28^th February 2009

Acts 1:3-8, Ephesians 3:14-21

In the closing verses of Luke’s Gospel and in the opening verses of the Book of Acts the final words of Jesus to the eleven remaining disciples include a very familiar phrase. In Luke 24:48-49 Jesus said, “You are witnesses of these things...” and then He told them to wait for the ‘power from on high.’ In Acts 1:7, 8 Jesus said that, having received the Holy Spirit’s power, “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

An important factor for us to grasp today is that the church was born of the Spirit in power in order to bear witness to Christ. In Acts 2:47 it says that the Lord ‘added daily to the church those who were being saved’. Within a short time of Pentecost – days, then weeks, then flowing into months – the infant church burgeoned in numbers because of the power-filled witness of the Apostles.

It is patently clear that the church was born to grow and the Church’s call to salvation – the call to ‘seek and save the lost’ – has never diminished.

One way church growth should be measured is numerically and that’s why all congregations should never be satisfied by the number of regular attendees no matter how large or small that number may be. The old saying “We have quality, not quantity” is actually a non-Biblical cop-out! Gaining people by transfer from other churches can help your congregation but it’s also not considered to be Biblical growth. Conversion growth is what the Bible measures - ‘…those being saved’ is how Acts puts it - not the movement of people between congregations, as helpful as that might be.

Yet there is also a second type of growth.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 12:1 “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers & sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant.” The Greek word that we translate as ignorant is the word ‘agnosis’ which basically means ‘no knowledge’ or ‘uneducated in that’. But did Paul mean something deeper than just ‘not knowing’?

Paul was saying to the Corinthians, “I want you to experience the Divine – I want you to know all about the spiritual gifts imparted by the Holy Spirit. Don’t stay uneducated about this – being ‘agnostic’ – rather choose to grow in your experience of God.”

Later in his letter to the Ephesians Paul again cried out for spiritual growth – more knowledge, more wisdom, more understanding. In fact in this wonderful prayer Paul asked for the direct intervention of God through the Holy Spirit to help people grow. He wrote in Ephesians 3:17, 18, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, (‘dunamis’), together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…”

So we have growth in the church in numbers, and we have growth in the church in understanding and Bible knowledge. Yet there is still another pattern for growth we also find in the Bible… and it’s vital we grasp it.

One example of it is evident in Acts 2:44 – set in the very early days in the church after Pentecost. “All the believers were together and had everything in common…” In Hebrews 10:25 we read how the early church was even warned against damaging it… “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…”

I speak of the growth in sincere love and fellowship between believers.

A church which has no real fellowship… a church in which people feel isolated… a church where people can just turn up on Sunday and then go home and never share in each others lives and faith journey is not growing in the Biblical sense. Many people hold a view that region is a private thing and is not something you share with others. I’m not sure when that attitude first developed but Biblically faith was to be shared, encouraged, stimulated, and spoken about between believers in order to build up the church and to build each other up. Growth in Christian fellowship is therefore a key to a healthy and influential church.

When we speak of a growing church in our community we are speaking of a multifaceted word. We are speaking of:

• Numbers – Conversion of the lost, caring for the unbeliever.
• Knowledge – Growing in understanding of the Word of God.
• Fellowship – Building a strong church that cares for members.

There is a final aspect of growth I want to briefly mention today.

Communities are influenced by people who speak out, and if the church remains silent or fails to speak to those who matter then we can’t complain if the world around us slips into decay and unrighteousness by listening to the other voices that do speak out. In fact, if the church retreats from engaging the community and trying to bring transformation and growth then it has failed the Lord.

The church needs to grow good relationships with the media. It needs to speak out with love and compassion as well as with Godly passion on issues of morals and justice. And it MUST NOT just stand back and throw barbs… not just condemn sinners… not only bring words of critique or judgement. Instead the church needs to bring the words of hope… the words of life… the words of faith and love… it must use words and develop ministries that grow the community….that grow the Kingdom of God.

So, to aspire to be a growing church in our community is a clear call of God to the whole church. We are called by God:

• to grow in numbers through conversion,
• to grow in knowledge through study and teaching,
• to grow in fellowship by sharing life with each other, and
• to grow in our influence by witnessing to Christ in the community.

And I could add that we should also grow in worship life, grow in prayer, grow in service, and grow in so many more ways…

I see growth as the clear call of God to the Uniting Church … but the people of God must grasp it, not just the clergy!

Amen
Rev Rob Tann
22nd Feb 2009
Unity Hill Congregation
Port Lincoln SA