So neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth.(1 Cor 3:7 NRSV)

Church growth has somehow come to be understood by some Christians as synonymous with the growth of Christianity. Yet, given the controversies surrounding deliberate efforts on the part of churches to grow, especially numerically, one wonders how widely accepted is this notion in all churches. Furthermore, equating the Church to the whole of Christianity or the Kingdom of God is problematic to say the least. So what is it about Church Growth and the Global Church Growth Movement that makes the hackles of some persons rise?

Expansion Of The Early Christian Movement
According to the text from 1 Cor 3:7 above, which is part of a bigger passage it would appear that the author, Paul the Apostle, was simply stating the obvious that growth is inherent to Christianity. Anyone who has done any reading into the history of Christianity would be aware of what might be called the expansion of the Early Church which is generally portrayed as the overall spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to the rest of the world.

Paul is highlighted in the New Testament as something of a “Rock Star” apostle who was instrumental in the spread of Christianity. Not to take anything away from his efforts, we still have to acknowledge that the other apostles and the new converts also contributed as well. Through their efforts the church grew, certainly in numbers if not in maturity the way Paul anticipated it.

Increase Through Early Evangelistic Efforts
Whether we want to deny the fact, the spreading of the Good News was early evangelism. In addition,  the spreading of the Good News anticipated that there would be growth. Part of what it meant to be successful was in the fact that growth was accepted as a matter of  fact.

The consequential increase in converts and followers arising from evangelistic efforts was the work of God. Paul, expressed the view that human beings only cooperate with God in contribute to the process of God’s work on earth. The results are entirely God’s business. So its obvious that some effort should be put into nurturing and tending to facilitate any increase that God will give. Basically, there is evidence of something deliberate to produce the increase in membership.

Armed with an understanding of being witnesses to the Good News of salvation,  grounded in what is termed the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The Church today continues to believe that this mandate informed the Early Christians who undertook the spreading of the Gospel with great zeal. The anticipated increase in their numbers came and they kept growing and growing. Still one has to ask if the faith and spiritual maturity of Christians back then wasn’t superseded by numerical increase, just as it is today.

Numerical Or Spiritual Growth
Who says it has to be one or the other? Keeping a balance between the two, is perhaps one of the major issues of current church growth discussions. How does one keep spiritual maturity in tandem with numerical growth. While that question deserves its own treatment, I raise it here. For it seems like this too is inherent to Christianity. Was there ever a time when as a result of the off the charts increase and expansion of Christianity, that there was sufficient attention given to nurturing the development of deep mature Christian spiritual faith and commitment?

And I suppose that might be why some persons feel we need to halt this emphasis on growth for growth’s sake as it appears to some. Instead, we need to focus on getting those we have to become more committed and passionate about God. This is perhaps the driving purpose of building Small Groups. It is with the hope that with the nurture possible only in small groups not a crowd that this kind of commitment might be fostered and God will allow growth to take place.

Do tell us what are your views on this?

Blessings,
Marvia

Few And Scattered

Church growth and small groups sound like swear words even to some Christians. Still present today, are the long standing concerns, about the so-called Church Growth Movement said to have emerged out of a school of thought that promoted deliberate and aggressive efforts at growing church membership.

This contemporary Movement has been associated with an American, Donald McGravan who served for 30 years as a missionary in India before embarking on developing an institute for training in church growth principles. His teachings which influenced the North American context has spread worldwide.

Church growth in itself, is a troublesome concept to grasp by those who do not hold to the approach of some Evangelical Christians to “evangelism and missions”. Where evangelistic effort is geared toward solely toward institutional expansion without respect for local culture and fueled by arrogance, church growth earns a bad name. It must be said that not all Evangelicals hold to contemporary notions of church growth either. And there are those who say they do, but their attitude reflect that they are Christians against church growth.

When the term “small groups” enter the discussion on growing churches or managing church growth one either receives skepticism or ambivalence from those who are yet to be convinced that the small group concept does work. Imagine then, trying to introduce the concept of church growth through the small groups method to a context where small groups is rooted in its history and has been dubbed a failure in that and similar contexts.

