The Cost Of Church Growth

1) This Church Will Never Be Like This Church Again. Eighteen years ago we had 6 adults involved in a Sunday Night Bible Study, that was Bedford Community Church, seven years ago we were averaging 45 in our Sunday Morning Service, six years ago we were averaging 135, last year we averaged 270 in our two morning service and afternoon service, and each Sunday we have people from around the world worship with us live online. Things change.

Some people have moved on to other churches, and other people have joined us, and with every new person the church changes. A church of 7 is radically different then a church of 45 which is completely different then a church of 150, which will be different then a church of 250 or 450 or 2000. As we grow we realize that it is a fact of life that the church will change and it won’t be like it was before.

Eighteen years ago we were meeting in our living room at 184 Basinview Drive, since then we have met in a community centre then a movie theatre and then back to the community centre, and at times when we got bumped out of our rented facilities we worshipped at the Berkeley in Bedford, at Basinview School, in a conference room in Sackville and at Fish Hatchery Park under a tree. Seven years ago this weekend, our church building looked like this and that Sunday 34 of us worshipped together at the Lebrun Centre. Three months later, in our third service in our new building 134 of us worshipped together, things had changed.

Six years ago we had one service on Sunday mornings and we had lots of room, now we have two services on Sunday morning and there are times it is crowded. Things change.

And you can only imagine how the early church felt, after the resurrection there had been 120 who had gathered in the upper room then we read in Acts 2:41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. And then in Acts 4:4 But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of believers now totaled about 5,000 men, not counting women and children. Things change.

Every new person, every new family will change the personality of Cornerstone. Think about it we are not the same church we were before you arrived to make your contribution. It becomes like a recipe that is changed by each additional ingredient. An egg is an egg, but with milk it becomes a scrambled egg, a little cheddar and you have a cheese omelet, add some flour and you have a popover, some baking soda, and sugar to your popover and you have a cake. Now I like eggs, omelets, popovers and cakes but they are all different.

And so the first cost of growth is change, not necessarily bad change or for that matter even good change. Just change and change has to happen.

Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister of England said “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.”

2) You Don’t Get Nothing For Nothing Contrary to popular opinion church growth doesn’t just happen. It requires sacrifice. Sometimes lots of sacrifices. One thing that people don’t like talking about in churches is money, but the truth is that churches can’t function without money. The money has to come from somewhere and the Scriptures are quite clear that the “somewhere” is the people of God. There is a lot of difference between the financial commitment needed to maintain a church and the financial commitment needed to grow a church.