MODULE 4: CHURCH GROWTH

Contents

Module Introduction Objectives and Pre - Test

Session One The Meaning of Church Growth
Session Two Description of a Growing Church
Session Three Perspectives on Church Growth
Session Four Hindrances and Objections to Growth
Session Five Why the New Testament Church was a growing Church
Session Six The New Testament Church Experienced Holistic Growth
Session Seven Biblical strategies for Church Growth
Session Eight Effective Mobilization of the Laity for Church Growth
Conclusion Post Test
Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

God is interested in the growth of His church – local, national or global, whatever the denominational
label. Growth is however predicated on the fact that the pastor is a Biblical leader that is operating
under the authority, leadership and controls of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. There are
Biblical strategies for Growth. Church Growth is also plagued with diverse problems including church
diseases, denominational and leadership conflicts, danger of cultism, corruption, worry, pressure,
distress, and several others. These and more are emergent issues that affect church growth.

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. State the meaning of Church Growth.

2. Describe a Growing Church
3. Give Perspectives on Church Growth
4. List Hindrances and Objections to Growth
5. Explain why the New Testament Church was a growing Church
6. Identify Biblical strategies for Church Growth
7. Effectively mobilize the Laity for Church Growth
8. Mention the Relationship between Integrity and Church Growth

PRE - TEST
1. Define Church Growth
2. How will you describe a growing church?
 SESSION ONE
MEANING OF CHURCH GROWTH

The British Church Growth association gives a practical definition to Church Growth. “Church Growth
investigates the nature, function, structure, health and multiplication of Christian Churches as they
relate to effective implementation of Christ’s commission to ‘Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and
make them my disciples.’ – Matthew 28: 19 – 20.

SESSION TWO
DESCRIPTION OF A GROWING CHURCH

The church is not a place, a building or an organization. The church is a living organism. It is described
in the scripture as:

1. The elect of God, Colossians 1:15.

2. The people of God, 1 Peter 2:9 10.
3. A royal priesthood, Hebrews 5:1 10
4. A new creation, 2 Corinthians 5:17
5. The household of God, 1 Peter 4:17.
6. The sheep of the shepherd, John 10:1
7. The body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:12 14

God is interested in the growth of every church – local, national or global, whatever the
denominational label. Growth comes as a result of pastors and ministers developing the mind of
Christ, who is not willing that any should perish. God’s plan for His church is growth, Biblical growth.

God is not interested in:

i. Fishing without catching, Luke 5 :4 -11.
ii. An empty banquet table, Luke 14: 15- 25.
iii. Sowing without reaping, Matthew 13: 3 -9.
iv. A fig tree that bears no figs, Luke 13: 6- 9.
v. Lost sheep that are not brought into the fold, Matthew 18 :11-14.
vi. A lost coin that is sought but not found, Luke 15:8-10.
vii. Ripe harvests that are not reaped Matthew 9:36-38.
viii. Proclamation without response, Matthew 10:14.
 SESSION THREE
PERSPECTIVES ON CHURCH GROWTH

There are, at least, four perspectives on church growth. These include:

1. Our God is a counting God. We cannot measure the fulfillment of the Great Commission
without talking about numbers.

2. Growth cannot occur without scripture-based and Spirit-guided programs of outreach

and evangelism, but church growth is not necessarily the result of a multiplicity of
programs.

3. Proper church growth considers both quantitative and qualitative growth.

4. A growing church should resemble the first church. It should be:

a. A Saved Church: Acts 2:41 -47; 4:4; 8:12. I Thessalonians 1:5-10. A saved church is one
whose fellowship, membership and work is opened only to those who are saved.

b. A steadfast church: Acts 2:42; Luke 9:51; Acts 20:24; I Corinthians 15:58; John 8:30 -32.
A growing church is one that continues steadfastly in fellowship, study and prayer.

c. A studying church: Acts 2:42; I Peter 2:2; Acts 6: 4; Luke 10: 38 -42. In a growing church,
new converts are discipled to reach others also (2 Timothy 2:2; Titus 1: 9.

d. A sharing church: Acts 2:42; 4:23, 24; 6:4; 12:12. There should be corporate and
individual prayers.

e. A signs following church: Acts 2: 43; Mark 16: 17 -20; Hebrews 2 :3,4; Luke 7 :16 -17;
Acts 8: 5 -8. The early church was a praying, believing church as such signs, wonders and
miracles were seen in manifestation.

