The irony of \u201cnumbers<\/u><\/em><\/span>\u201d is, the more you want it, the more you become afraid of losing it.<\/span><\/p>\n The greatest fear and nightmare of mega-churches \u2026 mass exodus of members.<\/span><\/p>\n Here are lists of some modern ways of attracting more\u00a0numbers<\/u><\/em>\u00a0<\/u><\/span>to the church \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1) Social activities<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n 2) Entertainment<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n 3) Facilities<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Any others things which will involves space, manpower, resources and lots of extra financing \u2026 thus as the modern day churches grow in\u00a0numbers<\/u><\/span><\/em>, more expenditures and costing are incurred till it become a burden and liability.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let’s pause a moment, scan though what we read in our Bible; look for past records of proven\u00a0sustainable<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/span>church growth examples which does not give us that extra burdens and liabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n Yes we do have an example from the Apostle Paul \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (<\/span><\/em>1 Corinthians 3:6<\/em>)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Paul and Apollos were at that time Christianity was expanding consistently.<\/span><\/p>\n Paul was at that time of history when Christianity was fruitful and multiplying.<\/span><\/p>\n What was Paul planting?<\/span><\/p>\n What was Apollos watering?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was a fact, the Early Christians for hundreds of years till Emperor Constantine, were not into the practices of building new buildings and facilities for church and fellowship.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not that they did not want to or without resource. But the Early Christians were being\u00a0practical<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/span>and being\u00a0committed\u00a0<\/u><\/span>on these three things \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n They just made used of existing facilities. They met in Synagogue till they were kicked out. They met in the market place, out in the park, by the river side, and mostly \u2026.. in the house.<\/span><\/p>\n The Early Christians were known for house-church fellowship and the important point was, they were very focus and committed to these three important things<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s think of that as \u201cquality control in micromanagement<\/u><\/strong><\/span>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n As Paul said \u2026\u00a0God gave the increase<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n What Paul and Apollos did fulfilled what Jesus commanded \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, \u201cAll authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.\u201d (<\/span><\/em>Matthew 28:18-20<\/em>)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Jesus was telling us to keep focus on the discipleship progress and process.<\/span><\/p>\n And as Paul said \u2026\u00a0God gave the increase<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paul was not talking theory; Paul himself was a missionary with proven track records of real church growth!<\/span><\/p>\n Paul was telling us what he saw, what God did through his discipleship work.<\/span><\/p>\n Paul was eye witness how God grew His church!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (<\/span><\/em>1 Corinthians 3:6<\/em>)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n When modern day churches try to increase the\u00a0numbers<\/u><\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>by every human means, we risk losing the\u00a0numbers<\/u><\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>through every other human means. People who are attracted to the church due to social activities, entertainments and facilities, the same will leave for the same reasons elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n When God gave us the increase as according to what Paul and Apollos did, these are the same who will regenerate and multiply of their own under God\u2019s will, plan and purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the other hand, modern day churches that have all the space and facility but are not focused not committed on these three<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Discipleship<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Impartations<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Passing on of values<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2026 simply waste of resource.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The key point of\u00a0sustainable<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/span>church growth, do what Jesus wanted \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n NOTE: This article has been published through the permission of the blogger David Z. David is a passionate blogger who has a deep heart for the areas\u00a0of discipleship, prayer, and a sustainable church growth. You may find his reflections and writings at his website on\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>followchristtoday.com<\/a>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n SOURCE OF ARTICLE:\u00a0<\/strong>https:\/\/followchristtoday.com\/2016\/10\/15\/sustainable-church-growth-001-quality-control-in-micromanagement\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n |Share The Good News|<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In our times of mega-churches and bigger building facilities for gatherings, it is very easy and convenient for church leaderships and management teams to get caught up with \u201cnumbers\u201d. The irony of \u201cnumbers\u201d is, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":55388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,5691],"tags":[9771,416,9818,9819,9816,9817,9815],"class_list":{"0":"post-55385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-inspirational","8":"category-spotlight","9":"tag-david-z","10":"tag-discipleship","11":"tag-impartation","12":"tag-passing-on-values","13":"tag-right-purpose","14":"tag-right-vision","15":"tag-sustainable-church-growth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64828,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55385\/revisions\/64828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"where-youre-going\"](\"http:\/\/georgeowood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/where-youre-going.jpg\")
<\/a>Discipleship<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nImpartations<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nPassing on of values<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/pre>\n<\/a>Discipleship<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nImpartations<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nPassing on of values<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/pre>\nDiscipleship<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nImpartations<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nPassing on of values<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/pre>\n<\/a><\/a>Discipleship<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nImpartations<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nPassing on of values<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/pre>\n