Colossians 1:6
All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day your heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
Even though we talked about this passage earlier in the week, I want to look at it one more time today.
It is the nature of living things to grow. In fact, it could be said that a living organism that is no longer growing in some way is probably dying.
Paul is telling us that it is the nature of the gospel to grow. Therefore, we can also assume that, as people who have received the gospel by faith in Jesus Christ, we are to be growing in all dimensions of spiritual life. We can also assume that it is the nature of the church to grow; and that the church is to grow in several dimensions all at once.
For example: The church is to grow wider by growing in numbers; we call this reaching.
The church is to grow deeper in maturity; we call this equipping.
The church is to grow stronger in fellowship; we call this connecting.
The church is to grow in generosity and compassionate service; we call this Serve the World.
And quite often, in our North American culture, the church also grows in material resources; in facilities.
Over the past 118 years of our history FBCG has built buildings, built additions, sold buildings, bought property, built buildings, renovated buildings, bought more property and built more buildings. We believe God is leading us once again to add physical space to our ministry resources as we consider a plan to further renovate our East Campus and add space to our West Campus.
But I think it’s important for us to remember both why and how the church is to grow.
We are to grow because it is the nature of the gospel to grow. Just as good news of any sort tends to spread like wildfire, so also the good news of Jesus Christ is meant to be shared!
So that’s why we are to grow, but how are we to grow?
The traditional strategy for church growth has usually been called evangelism; that is, reaching people with the gospel or inviting them to come to church in order to hear the gospel. And that traditional strategy is still extremely important.
We know through a recent survey that 24% of those who have been part of FBCG for more than a year have invited someone to an FBCG service or ministry more than 3 times in the last 12 months.
And we know that 28% of those who are new to FBCG say they were personally invited by someone to attend a service.
So inviting people is a good thing! I think there are people in each of our spheres of influence who would respond positively to an invitation!
But I think there is another church growth strategy that has not yet been fully explored; and that’s serving.
A couple of years ago I was watching an episode of “American Idol” (OK, so I admit I watch occasionally!) when they did something called, “American Idol Gives Back.” As I recall they presented an opportunity for viewers to send a text message through their phones to a certain number – which resulted in a $10 donation for the purpose of provided mosquito nets for several regions in Africa in order to prevent the spread of malaria.
They raised something like $100 million in a couple of weeks.
I thought to myself, “If something as secular and superficial as ‘American Idol’ can serve the world’s needs like that, what should we be doing as the church?”
Well, “Serve the World” is what we call our initiative to make the gospel visible to the world. And I think there is tremendous untapped potential in serving to reach those who have not yet understood or received the gospel of Jesus Christ.
First, serving others in the name of Christ, whether through sharing food, clothing or other resources, helps make the gospel tangible and real.
Second, serving might actually be a way of reaching and connecting people to the church! What if, in addition to inviting people to join an FBCG service or ministry, we invited people to pack boxes of food for the hungry?
What if we invited people who do not yet know Jesus to serve the world alongside those of us who do?
Would they begin experience the joy and power of the gospel? I think maybe so.
Would their preconceived notions about the church be changed? I think maybe so.
Would they begin to build relationships that could result in connection to Christ and his church? Again, I think maybe so!
All this to be reminded that it is the nature of the gospel to grow. All this to be reminded that Jesus wants his church to grow.
But we are not to grow for growths sake! We are not to build buildings so that we can be more comfortable. The church is to grow in service of the gospel; and the gospel is that which inspires us to serve.
In other words: the church is to grow to serve and the church is to serve to grow.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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