Church Growth Part 1
As part of his master's course, Jesse has written a case study on our congregation. Over the next few weeks, we will share the paper for your encouragement.
Church growth is something that is looked at in different ways by people within congregations. Some see it as a distraction from the more important aspects of what the church should be doing. Others view it as a necessary and divinely commanded requirement to seek and save the lost, adding them to the Lord’s church. Growing the church is not about adding numbers to the attendance records, but rather it is about adding souls to God’s kingdom. Such a mindset and action displays the faithfulness of any given church. All churches should desire to be faithful to God. “The prime indicator” of faithfulness to God, “is a church’s obedience to God’s commands and purpose in the world” (Mcintosh 20). Our Lord, who is the head of the church, wants His church to grow. Growth means that eternal souls are being saved. That fact is what should drive any church to focus on and see the importance of church growth.
This paper will be centered on seeing how a specific congregation can utilize and initiate church growth principles in order to see real results. The church chosen for this particular paper is the Central North church of Christ in Perth, Western Australia. It is an area and a congregation that I am familiar with. My wife grew up in Perth, has known the members there for most of her life, and has also been a member herself. In 2016, I was blessed with the opportunity to work with the congregation for a few months, where I preached and taught several lessons. Many of the members there work hard at studying God’s word, as well at teaching and preaching. While they do not have a full-time preacher, there is a rotation among the men which accounts for the lessons in worship and Bible class. In addition to the sharing of the gospel inside the congregation, there is effort and desire to share it with those outside. If it be the Lord’s will, we can work full-time with the church in Perth at some point. Our aim is to help them grow spiritually as they also help us, and to work together to bring more souls into the church that Christ established.
There will be five specific areas dealing with church growth discussed in this work. Such areas are as follows: Demographics of the area and congregation; General History of the area; History of both denominational and Christian missions in the area; Current state of the congregation; A plan to help this local church grow spiritually and carry the gospel to the community. The primary focus will be on the last area of ways and ideas to help the church in Perth grow spiritually and numerically through evangelistic efforts.
