Hi,
We announced the move to 2 services this Sunday. To be honest I can't tell how people feel about it. I am seeing more and more the bad health in our church. i am seeing that people's first response is self-protection and skeptism.
I wrote a FAQ booklet for people. One of the questions I answered was "Is this God's will?" The answer I wrote there and here is "I don't know". Nelson Searcey on his CD of breaking the 250 growth barrier says that Pastors should believe it is God's will for our church to grow. I struggle. I struggle with not wanting the church to grow and to see more and more lives transformed by the Gospel. To see more men and women and children cross the line of faith and be baptized. I don't struggle with wanting to see more followers of Jesus be made and those followers getting stronger and stronger in the faith.
I struggle because the only thing I am sure about that is "God's will" is what is written in the Bible. I have been looking for the chapters and verses about how to pastor a growing church and I can't find it.
Is is God's will for Crossbridge to go to two services? I don't know. I do know that we are to serve the Gospel. That we have been entrusted with the Gospel and that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
I don't know how this is all going to work out but I want to hide in the text, preach Jesus like a mad man, love people, and reach out to my community. I think that is God's will.
Where are the pastors who are God-Centered and Gospel-Driven that talk realistically about church growth. Who can mentor the young pastors in these transitions without giving me the cup of church growth watered down kool-aid that everybody else is drinking from?
I am rambling.
This is hard. This is exhilerating.
Church Planting.....I need a stiff drink.
Later
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
IMHO I agree that this is a struggle that every pastor has to deal with and I think the divine tension between church growth numerically and church growth spiritually is what causes a pastor to cry out to the Lord for a divine vision of where God wants to take the church that he has been called to plant or pastor.
I pesonally feel that I know the size that God wants the church where I pastor to reach which is not as big as some, but it's not as small as others - but the key is in the spiritual strength and stability that we are looking for.
Here is a thought...does the church really consist of the number of attenders are do we minister to a mixed multitude?
Anyhow, just rambling...
Post a Comment