SESSION FOUR
HINDRANCES AND OBJECTIONS TO CHURCH GROWTH

Pastors, Ministers and Christian workers sometimes complain of the following inabilities,
weaknesses and shortcomings as reasons for lack of growth in their local churches:

1. Lack of Education: God is capable of using both learned and the unlearned for His Work
Acts 4:13. What matters to God is sweet fellowship with Him.

2. Lack of Communication Ability: Exodus 4:10 -12. God will put His word in His servant’s
mouth.

3. Lack of Experience: The living God sometimes commissions inexperienced children,

Jeremiah 1: 4-10
4. Lack of Equipment and resources: When God gets hold of the person He wants to use
for His work, materials and money are not his problems I Samuel 17:40 -51. God can do
much with little and everything with nothing.

5. Lack of support and encouragement: God’s love and His promises are enough support,
Ezekiel 2 :3 -8
SESSION FIVE
WHY THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH WAS A GROWING CHURCH

1. It grew from eleven to one hundred and twenty, Acts 1:15.

2. It added three thousand souls, Acts 2 :41-42.

3. It won five thousand men to Christ, Acts 4 :4.

4. Multitudes were added to the body of Christ, Acts 5 :14.

5. It increased cross – culturally, Acts 6:1.

6. Churches were multiplied, Acts 9 :31.

7. It experienced internal and external growth daily, Acts 16 :5.

SESSION SIX
THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH EXPERIENCED HOLISTIC GROWTH

1. It grew up:
The New Testament Church experienced vertical growth because their converts were nurtured
with the Word of God; and, were properly followed up until they became true disciples of Christ.

2. It grew together:
The New Testament Church experienced rapid numerical growth through fellowship of believers.
New Believers were accommodated in House Churches or House Fellowship Centers where they
meet to study the Word of God and pray

3. It grew out:
The New Testament Church grew out because it succeeded in reaching out to others who needed
to be saved through evangelism. They engaged in both personal and mass evangelism. The
Church also reached out to the unreached through Cross Cultural Evangelism or Missions.

4. It grew more through church planting:

The New Testament Church grew more through Church Planting because the New Testament
believers were addicted to Church Planting. Churches were planted to saturate the Whole World
– Europe, Asia and Africa
 SESSION SEVEN
BIBLICAL STRATEGIES FOR CHURCH GROWTH

The following have been identified as Biblical Strategies for Church Growth.

1. Strong Biblical Leadership: Leadership can be defined as the art of influencing and
directing others in a manner that wins their confidence, support, respect and
enthusiastic cooperation in achieving shared objectives. Pastoral leadership is crucial
to membership growth.

2. Mobilization of the Laity: Churches grow when they mobilize their membership into
the service of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-16.

3. Practical, Sound Biblical Teaching: (Acts 2:42; 20:20, 27 -28; Titus 1: 9; 2: 7 -8).
This leads to spiritual and numerical growth.

4. Fellowship of the Believers: John 15:5. The best way to give church members the
opportunity to grow in fellowship is through small group or care groups.

5. Worship: Celebration is a big key to growth, Acts 2 :47 Singing, praises, worship,
prayers, prayer requests, testimonies, etc.

6. Prayers, Faith and Answers to prayers: (John 15:16; Acts 6 :4 – 9; 9 :39-42).

Prayers as a spiritual exercise make way for and bring into practical realization the
promises of God.

7. Evangelistic Outreach: Effective evangelism aids growth. Dr. Peter Wagner said, “If
effective evangelism happens, it has to begin and end with the local church.

8. Creativity, Resourcefulness, Building and Finance: Goal setting, planning and

development of strategies are necessary for growth to take place. Resourcefulness
will help us to develop purposeful activities to reach a vast majority of the unchanged
in our community (Acts 9: 6; I Corinthians 9: 19-23; Luke 14:28-30). Two resources
that all believers have are money and time, tithes and offerings, availability of the
members.

For a church to keep on growing consistently there must be faithfulness in financial matters, Luke
16:10-12; I Corinthians 4:2.

The church building should be adequate to contain the crowd. Once the church building is 80% full,
the church should start thinking of making more room available by physical expansion or shift
services. Our hearts must also have more rooms to accept and accommodate new converts.
 SESSION EIGHT
EFFECTIVE MOBILIZATION OF THE LAITY

In the secular world a minister is viewed as a person at the head of a Department of State and usually
a member of the cabinet. A minister is also seen as a person representing his Government in a foreign
country. In the Presbyterian and in conformist churches, a minister is a Christian priest or clergyman.
That is Priest for the Roman Catholic Church, and Vicar, Rector, Curate for the Church of England.

