My wife tells me I’m boring and should get a new hobby. So, at long last, I have obeyed. I have a new hobby: walking around Edinburgh taking pictures.
Very nice, you may say… but my hobby has a dark twist. I’m photographing church buildings which are no longer church buildings.
Here are churches which did not GROW — either in depth and love for Jesus, or, obviously, in number. What went wrong? Why didn’t they grow? And crucially, how can we make sure we are a church that grows?
We mean growth in both senses. How can we grow to love the Lord Jesus more wholeheartedly and follow and serve him more completely? And how can we grow in number?
There is useful research into what makes churches grow, but the supremely important question is: what does the Bible say?
You can’t escape the fact that Ephesians 4:1–16 is all about growth. Paul speaks about “building up” the body of Christ, attaining maturity, and “grow[ing] up” into Christ. The church is not supposed to be static, and neither are Christians. We are called to change, grow and mature.
Paul points out two essentials for growth:
we are to be united.
we are to be equipped.
Before we consider those two things, though, notice where we are in the letter. Paul has spent the first three chapters explaining the gospel - reminding us that we have been saved entirely by grace. Now, in chapter 4, he begins drawing out the implications for how we live.
But don’t drop the ball at this point. We must remember that God has drawn us into his masterplan purely by grace. Our changed behaviour does not make us right with God; rather, because God has made us his people, we now seek to live a life worthy of the calling we have received.
1. Be United
Paul begins with a call to humility, gentleness, patience and bearing with one another in love. Why? Because there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father.
The point is simple: if you are a Christian, you are deeply united to other believers because of the gospel.
What unites us is not our background, social class, nationality, education, tastes or hobbies. We are united because we were all dead in sin and have all been made alive through Christ.
That means a divided church is not a healthy church. If God is bringing his people together under Christ, it makes no sense for us to drive in the opposite direction through petty squabbles and division.
And because the gospel — rather than our preferences — is what unites us, a healthy church will often be wonderfully diverse. We can hold lightly to our preferred worship styles, service formats, music and traditions, while holding firmly to the one gospel that brings us together.
That kind of unity requires humility, gentleness and patience. We need to be more concerned about the needs and preferences of others, speaking to one another with kindness rather than aggression, and remembering that spiritual growth takes time — in ourselves and in others.
2. Be Equipped
There needs to be great unity, but there also needs to be great diversity.
Christ gives different gifts to different people. We are united in how we are saved - all by grace through faith in Christ - but there is diversity in the gifts we are given to serve.
That means we are not meant to be consumers of church. We shouldn't arrive each Sunday with our spiritual shopping trolley, filling up on whatever pleases us before paying and leaving!
A healthy, growing church is a church of contributors, people asking not simply, “What can I get?” but “What can I give?”
God has made and gifted you uniquely so that you can serve others. Perhaps your love of cooking can become hospitality. Perhaps your intellect can be used to help the church think and plan. Perhaps your interests give you opportunities to be a witness for Christ among people you would otherwise never reach.
And this is why Christ gives pastors and teachers to the church. Not so that they can do all the ministry themselves, but “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” My role is not simply to do the ministry; it is to teach and equip so that we might perform the ministry of the church.
We gather on Sundays to worship God, but we also gather to be equipped from his Word. Then we scatter to serve: encouraging other Christians, praying, living lives of sacrificial love, inviting others to hear the gospel and helping one another grow as disciples.
That is how a church grows: united around the gospel and equipped to serve. It is not merely a good strategy. It is a God-given pattern.
SERMON RESOURCES BELOW š
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