Growing Pains...

“From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:16)

The Lord's work begins and ends with making disciples, the kind that grow together into locally functioning bodies of believers, i.e., churches. How do you get from no church to church? ...from zero to maturity? I wish more of the next generation of Christians could be enjoined to envision and commit to the entire process, whether next door or "...unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Contextually, this maturity bespeaks two simultaneously occurring phenomena:

1. a converging... "fitly joined together and compacted"...we are called out of diverse former lives, placed by the Holy Spirit into a particular body of believers (1Co 12:18), and charged with the task of submitting ourselves to God and to one another for a greater good; converging so intimately that what started as a handful of individual believers turns into a single, healthy organism.
2. a diverging... "maketh increase"... a church body cannot grow and stay healthy by constantly feeding on itself. It gains strength by extending ministry outward...seeking new sheep to be embraced by the flock and incorporated as functional parts of the whole. The process is incomplete until there is a reproducing of disciples, teachers, pastors and the birthing of new churches.

Minor problem: our human nature is completely at odds with a church's raison d'être. Make a church out of people? God really must have a sense of humor!

Some growing pains stem from exposure to attitudes that, if allowed free rein, would unravel everything. If every sheep were a freelance sheep, there would never be any flocks, nowhere for pastors to pastor, and never any healthy sheep, either. How do some sheep think that they are less like sheep than the other sheep? I'd better stop...

Sometimes growing pains develop when the line blurs between being jealous of the Lord's work and being just plain jealous. Dividing and delegating turns into multiplying. Acts 6:1-4 shows how the apostles learned to delegate responsibilities to others... and none too soon to avoid disaster! Two smaller groups well cared for have more potential than one big group... more people are more directly engaged... thus potentially more fruit. We have to be willing to let go sometimes so that others can help in the multiplying process.

Older Christians tend to find comfort in the status quo. Believe it or not, there are actually people who tell me, "I like Sundays best when you preach." This does not make me feel as warm and fuzzy inside as they think it does. For me, it means that we have some older Christians who still have some growing up to do. They must learn to embrace the new and, especially, to keep their eyes on the Savior and what His Word is conveying to their hearts, regardless of the vessel.

Pastors experience growing pains, too. When we don't get listened to as well as we should, when there are not enough team players in the flock, we become upset, frustrated. We start making rules, laying down the law, raising our voices, pounding the pulpit. Delivering ultimatums starts to feel like the way to go... "if you don't like the way we do things around here, there's the door...hit it!". Oddly, we end up even further away from Eph. 4:16.

Every Sunday, I witness a miracle that refreshes my bones. This coming Sunday, if God's people show up one more time, if the house is full and visitors are present like last Sunday, I will once again be speechlessly grateful and in awe of the overpowering work of God's grace... nothing else could possibly hold us together... nothing else could possibly make us want more of the same!

“But where sin abounded,

grace did much more abound:”

(Romans 5:20b)