CHURCH GROWTH
Matthew 28:18-20
INTRO.- ILL.- A Baptist preacher had the habit of going down to the train station every single day to watch the Sunset Limited go by. There was no chore he wouldn’t interrupt to carry out this daily ritual. Members of his church thought he was a bit nuts and they asked him give up this daily habit. He said, “No, I won’t give it up.” He said, “I preach your sermons, teach Sunday School, teach Bible studies, perform your weddings and funerals, run your charities, chair committees for you, etc. I won’t give up seeing that Southern Pacific train every. I love it! IT’S THE ONLY THING AROUND HERE THAT I DON’T HAVE TO PUSH!”
The truth is: most things don’t get done in life without someone doing some pushing. Pushers are not always the most liked people in the world, but it takes “pushers” to get some things accomplished. This holds true for the business world and for the church as well.
ILL.- In his book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, John Maxwell tells the story of one of the most incredible restorations in American business history. It happened at the Chrysler Corporation in the early 1980’s. Chrysler was in a mess, despite a long history of success. At one point in Chrysler’s history they had captured an incredible 25% of the entire domestic automobile market. By the time the 1970’s rolled around, the Chrysler Corporation was in a steady decline. By 1978 they only had 11% of the market. Things looked bleak. The company was headed toward bankruptcy.
In November 1978, Chrysler brought a new leader to take over the company. His name was Lee Iacocca. Iacocca had just left Ford in 1978 after serving as their president. When he left Ford, the company, under his leadership, was earning record profits of 1.8 billion in each of the last two years.
The task of turning around Chrysler proved to be enormous. Iacocca described the company as having been run like a small grocery store, despite its size. There were no workable financial systems or controls in place, production and supply methods were a mess, products were built poorly, and nearly all of the divisions were run by turf-minded vice presidents who refused to work as a team. Morale was very low throughout the company, customer loyalty was low, and the company continued to lose money.
Iacocca did everything he knew how to turn things around. He replaced 33 of the 35 vice presidents. He brought in the best leaders he could find. He reduced as many expenses as he could. He grudgingly and humbly went before Congress for loan guarantees so that Chrysler would not go bankrupt.
Finally, he reduced his own salary to $1.00 a year. Iacocca brought about a total restoration to the Chrysler Corporation. By 1983, Chrysler was able to pay back its loans. Before he retired, Chrysler had gained 16% of the market, double what it was in the first years he took over.
Lee Iacocca was the pusher who made it happen for Chrysler! Now he’s retired and selling olive oil and margarine on TV commercials.
In nearly every area of life there has to be a “pusher” in order to get some things accomplished. It happens in the home, in business and in the church!
Often, the preacher is that person. I admit that I want to motivate you to action! I want to rev you up! I consider that to be a part of my work as a gospel preacher. I know what the Scripture teaches about many things and church growth is one of them.
I want to motivate you to help make the church grow! Let me motivate you to action!
And here is another reason for my concern about church growth.
ILL.- George Barna in his book, “The Second Coming of the Church”. Barna writes, “Despite the activity emanating from thousands of congregations, the Church in America is losing influence and adherents faster than any other major institution in the nation.” Barna continues, “At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, I believe that the Church in America has no more than five years – perhaps even less- to turn itself around and begin to affect the culture, rather than be affected by it.”
If George Barna is right, we’d better do something and quick! We need to get in gear in regard to reaching the lost for Christ!
I have preached two previous sermons about church growth and what it will take to make the church grow. Here are those points.
1- We must have a growth mentality. We must always be thinking about what we can do to make the church grow.
2- We must have some definite plans in mind. The plan will work if we work the plan. But if we don’t have any plans, nothing will work.
3- We must be committed to the worship of Christ. If we are not committed to Christ and to worshipping Him on the Lord’s Day how can we convince others? How can we sell Him to others?
4- We must work together under the authority of Christ. Christ is the head of the church. We must submit to Him and to His Word. And we must work together under His authority and be at peace with one another.
PROP.- More ideas as to what it will take to make the church grow.
1- We must be willing to make some changes
2- We must be committed to the work of personal evangelism
I. WE MUST BE WILLING TO MAKE SOME CHANGES
ILL.- A marriage counselor asked a couple, “When things go wrong, do you blame each other?” They said, “Not always. Sometimes we blame the children. Sometimes we blame the President. And sometimes we just slam doors.”
ILL.- Another marriage counselor asked a disturbed wife, “Do you bolster each other’s confidence?” She replied, “I keep telling him that anybody with his brains and ability can fix his own breakfast. And he tells me that anybody, even a mechanical moron like me, can change a fuse.”
In both of these marriages some changes were needed in order for things to get better, for positive growth to take place. True in most marriages. True in most churches.
