A few years ago the Assemblies of God established a “Decade of Harvest”. Soon we discovered that a “harvest” involves more than: A Proclamation, A Banner and Printed Goals
(Humor) Someone has said, If you want to be successful: You must attend a Church Growth Seminar, and visit the Holy Land
In recent years we have seen a great Church Growth Movement featuring people like: Dr. Peter Wagner, author of, “The Pentecostals are Coming”, Dr. Win Ern, Dr. George Barna, Dr. Elmer Towns and many more. Church Growth Principles and Publications are in great demand. I have attended some of these seminars and they were helpful in giving us a new focus.
But in the Book of Acts the Bible gives us ten things that must be in place for church growth to occur. Let’s take a quick look at God’s list:
Number one – There must be an ACCORD (Acts 2:1)
You can’t sent the church out until they love each other. They must be melted together in prayer: Begin by asking God for what we want and end by asking God for what He wants
Number two – There must be an AUTHORITY (Acts 2:14)
There is a movement afoot today to destroy the authority of the pastor – to destroy our confidence in God’ man.
Elmer Town author of the “10 Greatest Churches in America” says that the congregations of those churches would follow their pastors “in an assault on hell with water pistols”. They are loyal to their pastor and his authority as their leader
The pastor is not a denominational slave OR a rebel. God’s Man is not “just one of the boys”, he must be God’s Man – If he is, follow him; if he’s not fire him.
The Pastor must be “sent of God, taught by God, and in direct communication with God. A preacher without boldness is like a smooth file or a knife without an edge!
Number three – There must be an ALLEGIANCE (Acts 2:16)
There must be an allegiance to the Word of God as “Spoken by Joel”. There must be Bible Preaching/Teaching. Programs are not enough. You can grow corn by planting marbles as easy as reaping souls without preaching. Put the paper on the front porch, not on the roof.
I’m not smart enough to preach anything but the Bible – I’m too smart to preach anything but the Bible: NOT Sociology BUT Salvation, NOT Economics BUT Evangelism, NOT Reform BUT Redemption, NOT Culture BUT Conversion, NOT Revolution BUT Revival and NOT Civilization BUT Christ.
Number four – There must be an APPROPIRATION (Acts 2:17)
The Holy Spirit is God at work. The power and life of the Holy Spirit must be in you. You can’t do God’s work without God’s power. You better be filled with the Spirit. The power of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit are necessary to touch today’s world.
God doesn’t want us to do anything for Him, He want to work through us
Number five – There must be an ADORATION (Acts 2:22)
Lift up Christ: In Praise and Worship. In Christ filled sermons – not just from the pulpit, not just sermons – but Jesus. Not theology – but Jesus (Theology is just a tool you use to preach Jesus). A church that is not a Jesus movement is not a church – A Jesus movement that is not church centered is not a Jesus movement — Preach Christ.
Number six – There must be an ACTIVITY (Acts 2:32; 1:8) – The Activity is Witnessing
They were all at it – they were always at it. With signs following: Matt. 28:19-20 – “I am with you always”, Mark 16:15-16 – “Signs following”, Luke 14:46-7 – “Clothed with power”, John 20: 21-23 – “Ability to help men change”.
Win souls – win souls – win souls. You must witness by your life and your lips. If you refuse to witness – You are not right with God. This means every department and every person.
Number seven – There must be an ATTITUDE (Acts 2:34-36)
They were on the Lord’s side – No negative attitude or spirit. We are the people of God. If God is in your plans – PLAN BIG .
Two reasons why it can’t be done: We’ve never done it before and we have done it before. WE CAN’T DO IT — HE CAN!!
Number eight – There must be an APPEAL ((Acts 2:40)
Plead for souls – - – beg for souls! Give an Invitation (Evangelistic). Be clear, plain, on time, exhort, testify, and invite – - – bring people to Jesus.
Number nine – There must be an ATMOSPHERE (Acts 2:46)
The way we sing – Sometimes we sound like calves dying in a hail storm, the way the pastor stands in the pulpit, the handshake of the usher.
The faces of the saints — Be happy, possess joy, show it. Ask, “Jesus what do you want to accomplish in this service?” and ask, “Jesus what do you want to accomplish in my life in this service?”
Number ten – There must be an ADDITION (Acts 2:47)
If we have the other nine in place we have the promise that the Lord will , ”add daily to the churh those that need to be saved.”
