I read an article written by Pastor Greg Laurie today that made a lot of sense. Allow me to share a few of his comments with you. For the sake of time and space I will have to abbreviate and only give you the highlights. He wrote the article to challenge several popular rules of church growth.
Risky Rule #1: “If it brings people in, it pleases God.” This is wrong because Acts 2:42-47 give us five priorities to follow – worship, prayer, evangelism, learning, and loving.
Risky Rule #2: “The less confrontational or overt the Gospel message is, the better.” This is wrong because as Graham Scroggie has said, “Compromise is what prompts us to be silent when we ought to speak…”
Risky Rule #3: ”Find out what your church is hungry for and feed it to them.” This is wrong because 1 Timothy 4:13 tells pastors to “devote yourselves to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching, and to teaching.”
Risky Rule #4: “Target your church to one particular demographic.” This is wrong because Acts 8 says that Philip went to an Ethiopian court official with the Gospel, Peter went to a Roman centurion with the Gospel in Acts 10, and Paul went to a Philippian businesswoman with the Gospel in Acts 16.
Clearly and simply we need to present ”the words of eternal life” to all who will listen as John 6:68 teaches. That is how God will bring growth to his church, and that’s how the church will change the world.
(Greg Laurie, 4 Dangerous Church Growth Myths, ChurchLeaders.com)
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Beyond the Pulpit - Pastor Mike Trammell 