The Church Growth Recipe – Week 44 / October 31st

by admin

“Be saved from this perverse and crooked generation.”
Acts 2:40-47

As Peter brings his great sermon on the Day of Pentecost to an end he exhorts his hearers to be saved from the wickedness of their day. Theirs, like that of our day, is a “perverse generation.” That is, it is a generation that willingly and actively gives itself to pursuits that further the proliferation of evil and everything that offends God. No doubt, with all our sophistication, we live with a generation that is just as wicked and probably more so. Indeed we employ our sophisticated technology to accelerate our perversity. Today the internet is a very dangerous place for children and even grown- ups who surf around at will. It has ensnared millions of unsuspecting souls and will continue to do so.

Peter’s words are then appropriate when he calls his hearers to repentance and faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. What follows is an interesting insight into how churches grow and the steps they should take to facilitate this growth. To put it another way, it tells how men, women and children disconnect themselves from an evil generation and set out to become dynamic Christ followers. We should take note of the following:

The sacrament of Baptism V41
Water baptism is a declaration of what you believe to be yours by virtue of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. It is a public confession of one’s faith in Jesus and a visible demonstration of being united with Jesus in His death burial and resurrection. (Romans 6:4) For the early church this was a very important step and it most often involved public repentance, the renunciation of all occult practices and prayers of deliverance being said over the candidates. Baptism was considered the doorway to the Church and thus the candidates had to be sincere and very public in their confession of sin in order to protect the “cleanness” of the Church. Until they took this public step they were generally not allowed to assume any position of responsibility in the believing community. Baptism was held in very high regard by the early Church and every effort was made to ensure that those who underwent it did so properly. (Acts 19:1-5) It strikes me that much of the modern Church could learn from this. The Book of Proverbs declares that “he that has high gate invites destruction”; meaning that the door into the Church must be low!  Baptism ensures this as it sets apart those who have truly exercised saving faith in the cross. It will not save anyone but it will protect the Church from spiritual charlatans!

The sacrament of faithfulness V42
The early followers of Jesus “continued steadfastly.” That is they were faithful to a man to the public pursuit of spiritual things. Today if ten percent of the local church gathers faithfully the preacher can consider himself “lucky.” Evangelical believers have little knowledge of the dignity of the local church and have drifted into the heresy of the “Jesus and me” syndrome. The truth is the fullness of Jesus’ life can only be experienced in the collective fellowship of God’s people and until we get the matter of faithfulness right our churches will not grow. And, for the record, one cannot attend church by watching one’s TV on Sunday mornings! This is a delusion that has gripped many lives. The evidence of salvation is dependability or faithfulness. Churches grow because of it! Christians are to get involved in local church life and so God never gave anyone the gift of being a spectator!

The sacrament of contributing V42
At the very least Christians should regularly and faithfully attend prayer meetings, Bible studies, fellowship gatherings and they should break bread or hold Communion. All Christians should contribute in this way to the life of the local church. The first two enable them to grow, fellowship gives them a sense of real community and the breaking of bread keeps the Church clean. That is, it gives the believer an opportunity to reflect on his or her spiritual life and make adjustments where it is in contradiction to the will of God. The Table of the Lord is not just a mere ritual or formality. What we remember is Jesus’ death for us and what this means for our lives. If we do not judge ourselves properly when taking the cup and the bread we bring God’s judgment down upon our lives. Paul writes that “for this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” (Meaning have died prematurely)(1Corinthians 11:23-31) Notice that in terms of the latter he does not say “a few” but “many.” The local church is very often riddled with sickness etc only because Christians are not living according to their confession! The Church will not grow in circumstances like this.

The sacrament of sharing V44-45
The local church should be a caring community; meaning that those who embrace it should be without need. The Bible states that before turning our attention on the world we should “should do good to the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10) When God finds a Church that is caring He rejoices, fills it with His love and presence and causes it to grow. In reality the principles of church growth are quite simple but we find them so hard to implement. We are too interested in sharing our special revelation than with caring for those who genuinely have not. The early church, with little sophistication, became a sharing community and this greatly pleased the heart of God.

Finally we note how God responded to all of the above. We are told that He filled the Church with His presence and with a great fear (Godly respect) for Him (Acts 2:43a). Secondly, He performed many signs and wonders through His people (Acts 2:43b); fourthly He gave them favor in the community; fifthly He filled them with joy and praise (Acts 2:46-47a) and sixthly He added to them “those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47b) This is really quite incredible and no doubt every preacher would give anything to have all this happen in his Church. Well it’s possible if we just follow the simple recipe given in this passage!

Malcolm Hedding.

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries

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