Holiday seasons can be stressful or joyful, or… both! It’s pretty much up to us. I’m looking forward to a continued joyful time of the year! Hopefully, you will enjoy a blessed time of the year with the focus on the ‘Reason for the Season’!!!
What does it take for a Church to grow? Giving that some thought, it seems that there are several ways, not just one.
The first way, very natural, is for members to have children, which adds to the church family. However, some people move away and usually take their children with them ( : ) ). That’s supposed to be a smiley face! So, this is one way that was very effective when the community was mostly farming and large families were present. But it has its disadvantages.
Another way is to grow by assimilating new members from other churches. They may be folks who move into the community which brings new people with new ideas. That’s healthy. The down side is some come having left another church dissatisfied. Sadly, some bring their dissatisfaction with them. So this way has its ups and downs.
A third way to grow is by creating new branches on the tree, so to speak. New believers are the best way to grow the Church. When you do it this way, you don’t have to be as concerned with ‘We never did it this way at the other place!’
The difficulty in growing with new believers is that we must be prepared to love and train a new believer in the ways of Christ. Most of the time churches want to simply train new believers to be good church members, doing things the way we’ve always done without understanding why!
For a church to grow through gaining new believers and helping them mature into solid Christians, we must plan and put the plan into place. There is a way to do this well and bring new believers into the Kingdom and into the Church! Let’s pray about doing this!!!
In Christmas, the celebration is that God has provided the most Wonderful Gift of All; the Gift of His Son! Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the Great Gift of Life through Jesus Christ our Lord!
I remain grateful to serve with you!
Bro. Wayne