Someone said, “Billy Graham had set evangelism back 50 years”. Mr. Graham responded, “I didn’t mean to, — I meant to set it back 2000 years”.
In summary there must be: 1. AN ACCORD – Love and Unity, 2. AN AUTHORITY – God’s Man, 3. AN ALLEGIANCE – The Word, 4. AN APPROPRIATION – The power of the Holy Spirit, 5. AN ADORATION – Lift up Christ, 6. AN ACTIVITY – Witnessing, 7. AN ATTITUDE – We are the people of God, on God’s side, 8. AN APPEAL – Invitation, 9. AN ATMOSPHERE – Singing, expressing joy, friendly and 10. AN ADDITION – The Lord added daily.
MONDAY MORNNG MESSAGE / FRED G. CHILTON
Dad, this is SO good – you’re supposed to sneak this kind of stuff to me on the side – so that I can share it & come off looking good… but, all props to you! Wow!
Seriously, the last 2 posts have been so awesome & are right where we are as a church & ministry. There’s no doubt, you’re a “postmodern papa” cause this stuff is more relevant & practical than any junk I’ve seen on the front tables at the Christian book store!
Much love – and much, much more still to learn,
your son, Chilly
Fred,
Good food for thought. I plan to link to this.
[...] friend Fred Chilton blogged some interesting biblical principles for church growth. Take a look here, at The Ozark [...]
There are so many steps/principle that are given at seminars etc on how to have church growth.
Whatever happened to letting God get a hold of your heart completely and being filled (or refilled) with the Holy Ghost?
How about preaching repentance and Faith in Christ? Thats what i see in the book of Acts.
Church Growth is a by product of a people that have surrendered there ALL to Jesus. Also we must remember that not everyone is going to have a mega church. We must simply be faithful to God and let him fill the church. Too many pastors get discouraged nowadays because they are pressured to grow or assumed to be failures if they don’t have thousands in their congregation.
Lastly, the modern church for the most part seems to be about methods and steps. Don’t get me wrong, all the steps are good and scriptural but the most important one is to let God get a hold of you. Repent and put faith in Christ. That’s the message the early church presented.
The church simply needs to seek Him in prayer and get into His Word like never before.
I hope I’m making sense. I love the way Pastor Carter Conlon and David Wilkerson preach. Take a listen. Not many preach like them anymore. It takes the Holy Ghost to do that work in us and give us that fresh revelation to preach.
In Christ love
brother Carlos
This is amazing. The Lord totally confirmed what I shared through brother David Wilkerson. I submitted my above post prior to receiving this daily devotional from him:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE PATH OF SURRENDER by David Wilkerson
God begins the process of surrender by knocking us off our high horse. This literally happened to Paul. He was going his self-assured way, riding toward Damascus, when a blinding light came from heaven. Paul was knocked to the ground, trembling. Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4).
Paul knew something was missing in his life. He had a knowledge of God, but no firsthand revelation. Now on his knees, he heard these words from heaven: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (9:5). The words turned Paul’s world upside down. Scripture says, “Trembling and astonished, [Paul] said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (9:6). Paul’s conversion was a dramatic work of the Holy Spirit.
Paul was being led by the Holy Spirit into the surrendered life. He asked, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” and his heart was crying out, “Jesus, how can I serve you? How can I know you and please you? Nothing else matters. Everything I’ve done in my flesh is dung. You’re everything to me now.”
Paul had no other ambition, no other driving force in his life, than this: “That I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8). By today’s standards of success, Paul was a total failure. He didn’t construct any buildings. He didn’t have an organization. And the methods he used were despised by other leaders. In fact, the message Paul preached offended large numbers of his hearers. At times he was even stoned for preaching it. His subject? The cross.
When we stand before God at the judgment, we won’t be judged by our ministries, achievements or number of converts. There will be but one measure of success on that day: Were our hearts fully surrendered to God? Did we lay aside our own will and agenda and take up his? Did we succumb to peer pressure and follow the crowd, or did we seek him alone for direction? Did we run from seminar to seminar looking for purpose in life, or did we find our fulfillment in him?
I have but one ambition and that is to learn more and more to say only those things the Father gives me. Nothing I say or do of myself is worth anything. I want to be able to claim, “I know my Father is with me, because I do only his will.”