Ministry is a department of the state under a minister. It can simply be defined as the office duties,
term of service, of a minister.

Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, started his great ministry healing and forgiveness for sick and
sinful people around the age of thirty. The New Testament is a record of His birth. His life, His death
on the cross. His being raised from the dead and His ascension or going back to heaven. It also tells
us about the continuation of His healing, forgiving ministry through those who saw him after His
resurrection.

The teaching of those who saw Jesus Christ after He was raised from the dead is contained in the
Epistles.

Every successful ministry is built on the infallible and efficacious word of God. The word of God does
not fail.
Church and Activity Groups

The Church of Christ is founded on confession that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. It is
made up of those who have had their sins forgiven because of the shed blood of Jesus at the Calvary.
The Greek word Ekklesia translated “church”, means “the called-out one”. Revelation 1:5, 7:14;
Matthew 16:18; 18:20; Romans 16:1,5; Acts 2:42

The church is God’s workmanship created to be Holy and of good works. It can be described as
citizens of God’s Kingdom, members of God’s household, temple of God, Bride of Christ, Body of Christ
and Temple of the Holy Spirit. Eph. 2:10, 4:24, 2:19, 20-22, 4:15; II Cor. 6:16, 17, I Peter 2:5; Col. 1:18,
24; 2:19.

Members of the church are called believers (Acts 4:32; 5:14), Saints (Acts 9:13; I Cor. 1:2), Brethren
(Acts 12:17, Rm. 1:13), Christians (Acts 11:26; 26:28), and Elect (Mark 13:27; Rom. 8:33)

The three ministries appointed to see that the needs of the members of the local church are met are
Overseers, Elders and Deacons.

The Overseer or Bishop must not be overbearing, violent, quick tempered nor quarrelsome. He
should rather be self-controlled, gentle, disciplined and moderate in habit. The overseer should be of
good reputation with outsiders, blameless, above any reproach, not given to wine, careful with
money, must not be a recent convert and must be able to teach. I Tim. 3:2-7; Titus 1:7-9.

The term, “ELDER” seems to refer to all the leadership of the local church. Elders direct the church
and are supported by the church. Some of the elders teach and preach and all elders of the church are
expected to pray for the sick. In many passages of the scripture “overseer and elder” are used
interchangeably. Titus 1:6-9, I Peter 5:1; James 5:14. Acts of the Apostle is a record of how the elders
are appointed or ordained in the early church. In the New Testament Church Elders are appointed by
the Apostles with prayer and fasting in every church and in every town. Acts 14:23; Acts 20:17, Titus
was instructed to appoint elders (Titus 1:5) there were also apostles and elders in the Jerusalem
Church, Acts 15:2, 4,6,22.

Deacons are attendant servants. It is a very honourable position and the qualifications are to
overseers. Phil. 1:1; I Tim. 3:8-10

The first original deacons in the New Testament church are listed in the Acts of the Apostles, Acts
6:1-7.

The Five Fold Ministry

The five-fold ministry, enumerated in Eph. 4:11-17, is an analysis of the gifted people in the church
universal. The five-fold ministry is established to prepare God’s people for service (Eph.4; 13) and to
protect against false doctrine (Eph. 4:14)

The Five-Fold Ministry Covers:

Apostle or foundational church planter
Prophet
Evangelist
Pastors and Shepherds
Teachers.

Spiritual Activities: Spiritual Activities within the body of Christ include:

1. Prophesying: That is to edify, exhort, comfort because the Lord has spoken. I Cor. 14:1-31, Amos
3:8, Rom. 12:6, Luke 1; 67; 1 Peter 1:21, I Thess. 5:20

2. Serving: This includes distribution of food, serving, washing of the saints’ feet etc. Rom. 12:7
Acts 6:1-7, 9:39, John 13:1-7, Matt. 25:9-46; Eph. 6:5-7, Col. 3:22-23.

3. Teaching: Heb. 5:12-14, Titus 2:5, Deut. 6:7; Prov. 4:1-9, Eph. 6:4, Matt. 28:20.

4. Encouraging: Rom. 12:8, Acts 4:36-37, Exo. 14:13-14, Acts 23:11, I Thess. 4:13 -18, Heb. 3:12-
12.

5. Giving with generosity: These include tithes and offerings, Rom. 12:8, Acts 4:34-37, 5:1-11.

7. Leadership: (Rom. 12:8, Matt. 20:26; Exo. 18:21)

8. Mercy and Comfort: Rom. 12:8, Lk 15:18-20; Ii Cor. 2:6-8; Lk 10;37, Ps. 25:10, 85:8-10, Prov.
14:31, Zech. 7:9; Matt. 23:23; II Cor. 1:3-7; James 2:13.

