Hey Dear Friend,

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is such joy to write to you what the Lord laid on my heart for now.

Today I would like to share with you on the secrets of church growth, probably you are a pastor who want to see your church grow or even you might be a leader in your church; working hard to see the difference. I pray that God will speak to you through this post.

By God’s grace I have been pastoring for some time now with different people groups. I want to share what the Lord thought me over the years of church ministry.

Every pastor wants to see their church grow in numbers but not every pastor is passionate about it! Can I ask you, why you want to see your church grow?

Some wrong motives why you want to see your church grow:

1.       Probably competition with other church

2.       Probably you don’t like to teach and preach the word of God to few.

3.       Probably more people more offering and tithes.

4.       …….. You can add to the list.

Dear Pastor/leader, don’t try to build your church. Give it in the hands of God because He is the one who builds it. Matt 16:18. When He builds, the gates of Hell will not be able to stand against it. If you want to build, you can but Jesus will be a spectator allow Him to build because He know how to build. Amen.

After said that, there are few things you should do.

1.       Desire to see your church grow.

If you don’t desire it, you will never pursue it. You should be passionate to see your church grow!

There are desires in the world we fulfill ourselves but for this one you should lean on God! Never give up! Love the call God called you for! The God who gave you power to desire big will also cause you to live in it.

The Bible says, Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Ps 37:4.

As pastors/leaders we should have crazy desire, if you don’t have a desire even God can’t help us.

2.       Share your vision/desire with your church.

I think this is one of the areas our generation should grow. Can I ask you, when was the last time you shared your vision with your church? Don’t say, they know everything! You as a pastor/leader keep sharing your heart with your people.

If you don’t talk about Church growth, they think you forgot it and you are not bothered about it or probably you are busy with something else.

I think as pastor you should pour out your heart with the people whom God gave you (personally or corporately), everyone in the church is equal important as you because you cannot do few things without them as they can’t do without you. Love everyone equally!

The Lord Jesus Christ every time He got opportunity He shared His heart, His ministry and His death to the His disciples.

3.       Prayer.

Whatever you desire the most that you will take to the Lord in prayer. Keep praying, this is the best you can do. Never give up praying!

Dr. Yongee Cho in his interview he said, he did 3 things to see his church from 5 people to become the biggest church in the world that is; 1. Prayer, 2. Prayer and 3. Prayer.

Jesus’s ministry was founded on prayer. When you search God in prayer not only for your church growth but because you love Him then the cities and nations will come in search of you. Amen!

The 1^st century church was a praying church. With one accord they all prayed together. Find time to pray as a church for your church to grow. Your prayer should be a prevailing prayer!

4.       Evangelism.

Some churches only pray; prayer is good but when prayer is joined with evangelism there is power! We should go to the people first then they will come where you are (church).

The Bible says, Jesus went out from village to village and town to town, when they heard Jesus and saw Jesus they followed Him everywhere He went.

The 1^st century church was an evangelistic church; everywhere they went they preached the gospel therefore everywhere they went they changed the cities upside down.

I think any church which doesn’t go out is a church like stagnant water, which will become dirty and starts to stink and you don’t like to go there to quench your thirst.

5.       Discipleship.

One of the areas the church is failing is in making disciples. Don’t be satisfied if he/she is coming to church it’s your responsibility to make them a disciple and he will go and make other disciple.

Though Jesus was a busy preacher and teacher of the kingdom of God, He did take time to talk to the people whom He chose. Most of the pastors are busy travelling, busy with family, busy with friends and relatives but when was the last time you were busy in making a believer a disciple.

If the believers in the church don’t grow to be a disciple that church also won’t grow in numbers. The number of disciples you make is directly proportional to the number of families you impact.

6.       Appoint leaders and give them responsibility.

After training someone give them responsibility, I think some of you are scared of doing it but I found it very effective way to see the church grow.

Most churches look for perfect and trust worthy person before they give some small responsibility in the church; can I ask, were you perfect when God called you and trusted with the ministry and the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Just because God loved you in Jesus Christ, He trusted you, now can’t you do the same?

The Bible says, Jesus chooses disciples and He gave them power and authority, were they perfect? They were not, despite of all that they denied Jesus and ran and hid themselves but Jesus came to them and gave them responsibilities in Matt 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-18 later that power , authority and responsibility gave them power to live a pleasing life before God.

7.       Have Father’s heart.

One more important thing the church lacks is the fathers and mothers. As pastor you should love and care for the person whom God sent to you like your own son and daughter, you should also be their best friend and they should see you as their spiritual parent.

Can you imagine Jesus the Son of God spending time with the sinners and prostitutes, having food with them, going to their houses, talking with them. He had time for them.

Do you have time for your church members? Don’t think you are busy, you are not busy than Jesus. Give time to talk to them and listen to them. Invite them to your place for a meal, go to their place. Pray with them; play with them, council them. Serve them. Be a pastor only when you are in the church or any prayer meeting rest is a friend!

These are the things that were on my heart as I dug though my pastoral ministry. I think you might have found some, please add to the list.

I believe the church of God is about to experience the greater harvest of souls ever, I hear the sound of rivers of revival that are about to hit our generation! Let’s pursue Him. Prepare His bride.

Note: Dear reader, please take time to meet your pastor/leader and obey him/her in every means possible. Stand with them and share their burden!

God bless you

Jeevan n Leena

Church, prayer, Growth, Discipleship, Father’s heart, Evangelism, Dream, Leader.