Monday, June 22, 2009

GROWTH 1

We're experiencing some growth in our church right now. It's exciting to see. It is not only growth numerically, but our congregation is diversifying in some beautiful ways - ethnically, linguistically, societally.

In conjunction with that, I was reading what one author's top five church growth principles are and how we stacked up in these areas. Here they are, stretched one-at-a-time over this week's blog entries:

1 - Disciple making
The longer an organization exists, the more concerned it tends to become with self-preservation - and the less concerned it becomes with its original purpose - making disciples. Our time, money, staff - even our prayers - begin to be more and more inward-focused. Matthew 28:19 in 'The Message' says it so beautifully: 'A church CAN do many good things. A church SHOULD do a few important things. But there is only one essential thing a church must do: 'go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life."

And be blessed.

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