God has taught me an invaluable lesson about growing a church; don't try! So often as pastors we so want to see our church grow and prosper that we try everything we can to make it grow. We buy all the books on church growth and follow the strategies and models that are taught. We watch other churches to see how they are doing it. We make plans and goals and toil over them. But what many pastors miss - until recently, I included - is the fact that none of these things ultimately grow a church. God does! And in His best selling book, God put it like this, "I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Danger fellow pastors and ministers! When we get caught up in the corporate mentality of growing "our" church and building "our" personal kingdom we are actually working against the very kingdom we should be a part of building. I prayed a while back and ask God a question, "How do little churches grow and get big?" His answer to me was simple and incredibly profound, "Use what you have." Danger once again to fellow pastors and ministers! Stop trying new tricks, simply and effectively use what God has given you. Again, in God's best selling book he tells us in Luke chapter 19 that we should invest and be good stewards of what God has given us. And when we do we will see incredible returns. After merging two churches together we stand amazed at how God has grown our small family of faith. Yes we are still small, but in the last six months of 2007 we saw a growth of over 25% - which is almost five time the growth rate of most "mega-churches" - and growth, spiritually in our people. Today we stand at the threshold of a whole new adventure for Calvary Faith Center. On March 5th we will begin seven new ministries; additional Life Training classes (Sunday school), Men of Faith, Women of Faith, Royal Rangers, Missionettes, Children's Church and Oneightyouth (our Youth Group). Sunday, Feb. 10th we had our first "Ministry Fair" and man was I impressed! I've been a part of a few churches in my 23 years as a Christian. Every church I've ever been a part of I saw the same thing; 5-10% of the people doing 100% of the work. Well at our ministry fair we had about 90% of the church come out and sign up to lead and help in these new ministries. That's right, 90%! I had some people apologizing because they had "only" signed up to help in two ministries! What's gotten in the water at Calvary!?! Wait! I know what it is. It's the product of natural growth and maturity. Shortly after we merged the churches together we put into place a process for spiritual growth and maturity. The steps are real simple: Connect to God, Grow in Faith, Serve others. This three step process was actually put into place by Jesus - The Author and Finisher of our faith - and I also discovered He weaved this process into the name of our church too. Calvary - the place we connect to God, Faith - the target of our growth, and Center - like a customer service center; a place to serve. Since putting this process into place I have personally witnessed incredibly growth and maturity in our people. So how do you build a church? It's pretty simple really. Be faithful to do what you know to do; preach the Word and minister to your people. Use effectively what God has entrusted you with; people and resources. Be about your Father's business; build HIS kingdom, not yours. Let God build His church and... He will. Making a Difference! Pastor Glen
