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8 Acts of a Healthy, Growing Church

The Purpose Driven Life Book

40 Days of Prayer Study Kit

What's Driving Your Life: A 10-Day Turnaround for a Fresh Start

[caption id="attachment_21853" align="alignright" width="340"] photo credit: marfis75[/caption] B. H. Carroll, a famous Bible scholar, in his commentary, estimates that there were probably a hundred thousand members in the Jerusalem church after 25 years. Peter Wagner and many have agreed. G. Campbell Morgan estimates a minimum of 60,000. In any Bible dictionary it will tell you that in New Testament times that the city of Jerusalem was approximately 200,000 people. What we have here is a church with 100,000 members in a city of 200,000 people. Half the city had come to Christ. No wonder they said, “you’ve filled Jerusalem.” When you look at the book of Acts, you find at least 8 characteristics of the early church that positioned them for this kind of blessing from God. If we echo the actions of the early church, we can expect God’s blessing on our church as much as those ancient leaders saw a blessing on the church in Jerusalem.

1. We must minister in the Holy Spirit's power.

Acts 1:4 says, “Don’t leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift My Father promised which you’ve heard Me speak about. John baptized with water but in a few days you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit…” If you're a Christian, you already have the Holy Spirit living inside you, but we must rely on His power on a moment by moment basis. The power of God is given for witnessing, for ministry, for mission. To minister in the Holy Spirit's power means to have Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled members. One of the characteristics of people who try to minister in a church without God’s Spirit is simple – tiredness, fatigue. You end up running on your own steam rather than running on the power of God’s Spirit. So the starting point is to minister with the Holy Spirit’s power. He said, “Don’t leave Jerusalem. Wait until you’ve got My power.”

2. We must maintain a warm fellowship.

Next, according to Acts 2:42-44, “They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship and the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe and many wondrous and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All believers were together and had everything in common.” This is a perfect example of fellowship. They loved each other. When God has a bunch of baby Christians, He looks for the warmest incubator He can find. The church that has warmth and fellowship and harmony, God blesses that church with new believers because He wants them to be in an environment where they can grow. Ten times in the first five chapters of Acts it says, “they were unified”. He uses phrases like, “they were of one accord… one heart… one purpose… one spirit… all united in thought.” God can overlook a lack of facilities, a lack of programs, and a lack of leadership. But one thing He will not overlook is disharmony in the church. Harmony, unity, must be maintained at all costs because the church is a fellowship. We need to build fellowship into each other. Notice the results of fellowship: v. 47 “The Lord added to their number daily.” The result of people being close to each other and celebrating warmth and harmony was that other people wanted to get involved.

3. We must multiply small groups.

There are four advantages to meeting in small groups house to house:

It is infinitely expandable.
It is unlimited geographically.
It is good stewardship.
It promotes relationships.

There’s benefit, wisdom, in God’s way of multiplying small groups. As a result the Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved.

4. We must magnify our vision of God.

In Acts 4:24, the apostles were essentially praying, “God, there are rulers and there are leaders and there are people against You but You’re in control. You’re the sovereign Lord. You made everything in heaven and on earth.” We are children of the king. We’re on the winning side. We’ve read the last chapter. We know how it’s going to end. Jesus Christ has broken our chains and Jesus says in the Bible, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” We’re attacking hell with squirt guns! And we’re trying to snatch people right out of the jaws of hell. There are a lot of churches that want to play it safe. They get as far away from unbelievers as they can so they don’t get tainted. I want to get so close to hell that I can smell it! That’s where you set up your rescue station. Don’t be afraid to rock the boat if Jesus Christ is the captain of the boat. We need to magnify our vision of God.

5. We must maximize the power of prayer.

Forty-eight times in the book of Acts it says, “they prayed.” We will have the power the early church experienced when we pray like the early church prayed. Spiritual warfare requires the use of spiritual weapons. Notice Acts 4:31, “After they prayed the place they were meeting was shaken.” When was the last time you were in a prayer meeting like that? “They were all filled with God’s Spirit and they spoke the word of God boldly.” We must maximize the power of prayer if we’re going to be like the church of Jerusalem.

6. We must model Christlike generosity.

The New Testament church in Jerusalem was a giving church. Acts 4:32-37 says, “ All the believers were one in heart and one in mind [there’s unity again]. No one claimed any of that which was his possessions as his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and grace was with them all. There were no needy persons among them.” Notice there were three results of their generosity. - v. 32 says there was unity in the church. - v. 33 says it was a powerful testimony to the community. - v. 44 says there were no needy people.

