Preaching about church growth

I would caution about using Joseph's dream to preach about church growth. It wasn't about that. You would be misusing Scripture.

If you want to preach on church growth, preach from Acts.

 

...not to mention the Great Commission.

Question: do the folks there realize that they are an olde folks church and that in order to grow and fulfill the commandment of Christ, they need to reach AND MINSTER to all people?

 

I am really impressed by your desire for the church to become what God wants it to be.

But I would be very careful about preaching a vision for the church as the youth pastor. If the lead pastor hasn't been preaching it regularly, that will lead to a division between yourself and the pastor and it might lead to people lining up behind you in opposition to the pastor. I don't think this is your intent at all, but the law of unintentional consequences might lead to some unpleasantness within the church.

One other point, I have been around most of the largest churches in both IFB, SBC and non-denom. I don't know that I have ever heard them preach about church growth. They preach about evangelism and discipling new believers.

 

I completely agree with Tom about the lead pastor being with the message. I went to a church much like you describe and it was a great church, but no one seemed to be concerned about growth. We normally had 35-40 on Sunday mornings and 3/4 of those in attendance were 60+. I dearly loved all of the older members, but most of them had an attitude that they had put in their time and now they were going to rest. I tried multiple different methods of trying to get outreach ministries going and ended up frustrated each time because it always ended up being just me. I can't count how many times my wife and I went on visitation and we were the only ones.

Part of the problem was that the pastor, while a great preacher, wasn't preaching growth to the church. Without him on board, I just seemed like that crazy young guy who was trying to do things different. I really believe that if the pastor had been on board, the congregation would have been moved to do more.

 

Don't be too hard on the old folks. For many of them, it's not a question of willingness or of being satisfied. It's a question of energy levels and sometimes health. You younguns' just wait.

 

I'm not being hard on all hold folks...don't get my wrong. I completely understand that many older people can't get out and do the things that I as a younger person can. I just have a problem when said older members don't even show up when someone (myself) is practically begging them to come and just give advice and mentor the few younger people that are there.

 

Everyone regardless of age can be a witness. Pragmatic results oriented ministry accomplishes much usually without God. We are not called by God to focus on results. We are called to focus on the doing.

 

Business with God starts with facing Him.

"What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use -- men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men -- men of prayer. --E.M. Bounds