Acts Keys to Church Growth!
(Added, More Added, Multiplied, or Multiplied Greatly!)
What are the keys to church growth? I have planted and pastored some churches over the years and have read many of man's ideas on church growth. I have even attended conferences and seminars on the subject. Many times when a successful pastor brings his church to "mega-church" status, he writes a book to explain how it was done. Though you can read many useful ideas, they never seemed to work for me.
But I have noticed that the Book of Acts shows a rapid intensity of growth rate in the first few chapters. So I decided to look at these verses a little bit closer to see if I can see some keys to the various levels of intensity in growth. In Chapter 2, right after the birth of the church, Scripture tells us that the Lord "added" to the church daily. Then in chapter 5 we read that the Lord "more added" to the church. In chapter six we first read that the believers were "multiplied", then later in the chapter we read that the believers were "multiplied greatly".
Let's look at these four passages and see if we can find a few keys to church growth.
Ac 2:47 = "Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved"
Praising = Aineo = A-e-nA'-o = to sing praises;
Added= Prostithemi = pros-tith'-ay-mee = to join together, to add;
Sozo =to be made whole, delivered, healed, made complete;
Through heart-felt songs of praise, God daily brought people to their gatherings;
It isn't too important what syle of music is used, many people choose to have a variety of styles. But the important thing is that you aren't just singing songs, but truly entering into heart-felt worship to our Lord. People can tell the difference. As the leaders enter into the realm of true worship most in the congregation will join in.
Jesus said, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23-24).
Jesus also said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32)
So God will use our songs of true worship from our hearts to bring people to our congregations and to Himself. Now let's see the next time we are told about people being added to the church.
Ac 5:14 = "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women."
More = Mal' lon = To a greater degree;
Added = Prostithemi = to join together, to add
What was it that caused this greater adding? The context from 5:12-5:16 primarily emphasizes the great signs, wonders, and healings that were occurring through the apostles.
Verse twelve starts this paragraph off by mentioning numerous and startling signs and wonders being performed among the people. What was the key to those signs and wonders? I believe that one key to the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our churches is unity. Verse twelve also mentions that they were in "one accord". Every time in the New Testament when the Gifts of the Spirit are mentioned, there is an emphasis in the context on unity. We see that in Romans twelve, I Corinthians twelve, and in Ephesians four.
Verses fifteen and sixteen both mention great healings taking place. It mentions that even Peter's shadow touching someone would produce healings and miracles. When God's supernatural power is in demonstration, it gets peoples attention. God gives each of us spiritual gifts, as he determines it (Eph. 4:7). These gifts include various roles within the church (Eph.4:11; I Cor.12:28-29). But it also includes supernatural charismatic gifts ( I Cor.12:7-11).
As we work together, each of us serving and ministering according to the gifts and abilities Christ gives us, we will grow. As people receive healings and broken lives are put back together, people will be drawn to us. So what is it that caused the church to grow even faster?
Acts 6:1 = number of the disciples were multiplied (Plethuno = play-thoo'-no)
The previous verse mentions that they were daily teaching and preaching Jesus.
5:42 = And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
There is great power in God's Word. But the greatest power in preaching and teaching It is when we are preaching and teaching it in the Light of Jesus. In other words, we don't want to preach legalism. We don't want to teach rules and law. We want to proclaim the work of the cross. We want to shine the light of the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the lives of the saints.
So through praising Him, God added to the Church; through the gifts of the Spirit, He more greatly added to the church;Through daily proclaiming the Word of God and preaching and teaching Jesus, God multiplied people to the church; But what is the key to the "multiplied greatly" phase of the church?
Acts 6:7 = "Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith."
What happened between verse 1 and verse 7? The apostles had the congregation elect 7 men full of wisdom and full of the Spirit to be in charge of the administration and business issues of the church so that the leaders could focus their full attention on the Word and prayer. So the key seems to be that we have the right people in place doing the detailed support ministry work and that the pastor and leaders are not having to focus on anything other than the Word and Prayer. Allow your pastor to be a full time pastor. If he has to work a secular job, it is taking away from his effectiveness as a pastor. If he has to do the tedious chores of running a church, surely his preaching and teaching will suffer.