Acts 6:1-7 “In those days when the number of the disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’”
The early church suddenly had a problem. Some of their widows were being neglected. They weren’t getting any food. The apostles essentially said, “We need to do something about this. We need to make some changes in order to take care of our widows.”
Sometimes changes have to take place in order for growth to come to a church.
ILL.- Someone said it this way: “There can be change without improvement, BUT THERE CAN BE NO IMPROVEMENT WITHOUT CHANGE.”
ILL.- Ben Merold preached for many years at the Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton, CA, and they experienced great growth. He said, “Sameness kills a church. Doing the same things, year end and year out, will kill a church.”
Ben Merold was not suggesting that we change the gospel message. He was suggesting, however, that we change how we present it or how we package it.
ILL.- CAN YOU IMAGINE A CHURCH THAT:
- Doesn’t have regular “church worship,” yet it fills a 4,550-seat auditorium twice on Saturday nights and twice on Sunday mornings? That’s over 18,000 people every weekend!
- Can you imagine a church that has no altar, no cross, or other religious trappings and yet stresses “radical discipleship” to Jesus Christ?
- Can you imagine a church that does not use offering envelopes, ask for pledges, or hold fund-raising dinners, and yet surpasses its multi-million dollar budget?
This is completely different from traditional or conventional methods, but it’s what the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL, a suburb 30 miles northwest of Chicago, is doing.
Bill Hybels, their preacher, said, “Our goal is to reach and teach ‘non-churched Harrys and Marys’ who have been turned off by the traditional church and are about to write off Christianity.”
Hybels said, “Seekers can be anonymous here. You don’t have to say anything, sing anything, sign anything or give anything.”
I don’t believe that we need to become a clone of the Willow Creek Church. Some churches have tried that and failed. I am just saying that we will have to make some changes in certain areas in order to experience growth.
However, if a church changes something and it doesn’t work then they need to do something different! It’s common sense! If it works, praise God for it! If it doesn’t, change it.
ILL.- For example, I know of a church that changed their worship service style from traditional to contemporary with the help of what they call “praise teams.” And it hasn’t worked for them! They are losing members, but they are still doing it. And they need to change again before the church is gone!
Changes can be in regard to many things: worship style or music, the order of service, hours of worship, programs, buildings, budgets, buses, hiring of more people, more staff, etc.
ILL.- At one time the First Christian Church of Iberia, MO (852 population) was running 120 in attendance in a building that seated 120. We were full! If we were going to continue to grow we needed to make some changes in regard to our building. We had several options:
1- Go to two services
2- Add on to the present building
3- Or build a new building.
We chose option #2 and decided to add on to our present building. We were able to add 10 pews, 5 on each side of the auditorium in order to accommodate 50 more people.
AND IT WORKED! Our attendance went from 120 to as high as 170. We consistently ran in the 150 range. We made a change in regard to our building and it worked!
ILL.- Here’s another example of a change that worked. The Raleigh Christian Church at Memphis, TN, stayed under 200 in attendance for 93 years. They were never able to break 200 in attendance until they did something different. The five years that followed their attendance consistently ran around 450.
What changes did they make? They went to two services on Sunday. They have a traditional service at 9:15 and a 10:30 contemporary service. They are reaching a lot of young families with their contemporary service.
They also hired additional staff people to minister in certain areas. They didn’t wait for the growth to come! They believed in hiring additional staff FOR growth rather than AFTER growth. And it has worked for them!
I am not suggesting that we need to do what the Raleigh Christian Church did. I am just saying that some changes must be made in order to experience growth in the church!
Certain changes are inevitable if a church is going to grow!
II. WE MUST BE COMMITTED TO THE WORK OF PERSONAL EVANGELISM
ILL.- The wife said to her husband, “Who was that at the door, dear?”
The husband said, “It was the new minister. He has been by four times this week.”
Wife asked, “What’s his name?”
Husband said, “I THINK IT’S PESTER SMITH.”
There needs to be some kind of pestering done if we are going to reach people for Christ! And personal evangelism is the kind of pestering I’m talking about. EACH OF US PERSONALLY EVANGELIZING OR PERSONALLY REACHING PEOPLE FOR CHRIST!
In the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
In Acts 1:8 Jesus said to His disciples, “You shall be my witnesses.”
In Acts 8:4 we read that the early Christians preached the word wherever they went.
In Acts 8:26-40 we read of Philip witnessing to the Ethiopian Eunuch about Christ and then baptizing him into Christ.
This is the kind of personal evangelism that we need to be doing in order to see the church grow! When people come to Christ, they will come to church! And the church will grow!
ILL.- Billy Graham was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1918 and educated at Bob Jones University, the Florida Bible Institute, and Wheaton College. He was ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention in 1939 and became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Western Springs, Illinois, in 1943.
