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Church Growth: A Test

Church Growth: A Test. Do We Really Want This Church to Grow?. Church Growth: Then and Now. The early church grew (Acts 2:47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:1; 9:31; 12:24) Sixty years ago the Lord’s church was the fastest growing religious body in America

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Church Growth: A Test

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  1. Church Growth: A Test Do We Really Want This Church to Grow?

  2. Church Growth: Then and Now • The early church grew (Acts 2:47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:1; 9:31; 12:24) • Sixty years ago the Lord’s church was the fastest growing religious body in America • What about today? Are we committed to growth like the early Christians or our brethren of the 1940 – 50’s?

  3. Is This Church Growing? • We may not be growing because of immorality in the membership (Acts 5:1-11) • We may not be growing because of deaths in the membership (Acts 7:60; 9:37; 12:1-2) • We may not be growing because of apostasy in the membership (20:30) • We may not be growing because of lethargy in the membership (Rev. 2:5; 3:3)

  4. Church Growth: Three Areas • First, we must grow numerically through conversions (Mt. 28:19-20; Jn. 4:35) • Second, we must grow spiritually through knowledge (2 Pet. 1:5; 3:18) • Third, we must grow organically through cooperation (Eph. 2:21; 4:16)

  5. Church Growth: A Test • The Lord wants individual Christians to grow (2 Thess. 1:3) • The Lord wants local churches to grow (Acts 16:5) • Do you want what the Lord wants? Let’s take a test with 5 questions!

  6. Are We Earnestly Desiring Growth? • Are we satisfied with the current level of spiritual and physical size of this church? • Are we stagnant (Heb. 5:12 – 6:2)? • We must desire the lost to be saved (Rom. 10:1) • We must desire growth (1 Pet. 2:2)

  7. Are We Fervently Praying for Growth? • We pray for important things … is growth important to us? • Are we praying for the wrong things (Jas. 4:3)? • We must pray for growth (Col. 1:9-10; 4:3; 2 Thess. 3:1-2)

  8. Are We Wisely Planning for Growth? • Do we desire growth but have no specific plan to achieve it? • Are we all out of ideas? • We must plan for growth (Acts 5:19-21; 6:3-4; 8:14; 11:22-26; 13:2-3)

  9. Are We Diligently Working for Growth? • Are we actually doing something to cause growth? Do we plan the work and then work the plan? • Are we hoping that some one else will do the work necessary for growth (Mt. 25:25)? • We must go out and work to grow (Acts 5:42; 8:4; 1 Cor. 15:58; Gal. 6:9)

  10. Are We Seriously Expecting Growth? • Are we expecting growth as the Lord promised? • Are we no longer expecting the power of the gospel to work (Rom. 1:14-16)? • We must expect growth and patiently wait for it to come (Psa. 37:3-7; Mk. 4:8,26-29; Lk. 13:6-9)

  11. Church Growth: A Test • How did you answer these five questions? • God will certainly do his part (1 Cor. 3:6-7) • Will we do our part? Desire, Plan, Pray, Work, and Expect

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