Being Careful About Growth...

Read Genesis 25, 1 Peter 4, and 1 Cor. 3:6-7

"The church is produced and increased by divine grace, and not merely by natural means..." (John Calvin). As we read about the lives of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, we are studying the beginnings of the church. And what a great reminder that while their families did not grow by the natural order of things, it is the same with church today. God intervened with grace and opened the wombs and caused the growth. And no matter how hard they tried, and no matter how hard they prayed, Isaac and Rebekah could not make it happen...
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 states, "I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." Ironically, this is all in a section of Scripture addressing division in the church. Here in Hunt County we live in a community with a higher per capita of churches than most of the world. But DIVISION IS NOT GROWTH! Division within the people of God is a misrepresentation of the truth about the oneness of God that we are called to put on display. Our numerous churches do not exist because many of them multiplied, but because there was division, in large part, over the opinions of man.
The way that a man plants and the way that a man waters does not make that man an authority on growth. But when we see growth in that man's church, oh how quickly we elevate the status of that man and invite him to our churches and conferences and BEG him to tell us how to grow. And often times there is a room full of people singing his praises, not God's. But that man is nothing! He only watered and planted, but God caused that growth! Whether you are planting and watering at a small church or a huge mega church, YOU ARE STILL NOTHING!
So growth will come in God's time and in God's measure. And our work of ministry will always seem largely inefficient, because we are nothing. But if we scatter seed and water as we are commanded, God will give the exact increase that He sees fit. But in the instance that we stop focusing on making disciples, and begin to focus on growth, we will be divided. Thus, we then lose out on the very thing we set out to achieve. Playing "god" will always result in vain failure. Do the work of ministry, make disciples, and show the world that there is no one like our God!
We must always be content with the size of our church, yet never content with a lack of discipleship (and this applies not only to the church as a whole, but every part of the church...children's ministry, youth ministry, sunday school classes, and families). So many pastors and even teachers have given up and left with the excuse "this church is just not growing." Rather than an excuse to leave, this is adversely a greater reason to stay and make disciples. This IS your calling.
So many committees have been formed to assess growth and critique growth and plan for future growth and even for firing pastors who have not brought about the expected growth! Consider what this produces... a bunch of pastors and ministers who focus on numbers and growth, thereby often times abandoning discipleship. This is a plague in youth ministries in particular... and there is an unspoken yet accepted approach that says, "if we just focus on growth, discipleship will just happen." But it is more the opposite. If we focus on discipleship, growth will happen at the rate that God sees fit. Even at Pentecost, which so many try to reproduce weekly, the focus was on making disciples, and God gave the growth that He saw fit at that time.
Another problem with focusing on growth instead of discipleship is that we begin to define success by numbers. Again, this promotes division in the church, because the "big" churches are run by "successful" pastors, only to leave all of the "small" churches to be run by what appears to be "unsuccessful failures". So, as a pastor, if your aim is success, you will make use of the man-made corporate ladder of vocational ministry. And as a Bible study leader you will proudly stand before a large class, while feeling like the small class is simply a waste of time. So all gifted musicians, able preachers, and competent teachers will feel like they deserve a bigger stage. And often times they will proudly fill that spot on that big stage, all the while abandoning the call to make disciples.
So as we look back at Genesis 25, we must ask, "Is our standard for greatness and success, God's standard?" Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born. Isaac was 60 when Rebekah conceived. If we define greatness and success by numbers, then we are deeming our God highly unsuccessful in ministry, with only 2 new lives in 160 years!
To ask a "successful pastor of a big church" how to grow a church is like asking Isaac how to form a baby in the womb! The answer should be, "I don't know! God causes the growth! You do what God calls you to do and, if He sees fit, He will cause the necessary growth!"
To walk away from your church because it is "not growing" would be like Isaac walking away from Rebekah for "not bearing".
To cease from discipleship is to eliminate the possibility of God-honoring growth. In the same way, if dismayed by the circumstances, Isaac and Rebekah were to stop trying to conceive, they would thereby eliminate the possibility of offspring.

Isaiah 46 says that God will accomplish all His purpose...be it through you or another who is faithful to the command. So the encouragement is to persevere. If you are speaking the Word to your family and others, and then coming back and watering that seed with reminders...making the most of every teachable moment...then you are doing the work of ministry. And there is great rejoicing because God is glorified! Growth is not a bad thing! In fact growth is a GREAT THING! It is just NOT our business. We must not set out to "play god". We must submit to His command, not relying on the wisdom of man, but the power of God for that growth. You will have hard days. You will have hard weeks, months, and even years. As you sit with your family, making disciples, and as you talk with co-workers, friends, and even strangers, the work of ministry will be seemingly insignificant and largely inefficient. But let your inefficiency as NOTHING fuel your dependence on the ONE TRUE GOD WHO IS EVERYTHING!