Graham turned to large-scale evangelism in 1949 and embarked on a series of tours of the United States and Europe. A forceful, eloquent, and charismatic preacher, he attracted audiences that have totaled in the millions to his meetings.
Most of you know about Billy Graham and his crusades, but do you know about American born Dwight L. Moody?
ILL.- Dwight L. Moody was born on February 5, 1837 and he died on December 22, 1899 Northfield, Massachusetts. Moody became one of the most famous of all American evangelists.
In 1875, on the south side of London he spoke for several weeks in the Victoria Theatre until a special tabernacle seating 8,000 was constructed on Camberwell Green where he finished this crusade. A total of two and one-half million people attended! The awakening became world news and it was estimated that 5,000 came to Christ.
His first city-wide crusade in America was in Brooklyn beginning October 31, 1875, at the Clermont Avenue Rink, seating 7,000. Only non-church members could get admission tickets as 12,000 to 20,000 crowds were turned away. Over 2,000 converts resulted.
Next came Philadelphia starting on November 21 with nightly crowds of 12,000. The Philadelphia crusade was held at the unused Pennsylvania freight depot which John Wanamaker had purchased. It was located at Tenth and Market. His ushers were very well trained, capable of seating 1,000 people per minute, and vacating the premises of some 13,000 in 4 minutes if needed. The doors were opened one and a half hours early and in 10 minutes the 12,000 seats were taken. On January 19, 1876 President Grant and some of his cabinet attended. Total attendance was 1,050,000 with 4,000 decisions for Christ.
Next it was the New York crusade running from February 7 to April 19, 1876. The meetings were held in the Great Roman Hippodrome on Madison Avenue, where the Madison Square Gardens now stands. Two large halls gave a combined seating attendance of 15,000. Moody had just turned 39 for this crusade. Some 6,000 decisions came as a result of his ten-week crusade. Three to five services a day were held with crowds up to 60,000 daily.
I tell you these stories about Billy Graham and Dwight L. Moody to say, “It isn’t going to happen anymore!”
Billy Graham and Dwight L. Moody were involved (and Billy still is) in what is called Mass Evangelism or evangelizing the masses. Those days are over. At least to some degree.
Sure, we still have churches with thousands in attendance, but most of those people are Christian people. In Moody’s day there were thousands upon thousands of non-Christians attending his meetings and people came to Christ by the thousands.
But that is not how the job will get done today! THE JOB WILL ONLY BE ACCOMPLISHED BY WHAT IS CALLED PERSONAL EVANGELISM!
Unchurched people don’t flock to our churches anymore. Lost people don’t come to revivals and rallies like they once did. This is why we must “personally” evangelize people. Each one, reach one! Each one, teach one! Each one, win one! Each one, baptize one!
We personally must do these things: invite people to church, witness to people about Christ, testify personally of what Christ has done for us, teach people about Christ, pray with people and for people, work with people, take time for people, and love people to Christ.
In regard to our church services, once we get people here we must do our best to present Christ to them.
ILL.- When Gary Edwards ran the Subway here in Mattoon, his store on Lakeland was ranked number #1 in the state for four years in a row. Gary said they built the business on three principles: 1- service 2- cleanliness 3- product
We have the product, the best product in the world - the Lord Jesus Christ! We are clean, the building and our bodies. AND WE MUST GIVE GOOD SERVICE! When people come into our services we must give the best service possible!
We must be warm, friendly, caring, loving people. We must give encouraging, Biblical, practical and helpful sermons, lessons and programs.
In regard to our service outside the building, we must invite people and witness to them every chance we get! WE MUST BECOME PESTERING PEOPLE! But very loving, pestering people!
We must witness to our neighbors, the people we work with, our friends and relatives, you name them! All of them! Because everyone needs Christ whether they realize this or not! And we reach them, one by one.
ILL.- A man was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he noticed another man in the distance. As he drew closer, he noticed that the man kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he did this.
As the man came closer, he could see that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water.
He said to the man, “Good evening, friend, I was wondering what you are doing?” The man replied, “I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen.”
“I understand, but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can’t possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don’t you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast? Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?”
The local man smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish and as he threw it back into the sea, he said, “MADE A DIFFERENCE TO THAT ONE!”
We must be committed to the work of personal evangelism! We must be committed to making a difference, one person at a time!
CONCLUSION----------------------------------------
ILL.- A couple of years ago, Tim Forneris, a 22 year-old groundskeeper gave Mark McGwire, a million dollar baseball, saying “I think I have something that belongs to you.” McGwire in turn gave it to the Hall of Fame to display beside Ruth’s and Marris’ record breaking balls. Why? He said it didn’t belong to him, it belonged to the world.
Forneris and McGwire, both displayed the kind of attitude Christians should have about their salvation. We do not hoard our treasure, we share it with the world.
Let’s make that our commitment. And when we do, the church will grow!