7. We must mobilize every member for ministry.

Acts 6 describes a problem that arose in the early church between the Greek-speakers and the Aramaic-speakers. One felt that the other was receiving special treatment and needs were going unmet. So, they chose seven guys to oversee this area of ministry to people. They presented these men to the Apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. Then the Bible says, "So the word of God spread and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly.” When every member is a minister, discovers their God-given SHAPE, and serves someone else, the church moves from just a leader "adding" more people to the church "multiplying."

8. We must move out with God’s mission.

Acts 8 records God's reminder to the apostles of the Great Commission, “Go! Go into all the world and make disciples!” They initially started sharing the faith and the church at Jerusalem started getting bigger and bigger. But God never said, I want just the church in Jerusalem to be big. He said, I want you to go not to just Jerusalem but Samaria and to Judea and to the uttermost parts of the world. But they didn’t do it. They didn’t spread the gospel. So God applied pressure by allowing persecution to get them to spread. The Bible says, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church of Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered through Judea and Samaria.” Notice that: the pastors stayed home but all the people were scattered into Judea and Samaria. Why? Because that’s where He wanted them to go. They scattered everywhere and shared the good news. Jesus never said, “I came that you might have meetings.” He said, “I’ve come that you might have life.” Where is life lived? In the marketplace and in the family. We will be the New Testament church when we magnify the vision of God, pray like they prayed, when we are filled with the Spirit and when we are generous with each other. I am a believer and I know I’m going to heaven. Nothing can take that away from me. But between now and when I go to heaven, I want to take as many people with me as possible. I hope you’ll commit to that same thing.

Recent Articles

7 Reasons to Plan Your Preaching in Advance

Every pastor knows the pressure of staring at a blank page and asking, “What am I going to preach this week?” If you wait until Monday to make that decision, you may spend half your preparation time deciding instead of preparing.Your people can tell the difference between a meal that was carefully prepared and one that was thrown together at the last minute. The same is true of sermons. No church grows healthy on a steady diet of spiritual fast food.Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV). Those two words matter: “be prepared.” Good preaching requires more than inspiration. It requires planning.Some pastors worry that scheduling sermons in advance will leave no room for the Holy Spirit to lead. But God plans. Jesus followed the Father’s timetable for his ministry, and Paul made plans for where he would preach and serve. You can pray, prepare, and still let God change the plan.Here are seven benefits of planning your preaching in advance.1. Give your church a balanced spiritual diet.Planning helps you see what you cannot see when you prepare just one week at a time. It lets you step back and ask whether your church is receiving a balanced diet from God’s Word.Look across the coming months. Are you giving people both doctrine and practical application? Are you balancing the Old and New Testaments? Are you helping people grow in worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission?Pay attention to the tone of your preaching too. First Corinthians 14:3 says biblical preaching strengthens, encourages, and comforts. I think of those as building people up, firing them up, and holding them up.A church that only hears comfort will grow soft. A church that only hears challenge will grow tired. Your people need both comfort and challenge.2. Collect stronger material ahead of time.Advance planning gives you time to collect material long before you preach a message. If you know a series is coming, you can gather Scripture, illustrations, quotations, stories, and insights over several months instead of several days.I often prepared several possible series knowing I would not preach all of them that year. Nothing was wasted. The material I collected kept growing richer until the right time came to use it.Would you rather have five days or five months to prepare?3. Create room for greater creativity.Planning gives creativity room to work.During my years at Saddleback, when we knew where a series was going, our team could prepare testimonies, music, small-group material, memory verses, and other elements that supported what we were teaching. We could help the whole church move in the same direction.We never could have done that if I had decided everything at the last minute.4. Build momentum through sermon series.A series lets each message build on the one before it. People know where you are going, and they have a reason to return the next week.Momentum grows when you can say, “Next week, we’re going to look at this.” The congregation begins to anticipate what is coming, and each message adds weight to the larger truth you are teaching.That is difficult to create when every Sunday stands alone.5. Use special days strategically.Certain Sundays naturally bring more guests. Easter, Christmas, Mother’s Day, and other special days give you an opportunity to begin or announce a series that will bring people back.During my years at Saddleback, I often started a new series on Easter or announced one at Christmas Eve for the new year. I wanted to make the most of a day when people were already listening.A strong Sunday can introduce what you will teach in the weeks that follow.6. Help people invite others.When people know what you will preach, they can think of friends who need that message. If an upcoming week addresses resentment, worry, marriage, or another real challenge, your members can invite someone who is facing it.But they cannot invite people to a message they know nothing about. Advance planning gives your church time to pray, invite, and prepare.7. Reduce the stress of weekly indecision.Without a plan, the question “What am I going to preach?” follows you around all week.A lot of procrastination is really indecision. You are not unwilling to prepare. You simply have not decided where to begin.That is one reason I often preached in series. Instead of making a major subject decision every week, I made it several times a year. Once I knew the direction, I could spend my energy asking, “What does God say about this, and how can I communicate it clearly?”Start with one seriesIf you have never planned your preaching, don’t begin by mapping out an entire year. Start with one four- to six-week series. Then try planning the next three months.Pray over your plans. Invite input from trusted leaders. Hold every decision with humility, and let God redirect you when he wants to.Proverbs 21:5 says, “Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind” (MSG).Before this week gets away from you, block out time to look beyond Sunday. Sunday pressure will always come, but you do not have to let it decide your church’s spiritual diet.

