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Four Marks of a Maturing Congregation

Four Marks of a Maturing Congregation

The spiritual life of a Christian is never stagnant; if it is not growing, then it is decreasing. There is no middle ground where a Christian’s spiritual life can remain at one point, there must be movement. This movement is determined by our actions. Peter writes of the spiritual maturing process…

“For this very reason, “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1.5-8; ESV)

As a member of the body of Christ, when we are growing spiritually it will naturally affect others. When we grow we begin sharing the burdens of others (Galatians 6.1; Romans 15.1), we edify one another (Hebrews 3.13), we teach others (Titus 2) and we begin sharing the word with others because we cannot help but speak of Jesus (Acts 4.12).

Because our spiritual growth affects others, here is a list below of “Four Marks of a Maturing Congregation” for your consideration.

What would you add to the list?

Four Marks of a Maturing Congregation:

Fellowship – Members know each other outside of Sundays and Wednesday.

Assistance – Because the members are bearing one another’s burdens, have knowledge of each other, and progress towards the same goal, assistance is given without a shocking announcement to the congregation. (Galatians 6.1; Romans 15.1)

Attendance – The numbers game is a difficult one to play with attendance, but a maturing congregation will have high attendance based on membership because people are coming (1) to worship and study God’s word, (2) to edify the brothers and sisters and (3) to continue on their spiritual process of growing closer to God. (Note: Hebrews 10.24-25 – Remember verse 24 is the beginning and reason for verse 25)

Finances – The church in Macedonia gave “beyond their means of their own accord” (2 Corinthians 8.3). The church in Macedonia knew how much they could give and they gave beyond it. I believe this is a sign of maturity because the Macedonians knew there was a greater purpose to finances than physical stuff.

What other marks would you add to the list?

Just some thoughts,

8 Things Not to Say in Front of Your Children

8 Things Not to Say in Front of Your Children

Do you desire to see the church grow?

I am sure everyone reading this desires to see the church grow not only in number, but also in our fellowship with each other. However, we might be hindering the potential of future generations by our current speech in front of our children.

Through science, we know that our brains are forming until our early twenties and children are more influential due to their trusting nature. Children are miniature video cameras who “film” everything they see, hear and experience and it begins to form a bias for later life.

In considering the influence we have on children, I would ask you to examine your words that you speak in front of them.

Things Not to Say to Children about God, Church and the Bible

Do not curse God – I believe this one is self-explanatory.

Do not degrade the elders – Many congregations are struggling to find men who are qualified to be elders and I often wonder how many aspire to be elders after hearing what their parents say about the current eldership? Are your children hearing you treat the elders with respect?

Do not degrade the deacons – See explanation above and replace “elder” with deacon.

Do not degrade the preacher – OK, this one really gets me. I believe preachers are evaluated much more (many times more) than elders and deacons because preachers are usually at the forefront of the congregation at all times. Many times the preacher, and the message, are evaluated in the parking lot, the local restaurant at lunch or in the car driving home — what are the children hearing? Ever wonder why churches are suffering to find preachers? – and why there are few preachers?

Do to say the Bible Class is awful – Just because you did not get something out of the Bible class, does not mean someone else did not. Children hear the words you say, then they do not want to go to Bible class and then the church has a large Bible class problem…yes, just as we are seeing now.

Do not say the church is not as important as ___________________. (fill in the blank) – Let your children see that church is an important part of your life. Many times, young people become more liberal than their parents in terms of attendance. This problem will grow more as they see the church not being an important part of their lives.

Do not talk bad about church members – Your children see this and will imitate it as they grow. By the way, should we be gossiping, backstabbing or speaking unloving of a brother or sister anyway?

Do not complain about giving to the church – When children see how adults react to money, it puts a huge weight on their lives. Do your children see you scramble for the checkbook at the last second for the contribution while you always have money prepared for sports expenses?

Just my thoughts,