to a function (out to eat, over to play cards, to a movie) but not the person that is standing right there.
Finally there are Family Secrets – Family Secrets rule the world. There are little things that are taboo in every congregation.
I worked with a church one time where there were flowers that were placed on a ledge behind the pulpit. Every season a dear Sister would change the arrangement just as she has done for the last 40 years. In the summer of 2002 a new family had placed membership and wanted to donate some live flowers to freshen up the place. No one told them about the rule, of not touching the flowers. It wasn’t written down, it wasn’t covered in the new member handbook, but everyone, but the visitors and new members, understood it. The family went to the building one Saturday and made the mistake of “fixing” the flowers. Well about 10 minutes before Sunday School people started rolling in and there was the new family waiting to hear people ohh and ahh about the beautiful flowers. Unfortunately the Ohhs and Ahhs never came and what happened was not to pretty and the new family spent their last Sunday with us.
Then there are non-subtle ways that we let people know that they are not wanted.
Let me give you an example from the Church I was at before we moved to Mobile. We had been working in the neighborhoods around the church for several weeks, knocking doors, giving away clothes and school supplies. And one Sunday a woman and her daughter showed up. Now the daughter was severely disabled, she was about 20 or 22 she could not talk, or see. You could tell that they had never been in a Church of Christ before and about the 3rd song the daughter began to clap. We all got real uncomfortable with this young girl clapping loudly at the back of the church but we made it through the worship. Now after church this woman and her daughter were approached by one of our members and told not to come back until they learned how to act in church. And at the time we left they still hadn’t been back.
Now it is important to realize right here that it only takes one person to sabotage God’s plan. So if this church is serious about growth everyone must be serious about growth, from the Elders, to the deacons, to the minister, to the member sitting in the pew.
You see every member of the Lord’s Church should want the church to grow because we know that it’s God’s plan. And it has been in His plan from the very beginning. Listen to what we read in Daniel 2:44
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
It has always been God’s plan for his people to share their joy and the reason for their peace. But just because it is God’s plan doesn’t mean that we have bought into that plan.
Honestly there are some people that I may not want to come to worship with me because I am afraid of them. Once again that’s nothing new. Let’s look again at another passage from the Book of Acts. This time Chapter 9:26
And when he (Saul) had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.
The church was afraid of Saul and I understand that. His reputation was appalling and the truth couldn’t have been much better. He had hurt and helped kill their brothers and sisters and he was gaining more power every day. As ruthless as he was this had to be some type of trick.
Even Ananias didn’t want the church to grow if Saul was the next to be added. Look back up in verse 10
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."
Can you imagine how overwhelming it would be to have God appear to you directly? For God to come to you and say I have something that I need you to do. Wouldn’t you be chomping at the bit ready to spring into action? Well Ananias wasn’t as excited when he realized the nature of the task.
Can you imagine that the loss that you personally would have suffered if Saul had not been converted. Would there have been another man who could have boldly taken the good news to the Gentiles? Could another man have been so pliable to allow God to use him to write half or your New Testament and mine. I stand here tonight full of joy because Ananias let the Lord decide who needed to be in the church instead of him making that decision.
I can’t help but wonder what type of loss the Lord’s Church has felt because of our fear? And there are some people that I fear. Who would I want to keep out because of fear?
Child molesters, and Rapist
But who else do we keep out of the Lord’s Church because of Fear.
Prostitutes? Asian’s, Blacks, or Latinos?
What if someone like Jeffrey Dalhmer came to this building? Do you remember that monster? He was probably the most disturbed of all of the serial killers in our history. He was convicted to 15 life sentences for murders in Wisconsin, and 1 from Ohio. He not only murdered but he also dismembered his victims and kept parts of their bodies for trophies and cannibalized other parts. Do you believe that there is room in the Lords kingdom for an animal like him?
Thankfully Curtis Booth of Crescent, Oklahoma, and Mary Mott of Arlington, Virginia thought that there was. Both of them sent Bible correspondence courses to Jeffrey while he was in prison. After studying with him he asked to be baptized but they had to find someone close to the prison that had access and that could and would baptize him. They found Roy Ratcliff a Church of Christ preacher in the area who agreed to go and Roy baptized Jeffrey for the forgiveness of his sins.
The reactions to the news was somewhat mixed. There were some of us who lifted up praise to God for this remarkable conversion.
Then there were some of us who questioned His sincerity. They wondered if he was really converted or if it was just a trick. Can a man who was that horrible really change? Can a Leopard really change his spots?
Then there were some of us who felt a little to self-righteous and made statements like, "If Jeffrey Dalhmer gets to go to heaven, then I deserve something better."
What we fail to realize is that the same God who really could and would save Jeffrey Dalhmer is the same God that Paul wrote about in 1 Timothy 1:12-17
I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen
You know as awful as Jeffery was he was in the same condition as the rest of us. God says in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That includes you and me.
Jeffery was murdered several months after his conversion. There had been a few attempts on His life since his conversion and the warden reported that Jeffery never tried to take revenge. And at the moment that he was murdered he was studying from the book of Revelation. I believe that God still has the power to change.
Tonight do you want the church to grow, if so do you want it to grow here? How many new converts do you want? What kind of new converts do you want? And does God need to check with you before He lets them in?
Well if we check with God we will see the type of person God wants in His church.
First He wants all who are burdened with sin.
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" Matthew 11: 28-30
Next we wants everyone who wants to be saved.
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely Revelation 22: 17
So tonight how will we cooperate with Him? Or maybe for the first time we realize that God wants us also. Are you weary? Do you need to come back to your first love? Do you have the desire? Do you need the freedom that can only come by putting Christ on in baptism?
Tonight will you come as we stand and sing.
