Growing the Distance

Growth is something every church hopes to experience.

Our church welcomed seven new members last Sunday.

Words cannot adequately express how grateful to God I am for bringing them to us.

Yet growth is not merely confined to numbers.

Growth is something Christians should experience in their personal walk with the Lord as well.

When our young people reach the age of confirmation our pastor asks them two questions.

He asks them what they expect to receive from the church.

He also asks what the church can expect to receive from them.

I frankly do not remember how I responded to those questions because too many years have gone by.

I really do think these are excellent questions and ones that we should ask ourselves from time to time.

I suspect that if we did we would find that our answers would change as we continue to mature.

What I offer my church today I could not have imagined decades ago.

What I offer in the future I may not be able to imagine today.

My expectations of my church have no doubt changed since the day I was confirmed.

My expectations of it in the future will be different than my expectations today.

That is another aspect of growth.

With God's help, we will grow in numbers.

With God's help, we will also continue to grow as individuals.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (NIV) – I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com