When we talk about church growth at Lifeway what are we saying? To us church growth is why we exist. We boldly proclaim that our mission is to give our lives away to help others find and follow Christ. We believe a person really hasn't experienced life until he or she has given up his life for the sake of Jesus and his mission. In Mark 8:35 Jesus said, "He that holds on to his life will lose it, but the one who gives up his life for my sake and the gospel's will find it."
For us church growth is not a numbers game, but an intentional process of bringing people to Christ, assimilating them into the church and equipping them for ministry. We are not content to lead a person to make a decision, but to become a disciple. As we have said many times in the past, we are not content to give out information, we are here for transformation. Jesus said it this way, "Go into all the world making disciples..." then he immediately went on to define what that looks like, "baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey all that I commanded you." Jesus concluded by saying, if you make this the main thing, "I will be with you until the end of the age." What a great guarantee. At Lifeway we believe that the church grows as people who love God and others cooperate with him to reach those who are far away from him. As for people in our day who have defined church growth I think Gary L. McIntosh defined it best, church growth means, "all that is involved in bringing men and women who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ into fellowship with him and into responsible church membership" (Biblical Church Growth, by Gary L. McIntosh page 18).
Join us on the adventure of a life-time and experience what it means to really live.
