The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many. . . If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

- 1 Cor. 12:12-14; 26-27

The other day, one of my friends pointed out an interesting thought about the book of Proverbs. Much of the Proverbs were written by King Solomon, described by the Bible as the wisest man ever to have lived. Solomon was the wisest man, and also the wealthiest man of his era. The Bible goes on to tell us that Solomon had 1,000 wives . . . holy smokers!

Do you ever feel strung out? I’m not talking about drugs. Do you ever feel like the worship services you go to on Sundays just get too far strung out, unrelated to the rest of life?

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Let me introduce to you two words from Christian theology. If you’ve gone to church for any length of time, I’d hope you have heard these before, but as a lot of churches shy away from theological terms, you may not have a firm grasp on the meaning and implication involved.

By now, I’m sure you’re all tired of reading about church growth. I know I’m tired of writing about it . . . ☺ This will be the last blog (I hope). In the first three blogs, “Concerning Practical Evangelism,” I raised the question, “What is the secret to successful church growth?” Then I said that I don’t believe there is just one secret, but rather several pieces that all must be in place and fit together for successful growth to be achieved.

We’re on the third blog entry about this topic of evangelism. In the first two, I identified two important pieces in the puzzle of church growth, (1) each of us must passionately live our faith, and (2) we have to build relationships with the unsaved people around us. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), Jesus told us to go into all the world and make disciples.

In my previous blog entry, I started a conversation about how to grow our church. I suggested that there is no single key to growing our church. Rather, there are many pieces which must all be in place for successful growth to occur. The first piece is for each of us, as Christians, to passionately live our faith (notice, I did not say, “perfectly live our faith”). Once we reach the point where we are living our faith, what’s next?

How can our church grow? What’s the key? What do we need to do to grow our church? Well, first let’s define what we mean by church growth. Actually, what we don’t mean. Church growth is not recruiting Christians from other churches. If we take 25 people from Cherry Hills, our church has not grown. We’ve gained nothing for the Kingdom. Church growth is reaching the lost. As Jesus said, “making disciples” out of those who are not.

We’re singing a hymn this Sunday. What?!? Why is a contemporary service singing anything older than 3 years? Don’t get me started . . .

David said in Psalm 14,

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”