Notwithstanding the skepticism or ambivalence, global statistics show that some churches are experiencing phenomenal growth while others reflect a similarly dramatic decline in membership. Along with the worldwide growth of Charismatic – Pentecostal type churches came the realization that an authentic sense of community is not happening in tandem with the numerical growth. It has been found that the larger the group, the greater the distance among the membership where church growth is not managed.

Evidence of growth of churches in North America, Europe and Asia in particular speaks to the effectiveness of the small groups or cell groups method. Whether churches use small groups to drive their growth, or to provide care for members who gets lost in large groups, it is an important method worth considering. In some contexts, its a matter of revisiting an abandoned practice to see what lessons can be learnt from where we went wrong. A plethora of books on Small Groups Ministry records the mistakes, flops and successes of the Small Groups method and cell-churches.

My appreciation for building small groups has less to do with ‘driving growth’ for growths sake and everything to do with truly offering nurture to members in our congregations who are not being reached. It is in the offering of care, and the potential growth of individuals and community building that I believe the real success of church growth through small groups is to be found.

More to come on this issue as I work with a church to help them implement small groups to manage their growth and meet the needs of members who cannot be reached by one pastor and a few deacons.

Have you got any experience with Small Groups Ministry? Tell us what its like for you. Share both your positive and negative experiences with us.

Marvia

Gratitude

Its Christmas!

Extending Christmas Greetings of Peace and Love to my readers and friends. May your hearts and homes be filled with the comforting presence of Immanuel, God With Us. Let nothing cause you to completely let go of the gift of peace inherent in this season.

Christmas is not a ‘birthday celebration’. Some still give the impression that December 25th is the ‘birthday’ of Jesus the Christ. Even though we are not celebrating a single day the season from Advent to this point is the celebration of the Christ event. This time is marked by Love, Hope, Thanksgiving and Peace. Let these gifts, like the Frankincense, Myrrh and Gold presented to the Christ child infuse your beings and home today.

The event of Christmas extends beyond a day to a way of life.  It is more about service to others, than the emphasis on material things. With all the emphasis on shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning one would get the impression that this time is about us and the merchants. It is a time of making our worship of God even more real in our everyday lives. Let us pursue peace and make it a way of life. with each other and showing in deeper ways our love for our neighbours.

Think about it.  Does it feel that way to you?

I pray that you will hold dear to the Hope, Peace, Love, and Thanksgiving this season. May you share all these, with everyone now and in the coming year. And may you come to an even fuller knowledge of the Christ, the one whose coming we celebrate at this time.

BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS!!

Marvia

Blogging is an enjoyable but extremely demanding enterprise. It’s like tending a garden. Left too long it soon becomes over-run with weeds that harbour all kinds of interesting creatures from the Eco-system. Some of that happened here. This little garden has been one of my interests that could not receive as much attention as I would have liked due to the increased workload of ministry in the offline world. The offline church world is not as forgiving as a Blog!

New Blog Theme
So the makeover includes a shiny new look that will be getting the finishing touches in the face-lift department. You’ll notice that we are sporting a new theme. You did notice right?

I started dreaming of this revamping of this site a little over a year ago. From then, I knew it was down to a theme from two possible choices. I spent hours checking out both the Thesis and Genesis (by StudioPress) WordPress framework. Finally, Genesis won? I was torn between the two. I wanted something professional yet affordable, and easy enough for me to do as much customization with support. I won’t put here what was the determining factor in making the choice. It’s just one of those things that you know when you know, that its the right choice at the right time. And so far, I’ve done all you’ve seen of the theme to have us back online. The additional face work that is out of my depth will come soon.

Theme Design & Layout
Too many choices in anything is not necessarily a good thing. And this theme allows you to design, re-design, feature and dazzle so much so that I’m dizzy. I had to call in some friends to ask what they thought and what you see is a matter of choice of friends. The jury is still out on whether we should be Black, Blue or plain ole White. Blue is up by a narrow vote. Widgets and whats-its abound. Am I gushing? Well let’s see the final thing come Christmas and we’ll be rocking the final product into the New Year.

Unique Refreshing Content
You have grown accustomed to a candid perspective on issues related to church growth. There’s no shortage of material and resources around here. Time, and what had to take priority caused us some setbacks in this area. That is being addressed. So, be assured that you’ll soon be getting more valuable content to meet your needs. Among the upcoming discussions I’ll be sharing more on the subject of Church websites and Blogs as well.

