Comment: More Members

My only real fear is that we won't grow in members.

I think the root of this fear is really the question, "how does a church grow?" I think that's a great question to wrestle with, because God has such a big plan for our church that can't be fulfilled by the congregation that we are now. But several things come to mind that I want to share:

1. Paul gives us a great model of church growth in 1 Corinthians 3,, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.." I think that we need to focus on what we do, and depend on God to do what HE do. Phrased another way, we work like it all depends on us, and pray like it all depends on Him. Planting is all about preparation of the soil and dropping seeds. In the last six months we taken big steps of sowing seeds (i.e. CONTACT, Door Hangers, Mailers, Friend Days). Watering is about nurture. We nurture people in Large Groups, Small Groups, and Prayer Group. Now we have taken steps, but we are a long way from being an aligned church all participating in those things together. I believe that if we could all get together doing what we do then He'll do what HE do.
2. Because God's plan is bigger than us, we are assured that He already has resources available to us to accomplish it. Here's a thought, "God already has the people in our community that He needs to build His church." We've just got to go find them. We need to help people find their way into God's plan to use them at SRC.
3. Yesterday I bumped into a scripture again that has been working on me like sandpaper on soap, 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." I include this thought because your comment referenced fear. Someone once said that FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. We can look at what we've seen God do at SRC and we can start believing that the evidence is not going in the right direction. We wouldn't be the first. I've read the stories of people who followed God, and even enjoyed His presence, that periodically looked at their journey and wished they could go back to Egypt. But we learn from those stories that Faith is about following and even falling but we move forward not back. What has stricken me most from this verse is that it has nothing to do with a generic fear, nor should it's application be made to specific fears. It is specifically related to leadership of the Church. As a church I think we need to have more confident conversations to lead people toward God's plan.
   

Anyway, those my thoughts. Since the member's meeting three people have talked about becoming members because they believe in what we're doing as a church and want to be part of it.

--Ben