“The chief contribution of laypeople to the growth of the church can be summed up in one word: ministry”. (Wagner) We must help people find a place to serve. We need to move them from watching to participating, from sitting to doing, from simply attending to transforming. Here are three ways:
Make sure they know their purpose.
Christian people need to constantly be reminded that if they enjoy the freedom, blessing and relationships with Christ and others in the body of Christ, that they should be reaching out to share this blessing. Spend time in sermons, classes and conversations talking about this one thing – the great commission. Going to others with the message of Christ is an unselfish, central part of living the gospel.
Make sure they are in touch with God.
As leaders, we may want to push toward the policies, procedures and processes that will produce more people in our church. But Jesus says, “I will build my church.” And he is using us – people with a heart bent toward him – to accomplish it. We need to help people grow in their relationships with Jesus – to be people of prayer, with childlike faith, born again and committed.
Make sure their moral is high.
High moral is essential for growing churches. High moral provides an electricity that can’t be bought and sets the stage to attract new people, which creates more moral. It
moves a church with momentum. Three keys to building moral: 1) A trusting, enthusiastic relationship between the pastor, leaders and people. 2) Unselfish giving as a
congregation in giving. 3) God given achievement in goals that are attained creates a highly contagious attitude toward growth. Set goals and go for them.
These thoughts were inspired / taken from “Leading Your Church to Growth” by Peter Wagner © 1984. This is one of the books in my “read-one-more-time-before-getting-rid-of-it” stack.
OTHER BLOGS…
Eight Thoughts for Cultivating Growth In Your Church