So thank you for your understanding and I do hope you’ll leave your feedback. And feel free to drop me a line at admin (at) growingyourchurch (dot) com if there’s anything you do not wish to leave in public comments. Thanks for your support and kind suggestions.

Marvia

Welcoming The New Year

Its the end of 2009. And seriously, I am happy to see the back of it. I can recall a few scattered years over the decades of my life so far when I’ve shared a similar feeling. Thank God they haven’t been the majority of my years. And I’m not being melodramatic when I say 2009 ranks up at the top, among my most challenging years.

It was made even more so, because I do not consider my life in a vacuum, isolated from what is going on around me. I felt as part of my life experiences the conditions and events that took place around me, captured and held my attention and affected my mood, choices, decisions and general circumstances of life. So for me, 2009 was many tough years rolled into one. And the jury is out as to the implications for 2010.

But hear me, when a year like 2009 comes around it is not easy to predict what’s coming next. It offers at least 2 possible interpretations. On the one hand, you could look at it negatively and say based on how this ends its only going to continue on this downward spiral into the abyss. However, on the other hand you might say this is it. It can only go upward after this there is no further down.

I like the latter and so will remember with thanksgiving that God has brought us safely over. So you might have thought it was the end, and maybe whatever situation you are faced with  now you are thinking you’d rather not go on. But receive this assurance at the end of this year, and let it fill you with hope for the year to come.

Paul the apostle puts it like this in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9:

7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

Over the past year I’ve had my share of those difficulties of which Paul speaks. And guess what, I’m alive. I know I did not make it through 2009 by my own skill or power. God’s favour was upon me; and God’s power kept and continues to sustain me. I resolved to let each experience impart to me more of life’s wisdom. And I’m all the more stronger for them. So for me, I am looking forward to 2010 because I believe that 2009 was preparation for what is to come.

What about you? Do you share a similar hope for 2010 or have you hit rock bottom and feel like you can’t go on anymore? If you’ve made it this far to the end of the year, don’t let go. Here’s some more encouragement from the Kurt Kerr Singers:

May your heart be filled with hope and thanksgiving for the coming year.

Marvia

Sudanese displaced women carry rations [Source-UN Photo]

When I feed the hungry they call me a saint.
When I ask why so many people are poor they call me a communist.
~Dom Helder Camara~

World Hunger is a scandal. The earth produces enough food to feed all its inhabitants, yet hunger has reached chronic proportions across the world especially in Asia and Africa. It is a fact that women are the primary producers of all the food the world consumes. Moreover, in Africa alone 80% of the food produced, is produced by women.

The irony?

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics show that more than 60% of the world’s chronically hungry people are women

Poor Women Chronically Hungry

Its one thing to be chronically tired, its another to be chronically hungry without you having an eating disorder. The rapid-paced world we’ve created, guarantees that we get little or no rest. Thus, chronic fatigue seems to be a normal way of life for most of us. That’s a lifestyle luxury!But how many of us know what it feels like to be chronically hungry? The world’s poorest women do.

According to the latest World Food Programme report:

There are 1.02 billion undernourished people in the world today. That means one in nearly six people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to the health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

To be chronically anything, is to be in that condition for an ongoing or lengthy period of time. Hunger having reached chronic proportions globally, has become like a disease on the face of the earth. Chronic hunger describes the state of ongoing daily, weekly, and more often than not months of undernourishment.

These women consume far less than the required daily caloric intake necessary to keep them healthy and active. In addition, hungry mothers give birth to hungry children. Malnourished children face great challenges including learning disabilities which in turn perpetuates socio-economic underdevelopment and the inability to free themselves from poverty.

It is a vicious cycle…

Women and Children Search Garbage [UN Photo/Martine Perret]

The World Food Programme highlights the following factors as the main causes of hunger; Natural Disasters, War, Poor Environmental  Practices, Agricultural Infrastructure, and Poverty. All these factors are interconnected, one impact on the others. To address the causes of hunger, all the contributing factors must be tackled together. October 16, is observed worldwide as the World Food Day, and October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This entire month of October is dedicated to bringing the world’s attention to the ravages of hunger and poverty across the world, but especially in Africa and Asia.

