Growing the Congregation

September 27, 2010 Monday Message:

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been looking at declining church attendance, examining things wrong. But let’s turn this into a positive experience. Let’s look at what might help grow our congregations.

1. Do you have a church full of brand new baby-Christians --- or pews filled with mature, long-time believers? What do you feed them each week? Babies need milk; their little bodies can’t tolerate solid food until they get older. But as they grow, it becomes time for meat, potatoes and whole vegetables. Unfortunately, most churches serve only milk from the pulpit. So feed your sheep. Put some meat on the menu from time to time.

2. We talked about welcoming the Holy Spirit into our worship. When He is present, we can direct our worship right to God-the-Spirit. Without this connection, we’re worshipping maybe God in the Bible, maybe some God in our imagination, or maybe God in the God-box into which we have put Him. Even untrained unbelievers can tell if we’re really getting a touch from the Lord or if God is keeping his distance.

3. Intergenerational disconnect. I can’t explain what happened, but there’s a clear leadership gap between today’s church leaders and the next generation. In your church, that could be people in their 40’s, 30’s, or late 20’s. The 20-somethings will fill the pews if they’re on fire for Jesus. Therefore we must mentor and raise up that next generation of leaders. It’s time to rectify the shortfall, to recruit for God's army.

Next week we’ll introduce a few more church growth ideas, and some final thoughts to wrap up this discussion.

May God walk with you on life’s journey.

Norton Lawellin