Practical application of spiritual activities;

Practical application of spiritual activities within the Body of Christ to a local assembly of Believers
results in the following Activity Groups:

1. The Ministers
2. The Workers
3. The Sunday School Unit
4. The House Fellowship Unit
5. The New Believers Class Unit
6. The Choir
7. The Ushers
8. The Prayer Warriors
9. The Evangelism Unit
10. The Welfare Unit
11. The Sanitation Unit
12. The Counselors
13. The Children Unit
14. The Singles Fellowship
15. The Men’s Fellowship
16. The Women’s Fellowship
17. The Hospitality Unit
18. The Engineering Unit
19. The Training Unit
20. The Evangelistic Unit
21. The Missions Board
22. The Protocol Unit
23. The Business Unit
24. The Awareness Unit
25. The Administrative Unit,
26. Elders
27. The Teenagers Unit
28. The Youth and Young Adults Unit
29. The Worshippers etc.

In a typical church, Activity groups are established to fill gaps in the lives of every member of the
congregation. Once a need arises, an activity group is established to meet that particular need. It is
the responsibility of every church leader to find gap in his/her local church and fill them with viable
activity groups.
Lay Ministry
Laymen should be mobilized into the ministry because lay ministry is scriptural, lay ministry is
important and laity is legitimate ministers.

Before examining Biblical background for lay ministry, attitudes that enhance lay ministry and
training for lay ministry, let’s see some reasons why laymen are not mobilized into the ministry.

Why Laymen Are Not Mobilized Into The Ministry:

1. Laymen are not mobilized into ministry because Pastors do not understand their
responsibilities:

The scriptures make it clear that the ultimate work of the Church is to be done by the Saints
i.e. plain, ordinary Christians and not by Professional clergy or a few selected laymen. The
five-fold ministry of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher exist for the main
function of equipping the common Christians (or saints) to do the tasks which are given to
them.

2. Laymen are not mobilized into ministry because pastors feel they are inadequate:

It should be noted however that D. L Moody and Bill Bright, who could be described as the
most effective people to bring people to the Kingdom of God in the 19th Century and early 20th
century were both laymen. In the eighteen and early nineteenth centuries the Baptists and
the Methodist grew rapidly outnumbering the Presbyterians, Episcopalians and the
Congregationalists. They achieved their phenomenal growth with lay preachers going
everywhere sharing their faith, forming disciplined small groups, and gathering churches.

3. Laymen are not mobilized because Pastors are in the habit of doing everything.

It is unethical for a pastor to insist on doing what a trained layman can do. Hence a pastor
should have laymen with him when doing ministry.

4. Laymen are not mobilized into the ministry because pastors are unable to find laymen
to work.
Laymen will be very careful to minister within a church when there is leadership problem,
exposure problem, attitude problem, or discipleship problem.
5. Laymen are not mobilized into ministry because of wrong expectations of the
denomination or congregation
The following attitudes enhance lay ministry:
1. Laity is legitimate ministers. Lay ministry has its background strongly entrenched in the
scriptures, Acts. 6:1-7
2. Both laymen and clergymen should know that they need each other.
3. It is true that some laymen, due to ignorance and lack of discipline, do make mistakes.
However, ministry is more important than mistakes. Lay ministry should be viewed
positively and not from the mistakes of few uninformed or careless laymen.
4. Every ministry is important to God and His church, be it clergy or lay ministry.

Requirements for Developing a Successful Lay Ministry

1. For you to develop a successful lay ministry in your church you need inspiration or good
uplifting thoughts about lay ministry.
2. You also need instruction. That is, you must be well instructed or informed on what to do.
3. The third requirement is implementation. It is not enough to have good thought about lay
ministry and know what to do, it is very important for us (as pastors) to do what we know to
be right that we should do.

In practical terms the following have been identified as the pastors’ responsibility in developing a
successful lay ministry in his church.

1. Encouragement: It is the responsibility of a pastor to lift up the laymen in his/her ministry.

Believe in your people. Encourage and affirm them. It is wrong to hold down and silence the
lay people. “You cannot hold a man down without going down with him” Booker T.
Washington.