Sometimes, the situation seems hopeless when we look at the extent of the challenges we face. I for one, tend not to think of it as though I’m alone but remember that no single person or nation can solve all the world’s problems. However, we can build on the efforts of others and together we can make a great difference.

What Can You Do?

Significant progress can be made if the heads of all nations, and us as people commit to implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Discuss them with your congregations to learn ways we can make a difference. Get resources to educate your congregations about world hunger and poverty from organizations such as Bread For The World. Get creative ideas on how to host a Hunger Awareness Sunday in your congregation and build commitment to advocacy.

If you have a Blog, then become a Blogger Against Hunger Advocate and use your voice to promote awareness of the hunger and the global food crisis. Sign up by just clicking the banner below it will take you to the site. This is just a start on the many things you can do.

Feel free to share your resources with us as well.

Do something!
Marvia

UN Peace Dove

On International Day of Peace September 21, 2009 I joined with others across the world in expressing my deep desire for a global culture of peace. This year, the United Nations issued a call for nations to disarm, under the focus we must disarm or wmd. It is believed that to disarm will be a significant gesture in creating the desired culture of peace. Disarmament requires the responsible leadership of world leaders.

As a servant of hope who inspires faith is some to believe that all things are possible when we trust God,  it might seem contradictory, my view that peace the way we perceive it will not come anytime soon. And I’m not being original in those sentiments either. Jesus never offered his disciples any such consolation of ‘world peace’ the way they anticipated it. Yet, the way he taught them how we should live with our neighbours would bring about precisely that peace after which we yearn.

The present culture of war and violence that characterizes life as we know it has been centuries in the making. None  of us alive know any other world, and a world of peace we can only imagine. We can speak of relatively safe and less violent times when we were children. Today’s youth and children have no such memories of ‘good old days’. Some of our ancestors left us a legacy of hate upon which we have built an unsafe and violent world for our kids.

Unhappy child soldier?

There is no shred of evidence to support exactly what a world at peace might look like, except what we hear about and believe to be possible. The wisdom of Prophets, Sages and Religious Leaders who receive(d) glimpses into Divine mystery, teach us that the present path of war and violence, hatred and hostility is a fool’s path. It’s present and its future breeds nothing but destruction.

Many peace initiatives have already been tried and proven. Some have failed, some are still being flogged, and we are thankful for every ounce of success. The call to disarm must go out to nations as well as individuals with high powered sophisticated nuclear weaponry for national defense, and small personal arms for protection.

The call to for disarmament is not gaining sufficient ground among the powerful world leaders. I believe it is because it is not a profitable option, and thus cannot gain sufficient popularity from those who now profit greatly from war and violence. I am no Geo-political pundit but as I see it, religion, distrust and money are the three main reasons why nations will not disarm anytime soon.

UN Peacekeeper Watching Sunset

Religion, Violence And War

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the three Abrahamic faiths share a history of war, violence and conquest interpreted as sanctioned by God oftentimes depicted as the most cruel warlord. Historic religious conflicts are kept alive in religious memories, rituals and traditions of synagogue, mosque, temple and church.

Religion seems to be more a matter of death, not life as seen in the violent clashes around the world. There is conflict within each religion, and there is conflict among communities of adherents of these religions. The race for arms to defend territories, and current wars being waged have strong religious links that seem only to be getting stronger.

Distrust From Historical Hurts
Our ancestors taught us not to trust each other, and with some good reasons too; and with some bad ones we can’t overcome. There is a reason why we are told not to trust strangers. They first came walking, riding horses or in ships and pretended to be friends from far away lands. Or they come pretending to trade with the locals, and end up stealing precious resources, kidnapping and or killing women and children.

Every single nation has a primal story that goes something like that. Soon we learn that the foreigner is the enemy. Generation after generation hate each other. The foreigner want what we have; and the foreigner always believes you are coming to take it back.  We bear arms to protect ourselves and those we love. Where there is no trust, no one will disarm.

Disarming, throwing down arms/weapons allows us to throw open our arms to embrace each other as sisters and brothers where we once considered the other our enemy. But this disarmament thing is a costly exercise.

