How To Grow A Church

How To Grow A Church July 29, 2015

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I was struck by the headline that a man had “grown a church” – entirely from trees – in four years. Apparently he had some high-tech help. But I soon thought that it would be interesting to compare what is involved in growing what many people call a “church” today – i.e. a building – with what growing a church really ought to mean, i.e. growth of a congregation.

Often the aim of churches is to have lots of people convert and begin attending. But that involves either transplanting (= “sheep-stealing”) or planting seeds and waiting a very long time.

But that isn’t what “growth” normally means. Shouldn’t the focus be on the actual growth – the development towards spiritual maturity, increasing in knowledge and understanding – of whoever attends?

Perhaps the biggest issue is not that we have forgotten what “church” means, but that we have also forgotten what growth means.

But back to the article for just a second. Would you attend the “Tree Church” mentioned in the article? Why or why not?


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