Freedom for a Pastor

Pastor, both praise and criticism can get louder than they deserve.A kind word can lift you. A hard comment can sit in your head all week. But neither one is meant to run your ministry. If approval is in charge, you’ll perform. If criticism is in charge, you’ll defend yourself. Either way, you’ll lose the steady spirit God wants to give you.Paul knew what pressure felt like. He was criticized, misunderstood, rejected, beaten, imprisoned, and exhausted. But he still wrote, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:1 NIV).That’s where steady ministry begins. You don’t keep going because everybody understands you. You keep going because God, in his mercy, gave you the ministry.Stop trying to please everybodyNothing wears you out faster than trying to be someone you’re not. For pastors, that often shows up as trying to keep everybody happy.Even God doesn’t please everybody. One person prays for rain. Another prays for sunshine. One group wants the church to move faster. Another group wants it to slow down. One person thinks you said too much. Another thinks you didn’t say enough.If you make pleasing everyone your goal, you’ve chosen a goal even God doesn’t meet.Paul said, “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5 NIV). His point is plain: I’m not the subject of my ministry. Jesus is.That gives you freedom. You can listen without being controlled. You can care without performing. You can receive correction without becoming a people-pleaser.Lead from truth, not reactionPaul also wrote, “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God” (2 Corinthians 4:2 NIV).In other words, don’t manipulate. Don’t pose. Don’t twist the truth to get the reaction you want. Just teach the truth plainly and live honestly before God.That is freedom for a pastor.You don’t have to wear a mask. You don’t have to act stronger than you are. You don’t have to pretend criticism never hurts. You simply have to be faithful, truthful, and real.When praise comes, remind yourself: This isn’t about me. When criticism comes, say the same thing. It keeps both in their proper place.That doesn’t make you careless. It makes you free.Keep the right voice in chargePastor, loud voices should not set the direction of your ministry.Listen humbly. Learn what you need to learn. Love difficult people. But don’t spend your week trying to quiet critics or impress admirers.God did not call you to be driven by praise or manipulated by criticism. He called you to serve Jesus, speak the truth plainly, and keep going in mercy.So this week, before you answer the next complaint or chase the next compliment, pause long enough to remember who gave you this ministry.Then do the next faithful thing.

