Acts 2:42-47
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
The book of Acts can be considered as the growth manual for the church. During this time, the church grew rapidly as captured for us in various passages (2:41,47; 4:4; 5:14; etc). When it comes to the whole question of growth, the present church can learn some lessons from the early church. First, it is important to note that the apostles were not intentionally seeking to grow the church. They faithfully did what they needed to do (preaching and practising the Gospel, demonstrating God’s power, living as a God-honouring community, etc), and the numbers were added to them. Two things to note about the numbers added: One, it is God who did the adding as aptly captured by our text today. Two, those added were those who were being saved. The church grew through conversion.
The lesson for us in this is the realisation that we can’t manufacture growth. That is the domain of God. Also, we must seek to see the Church grow more than we seek for our church to grow. This simply means that the kind of growth we ought to celebrate is the kind that also grows the universal invisible Church of Christ. Some of the additions we experience in our churches, though not necessarily wrong, are just church transfers – individuals moving from one church to another. Healthy, Biblical growth, however, is when we labour to be faithful in what God has called us to, and He adds to our numbers. If we fail to do this and merely aim at seeing growth, we may end up employing all manner of methods simply to see our pews filled. Unfortunately, our churches might seem full, but that may not be the kind of growth that angels celebrate in heaven.
Reflections
1. What do you think about the whole question of church growth?
