You’ve found a church you enjoy attending. It’s feeding you spiritually, and the pastor shows you he does care about his congregation. The only thing you’re struggling with is the fact that this is a small church. You wish there were more people in attendance.
Did you know that it’s up to you to help your church grow?
Why A Church Must Grow
There are several reasons why you need to help your church grow. Let’s take a moment to consider these reasons for ourselves:
- In Matthew 28:19, we’re told, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The early New Testament church took this command seriously, and we should do so too.
- When you help your church grow, it’ll have more impact on the community than the pagan counterculture does.
- Jesus valued people, and we should value them too. This value can be demonstrated by asking people to join us for church and thanking them when they choose to do so.
- As you help your church grow, you open up new opportunities for people to step forward and serve. You’re also allowing more people to find Christ’s calling in their lives.
Why Some Churches Don’t Grow
You may think that all of this is easy enough, but some churches still don’t grow. Churches like this should take a look around and check out what’s happening. Once you see what the issue is, you should be able to help your church grow. These issues include:
- Think of those who visit your church as guests. If your guests hear you arguing amongst yourselves, they’re not going to want to stay. Sure, conflict may exist, but we need to turn to the New Testament for a virtual manual of conflict resolution. Taking the time to do this instead of gossiping and being argumentative will help your church grow.
- Stop clinging to the past. While tradition may have brought about some fantastic days with it, you can’t expect to use these same things to reach the next generation. When your church starts looking like a museum, you can rest assured the end is near.
- Self-centered and toxic (e.g., fake, judgmental, hypocritical, angry, narrow-minded, unkind) church members aren’t going to be people anyone wants to spend time around. Instead, people want to be around energizing and mesmerizing people – the type of people who’ve allowed Christ to reshape their lives.
- You can’t be angry at the culture we live in and expect to reach people in that culture. When you see these people as your “enemy,” they won’t want to accept an invite to check out your church. Instead of debating such issues, you should take the time to reach out to these people where they are.
- You can’t afford to be so narrow-minded that you refuse to think anything is wrong with your church, or you spend all your time focusing on church growth. Instead, we must focus on God and ask Him what He wants us to do. Sometimes He’ll show us something in our church that needs to be fixed before we can reach out to others. Other times He’ll show us that we’re so focused on growth that we aren’t thankful for what we already have, which are things we should be sharing with others.
Use Your Spiritual Gifts to Help Your Church Grow
Once you’ve taken some time to pray about what your church should and shouldn’t be like, it’s time to help your church grow by putting your spiritual gifts to work on its behalf. After all, it’s your spiritual gifts that help you find purpose in the body of Christ.
Understanding What Spiritual Gifts Are
The Holy Spirit gives every Christian spiritual gifts. These gifts are what make you a unique and vital part of Christ’s body. They aren’t natural talents, fruits of the Spirit, or roles.
Discovering your spiritual gifts is an essential part of Christian growth. It starts with being a Christian who believes in spiritual gifts. If this describes your heart, take some time to read the Bible, pray, and talk to other Christians about what gifts they see in you. You must then be willing to do the necessary work to develop your spiritual gifts as God leads.
How to Use Your Spiritual Gifts in Serving Your Church
Once you better understand what spiritual gifts you have, you’ll want to start using them to help your church grow. By doing so, you’ll not only grow deeper in Christ, but you’ll also see why you do matter to your church’s growth.
