Five Commitments To Grow Your Church

All around us prophecy is being fulfilled in pandemics, wars, and false christs. We also see the Gospel flourishing in ways we’ve never seen before as media ministries flash present truth across the airwaves. As Seventh-day Adventist Christians, we have much to rejoice in. Jesus is coming soon!

Yet many of us are part of local churches that are far from flourishing. Sadly, Laodicean is a pretty apt description of most of us.

If you are anything like us, you long to see that change.

So what can you do to help your church become the place for dynamic healing and growth that God designed it to be? Here are five core commitments you and I can make today. Daily chosen and lived out, these five commitments will enable our churches to flourish.

1. Commit to the long haul

Church growth doesn’t always happen on our timetable. Remember that Jesus spent three years investing in twelve “losers” with seemingly minimal results. His handful of fearful followers seemed pretty pitiful at the foot of the cross. But Jesus laid a foundation that empowered the church to expand exponentially mere weeks later. When we commit to living by God’s timetable for church growth, we commit to learning His lessons, laying His foundation, and then seeing the work through to completion. Does it really matter whether that happens in two weeks or two decades? This is God’s work and He will make it happen. The only question is: Are you committed to going the distance with God?

“Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:9-10).

2. Commit to praying for your church with others

Would you like to see your church prosper? There is no surer secret than to get on your knees before Almighty God and plead with Him for unity, for cleansing, for a greater understanding of His Word, and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Commit to praying consistently with others and prepare to be amazed by what God will do.

“A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not because God is not willing to bestow His blessing upon us, but because we are unprepared to receive it. Our heavenly Father is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. But it is our work, by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer, to fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to grant us His blessing. A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer” (Ellen White, Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 283).

3. Commit to studying God’s church growth methods

Our spiritual lineage holds the secrets to God’s methods of church growth. If we will take the time to study the establishment and expansion of the apostolic church, and the birth of the Seventh-day Adventist church, we will discover God’s methods of church growth. These Biblical methods will rebuild the  DNA of our churches so that we can again become ascending churches – ones that are growing and replicating. If you want to be a part of that growth, commit today to studying God’s church growth movements of the past and learning God’s lessons.

“The people did not wait to reflect; they did not reason that He who had brought them thus far would certainly give them the land; they did not call to mind how wonderfully God had delivered them… They left God out of the question, and acted as though they must depend solely on the power of arms” (Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 388).

4. Commit to being a core member of your church

What are core members? A church’s core members are those who are committed to helping their church succeed. They are not pew warmers or church hoppers. They consistently support their local church with their time and resources. They are actively involved in the key ministries of the church. They prayerfully seek God’s guidance for their local church and follow His lead. Core members are those who enable a church to be a fellowship of believers who hold to the same doctrinal truths while reaching others for Christ. Are you a core member? If not, commit to becoming one today.

“It was at the ordination of the twelve that the first steps were taken in the organization of the church… To the early church had been entrusted a constantly enlarging work—that of establishing centers of light and blessing wherever there were honest souls willing to give themselves to the service of Christ” (Ellen White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 18, 19 & 90).

5. Commit to following where God leads

Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness. Jesus led His followers to the cross. Early Adventists had to brave the great disappointment of 1844. None of these experiences were pleasant, but they were a crucial part of God’s training of His children. These experiences were vital to the growth that followed. If you want to see your church flourish, commit today to following where ever God leads, however uncomfortable it may be. If we do, we will be amazed at what God will do in–and through–our church.

“God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him” (Ellen White, The Faith I Live By, p. 64).

Your Turn

How about you? Are you ready to make these five commitments to grow your church?

Begin your journey by studying the materials on this website. Then contact us with your questions or to schedule a RENEW Introductory Weekend in your local church.