Build the System That Produces Changed Lives

A ministry can have a clear purpose and still fail to produce changed lives.Pastors see it all the time. The mission is right. The need is real. The volunteers care. The program has history. But somehow the ministry keeps running without really developing people.Purpose is only the beginning. Once you know what a ministry is for, you still have to build the process that helps it do what God called it to do.The Bible says, “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV). God works with order. He arranges the parts of the body. He gives gifts. He gives direction. He gives people a place to serve.So after you define the ministry, you need to build the system that produces the outcome. How do you do that?1. Let values shape how ministry gets doneAfter you define the mission, ask what values are important to that ministry.Values shape how ministry gets done. Two churches can run the same program and produce a very different culture because they value different things. Values are not decorations. They are guardrails.If you value using people’s giftedness, you will not just plug people into empty slots. You will ask how God has shaped them. If you value simplicity, you will not make the process so complicated that volunteers need a manual just to serve. If you value feedback, you will keep asking, “How can we do this better?”A ministry can have a full schedule and still have an unhealthy culture. That is why you need to define not only what you do, but how you do it.2. Know who the ministry servesA ministry also needs to know who it serves.At Saddleback, we often talked about the circles of commitment: the community, the crowd, the congregation, the committed, and the core. Not every ministry was aimed at the same circle. Some ministries served people who were uncommitted. Some helped attenders become members. Some helped members grow toward maturity. Some equipped mature believers for ministry and mission.That kind of clarity matters.If you do not know who a ministry is for, you will not know how to design it. A ministry for first-time guests will look different from a ministry for trained leaders. A ministry for new believers will look different from a ministry for people preparing for mission.One reason programs become confusing is that they try to serve everybody in the same way.Ask: Who is this ministry trying to help? Then design the ministry around that person’s real needs, not around the way the program has always operated.3. Create a strategy before you create more activityA dream without a strategy is just a wish.Ask, “Where would I like to see this ministry six months from now? Where would I like to see it a year from now?”Those questions force you to think beyond next Sunday. They move the ministry from maintenance to development.Then ask, “What steps could I take to improve this ministry?”You do not need to change everything at once. But every ministry needs a next step. Maybe the next step is clearer training. Maybe it is a simpler entry point. Maybe it is a better follow-up process. Maybe it is a stronger handoff from one ministry to another.Strategy turns purpose into movement.4. Build a system that produces the outcomeEvery ministry needs systems.A system is simply a repeatable process that helps you produce the intended outcome. If your ministry is supposed to develop leaders, what process develops them? If it is supposed to care for hurting people, what process makes sure no one falls through the cracks? If it is supposed to move people into service, what process helps them discover their gifts and take a next step?Systems are not unspiritual. God is a God of order.The Spirit empowers ministry. Scripture anchors ministry. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NIV). But depending on Christ does not mean ignoring planning, structure, and process. With Christ, you still need to think clearly about what he has called you to do.Faith is not an excuse for confusion.5. Put the right people in the right placesAsk, “What are our competencies? Who is gifted to do what?”God has arranged the parts of the body. People are not interchangeable pieces in your church machine. They are members of Christ’s body, gifted by God for service.When you define a ministry well, it becomes easier to recruit well. You are no longer just saying, “We need help.” You can say, “Here is what this ministry does, here is who it serves, here is why it matters, and here is the kind of person who can help.”People respect that kind of clarity.It also protects your team. Many volunteers burn out because they were recruited into roles that never matched their gifts, their season, or the actual purpose of the ministry. They were filling a gap, not fulfilling a calling.The right people in the right places create strength. The wrong people in the wrong places create strain.6. Decide how the ministry serves peopleA ministry also needs to ask, “How does this serve people?”Some ministries meet physical needs. Some meet emotional needs. Some meet spiritual needs. Some meet social needs. Often, a healthy ministry touches more than one of those areas.That question keeps the ministry from existing for itself. It pushes you to ask, “Are we actually adding value to the people we serve? Are we helping them take the next step God wants them to take?”A ministry can have meetings, volunteers, and a calendar and still forget the people it was designed to serve.7. Choose structure that serves the purposeStructure should serve the mission. It should not become the mission.Every ministry eventually needs to ask, “What structure best fits our statement and values?”Sometimes a ministry needs more structure because people are falling through the cracks. Sometimes it needs less structure because the process has become too heavy. Sometimes it needs to move under a different team because it fits better with another purpose. Sometimes it needs to stop for a season because it no longer serves the church’s mission.Do not start with the org chart. Start with the purpose.A ministry is healthy when its structure helps it do what God has called it to do. It is unhealthy when the structure mainly preserves itself.Pastor, good intentions are not enough to sustain a ministry. A clear purpose needs values, strategy, systems, people, service, and structure that work together.The goal is not a smoother machine. The goal is changed lives.So build the ministry in a way that helps people grow. Build it so people can serve from their gifts. Build it so the process is clear enough for others to follow. Build it so the structure supports the purpose instead of burying it.When you define the ministry, you know where you are going. When you build the system, you help people get there.

Lead with the Gifts God Gave You

“There are different spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, and yet the same Lord is served. There are different types of work to do, but the same God produces every gift in every person.” 1 Corinthians 12:4–6 (GW)Pastor, you may begin this Monday wondering whether you have what it takes for what your church needs. Another leader seems more gifted. A ministry challenge has exposed your limits. The week ahead may require abilities you’re not sure you possess.But God never calls you to an assignment without giving you what you need to do it. When you put your faith in Christ, God gives you four major gifts.Forgiveness. You won’t lead perfectly. You’ll make mistakes, miss opportunities, and sometimes say the wrong thing. But your calling does not rest on a spotless record. Romans 5:15 calls grace and forgiveness God’s gift through Jesus Christ. You are forgiven. There is no condemnation.Eternal life. In ministry, every decision, attendance number, and unfinished task can feel urgent. But God has long-range plans for you. “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NIV). You don’t earn your future with God through ministry success. Eternal life is a gift you receive by faith.The Holy Spirit. You aren’t expected to lead on your own strength. “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5 NIV). The Spirit produces the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control you need as you serve.Special abilities. The Bible calls them spiritual gifts. They are the abilities God gives you to do the work he has assigned to you. Your gifts may not look like another pastor’s gifts, but they come from the same Spirit and serve the same Lord.God has a purpose for your life, Pastor, and your spiritual gifts are the tools he gives you to do what he asks. You don’t need to imitate someone else’s calling or lead with someone else’s gifts.This week, thank God for what he has already given you. Then use it faithfully. God will never ask you to do something he doesn’t give you the ability to do.

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