Money And Profits We Stand To Lose

The billions of dollars spent on nuclear and other sophisticated weapons only promises psychological delusions of national security. Who cares about the loss of lives, when we believe that fighting wars is the way to protect lives? Who cares about the current threat to lives from the disposal of radio active wastes? Who cares about nations living under the threat of those weapons detonating by accident?

Nuclear weaponry rakes in mega-profits for a few powerful people. Many related industries benefit from the ‘trickle down’. To disarm will disrupt the world’s economies that have for centuries been built on war, violence, conquest and exploitation and the mentality of the survival of the fittest (fittest = ones with bigger guns/smarter war lords are the fittest to lead). Backed by religion, devoid of trust, who is willing to lose profits and weapons?

Evil spares no resources to increase its power while peace earns no profit.

May Justice roll down like waters (Amos 5:24a)…and therein we’ll find peace,
Marvia

Read what other Bloggers said on the issue over at the Bloggers Unite – Peace Day event.

And so the story goes…

Norwegian theologian and pastor Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 48, was elected 7th general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Thursday 27 August during its Central Committee meeting. Tveit will be the youngest general secretary since Willem A. Visser ‘t Hooft who had led the WCC while it was in process of formation and following its founding assembly 61 years ago.

“This task I really feel is the call of God. I feel that we have a lot to do together”, said Tveit in his acceptance speech before the central committee. He stressed the spirit of unity that dominated the whole process and expressed hope that it will continue to reign in the common journey. Tveit encouraged the committee members to continue praying for him: “Please do not stop!”

Since 2002, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has been the general secretary of the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations. Tveit is a member of the WCC Faith and Order Plenary Commission and the board of directors and executive committee of the Christian Council of Norway.

Tveit was one of two candidates standing for election to the WCC’s highest administrative post. The other candidate was Rev. Dr Park Seong-won, a Presbyterian theologian from South Korea. Tveit will replace outgoing general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia who in February 2008 informed the Central Committee, the WCC’s highest governing body, that he would not seek a second term in office. Kobia has served as general secretary since 2004.

PRESS CONFERENCE:

A press conference with Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit will be held:

Friday, 28 August, 12:40 – 13:20 pm

at the Ecumenical Centre,

150 route de Ferney, Geneva, Visser ‘t Hooft Hall

Biographical information on Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit:

http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6908

Information on previous WCC general secretaries:

http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4110

More information on the 26 August – 2 September 2009 Central Committee meeting:

http://www.oikoumene.org/cc2009

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

Let us keep the WCC in our prayers. And while you are at it, do check out their new website and send them some feedback.

Peace,
Marvia

“Be Still My Soul” is a popular revival hymn written by Katharine von Schlegel (1697-c.1768) and translated into English by Jane L. Borthwick (1813-1897). Read more at Christian Music Suite101

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.
Be still, my soul.

Here’s a short video that I’ve found very inspiring. I do hope you enjoy it too.

Peace,
Marvia

In a worship service opening the “Churches against Racism” conference in Doorn, Netherlands, 14-17 June, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia said the Bible was the “ultimate immigration handbook”.

Kobia asked Christians to apply the parable of the “good Samaritan” to the current context in which they live.

“It speaks to us in this week after virulently anti-immigrant parties made unprecedented gains in European elections”, he said. “This parable of Jesus calls us again to consider, ‘Who is my neighbour’ and how are we to live out that relationship? Christ calls us to be neighbours of immigrants, of oppressed minorities within our own nations, of all who are in need of a neighbour.”

The service was held to give thanks for the WCC Programme to Combat Racism. Launched 40 years ago the programme assisted the victims of racial discrimination in different parts of the world, most prominently in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Some fifty church leaders, activists and theologians are attending the international conference.

Expected outcomes of the conference are theologically founded strategies and networks to advocate against racism within society and the church. A message of commitment will be read during a closing worship service 17 June in the presence of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

The conference was organized by the WCC in cooperation with the Council of Churches in the Netherlands, the association of migrant churches in the Netherlands SKIN, the missionary and diaconal agency KerkinActie, the interchurch organization for development cooperation ICCO and the ecumenical advocacy group Oikos.

Get the full text of Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia’s sermon here.

Peace!