Matt 16:18 ( and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it)
God is after the growth of His church spiritually and numerically, but spiritual growth precedes the growth of numbers.
Jesus equipped apostles spiritually before they went out to multiply in numbers, this is the aim of the kingdom and the purpose for establishing it, to take over the earth and subdue it, so that all men might have the Word of God written in their heart, at their transmission from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God.
Most leaders are more after numerical growth more than the spiritual, because growth in numbers promote financial progress of the church: they want the church to increase in numbers without themselves growing to spiritual level which Christ desire for His people.
That is why they put more effort in bringing men to church and not in Christ, they’re not care about the welfare of the souls, but their attention and commitment to their ministries.
This is the manifestation of the flesh in the life of some ministers, they want to boost their ego because of pride, not minding the consequences on the members in the church, none of their members are on the way to heaven due to the half baked gospel they preach.
One of my son had a dream when an angel entered a well known church with measurement in his hand, after measuring the congregation, the result shows, ” error 404″ not found.
Of all the effort of this minister and as much population he had, none of His members are qualify for heaven.
Some churches are breeding ground for devil and his agents, they become training ground for witches and wizards to display their prowess.
Church in Africa is surface Christianity, their root is not deep in the Word of God, that is why satan is taking advantage of us by increasing his followers to degrade us the more.
We need to grow in number and not remain statics but we must take care of spiritual aspect of the followers more than physical, how can God increase us if we are not building spiritual life of our followers?
Numerical increase without spiritual growth will stagnate our progress and will end up in mediocrity.
Apostles were increasing in numbers daily according to the Gospel preached, how do we want God to increase us without adequate meal from His altar, unless we want our hearer to develop spiritual kwashiorkor, what some leaders rely on is junk food on spiritual table, it will surely affect the spiritual health of the hearers.
Most of our leaders are yet to learn at the feet of the Lord for them to relate the message to the congregation, but they want men to learn from them, what will they teach if not gospel invented by their flesh.
This is the reason many leaders are enlisting in Satan’s army to fight against God because of financial assistance: they’re doing this not aware of its danger to their souls, they want the increase in the congregations because of offering and tithes, not knowing that this kind of method will only attract goats but prevent sheep from coming to their church.
Jesus want our growth to reach the level of His stature by listen and obedience to his voice daily and live according to His way on earth.
This is where our growth start, our relationship to the vine as branches is what bring growth, that is where we received nutrients that increases the growth, but as we are cut off from the vine, the more we become wither and useless for divine purpose.
When a man of God notice that his church isn’t growing according to what he desire, he consulted marine spirit for assistance instead of seeking the face of God and amend his ways.
Real growth is the increments of God in the heart, decrease of the world and it’s allurement, the more of Jesus; the more flesh is subdue the more the Spirit of God take over.
The more Christ increase the more we decrease and the more we are built in the kingdom to become a pillar in His house.
Spiritual growth precedes all things in the kingdom, the more we prosper spiritually, the more physical prosperity approaches and the more the windows of heaven open to deliver our hidden treasure for us in the kingdom.
It’s unfortunate that we aspired for growth, but it’s odd to first seek the thing of the world more than the things of the kingdom, this is how unbelievers plan their life, it’s supposed not to be the way of believers, else it will only lead to following the way of the world to achieve our purpose.
Most of us are yet to grow spiritually but are eager to achieve the world glory, no wonder Satan is wasting them daily because they want to remain as reed in the wind, not aspire to become a stone.
Practicing Christianity as religion can never lead to growth that is why we study and never aspire to reach the truth.
The success of a church is not determined by the numbers but in their spiritual growth in obeying and living the Word of God, likewise our life doesn’t depend on our financial capabilities, but in obedience to the living Word of God.
In order to populated the church we introduced some kind of thing that’s not related with the purpose of growing it, different entertainment industries were created, with music and Christian theatre that’s not different from the world films industry, even comedians who had no encounter with our saviour is invited to the pulpit to pull crowds, but unfortunately they’re not bringing down the presence of God.
The true gospel was never loved by the world, they were persecuted imprisoned and killed, God is the owner of souls, He increases His kingdom at His own Will, not by human efforts, He says, “My church is built on solid rock which the gate of hell won’t be able to prevail”.
We are trying to help God by increasing the church in numbers, it’s unfortunately that it’s goats and wolves that will be attracted by human efforts, because that’s where they find their comfort, not the sheep of the pastures.
Church growth doesn’t depend on human ideology, it’s the work of holy Spirit to increase men and bring them over to His church; human idea only result in building houses on the sand but when storms of life comes, it will surely collapse.
Prayer: Father Lord, send revival to your church oh Lord, in Jesus name amen