2. Recruitment: Laymen should be carefully scrutinized and a challenge, a change and a

chance. Laymen must be seen as God sees them. God sees them as men and women with
potentials, as they can and not as they are. If our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ were to base
his selection of disciples on Human Management assessment, Judas would have been made
the controller and Christ’s right hand man.

From Human observation Judas could be described as a man of great potentials.

He was of ability and resourcefulness – The Treasurer.
He could meet people well.
He had contact in the high places.
He was highly motivated.
He had business mind
He was ambitious.
He was responsible

Peter was emotionally unstable and given to fits of tempers. This is enough to disqualify him of
management position.

Andrew had no qualities of leadership. All he could do was to introduce people to Christ.
 James and John, sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above team loyalty.

Doubting Thomas demonstrated a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.

Matthew had been blacklisted by the Jewish populace.

James, son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus had radical leanings.

From a human perspective, most of the disciples were lacking in background education and
vocational aptitude for the type of Job Christ wanted them to do i.e. to teach all Nations. The only
qualified candidate (from human inaccurately perceived opinion) was Judas Iscariot, the betrayer.

As a pastor, it is our responsibility to rely on God for the recruitment of lay ministers. Human opinions
no matter how sincere, do sometimes fail.

3. Commitment: The only way we can let the laymen come into the ministry is by receiving
commitment from them. This is however not automatic. To receive commitment from people we
must first of all show commitment them.

Show commitment to others before seeking commitment from others. It is wrong to seek
commitment from others until you show commitment to others.

The three membership essentials to the Lay Ministry in are:

Philosophy – what we are
Purpose – where we are going
Process – how we will get there

4. Equipping: This is a very important step in the development of lay ministry. The four processes
for equipping are molding, modeling, monitoring and motivating. Mark 1:2; Mk 6:7-13; Mk. 3:12-14,
Mk. 16:15-18
i. MOULDING: Do whatever you want the laymen to do be acquainted with a every work of the
ministry and do then ever when the laymen are not there with you.
ii. MODELING: Do the assignment you intend for the laymen when they are with you. This way
the laymen learn by watching what you do.
“People can learn things they never dreamed possible when someone show them how”. Dan
Reiland. “Telling is not teaching and listening is not learning”. DansonTrotmen.

Five steps involved in modeling are:

a. Tell them what.

b. Tell them why
c. Show them how
d. Help them to get started
e. Help them keep going.
 iii. MONITORING: Let the laymen do what you want them to do while you are with them.
Monitoring requires loving supervision and accountability.
iv. MOTIVATING: Allow the laymen to do the assignment with freehand while you the
pastor, stay in the background encouraging. Motivation is an encouraging reminder of the
laymen’s purpose and vision. Laymen must be motivated.

5. Ministry: Laymen who have learnt and have been monitored and motivated should be allowed to
get involved with ministry within the congregation. “The greatness of a church is not how many come
into the church, but how many go out” John C. Maxwell.

REFERENCES

Abolade J.O and Combe martins M. H. “Oral English For West Africa”, the Macmilliam Press Limited,
London and Basing Stoke

Anderson, Andy, ‘Where Action Is’. Nashville: Broadham, 1976.

Boer, R. H. A. short History of the Early Church, Wm. B. Eardams Publishing Company, Grand
Rapids, Michigan.

Fitts, Bob, Saturation Church Planting – Multiplying Congregations Through House Churches, World
Map 1419 North San FernaldoVlvd. Burbark CA 91504-4194

Fuller, L.K, Going to the Nations, An Introduction to Cross Cultural Missions, NEMI, Nigeria.

Gangel, Kenneth O. ‘You and Your Spiritual Gifts’, Chicago: Moody, 1975.

Gerber, Vergil, ‘God’s Way To Keep a Church Going &Growing’, Glendale, Calif: Regal, 1973.

Henrichs, Walter G. ‘Disciples Are Made – Not Born’, Wheaton III: Victor, 1975.

Howell, Allison, A Daily Guide for Language and Culture Learning, NEMI, Nigeria.

Mc. Eaurun, Donald A., and Arn, Win. ‘How To Grow A Church’, Glendale, Calif: Regal, 1973

Onuigbo Sam, Oral English For Schools and Colleges, Africana Fep Publishers Limited, Book House,
79 Akwa Road, Onitsha, Nigeria.

Wagner, C. Peter, ‘Your Church Can Grow’, Glendale, Calif.: Regal 1976.

Waldo J. Werning, Vision and Strategy For Church Growth, Moody Press, Chicago 1977.