BP- Questions

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On Sat, 7 Oct 1995 08:16:24 -0500, you wrote:


>>Have you recently (in the past 5 years) noticed a growth or a
>decrease of
>>members in the UPC church?
>
>Most of any growth I have seen has always been overseas.  My church
>grew however from 15 to 110 but is down to 70 now.Lately im My state
>Okla., I have seen only stability. niether growth or decrease.

Churches go through ups and downs. Ministry and saints at large must
respond to the leading of God, and maintain a fresh vitality of the
Holy Ghost. 

False doctrine, and cold hearted ministers and saints both contribute
to "shrinking". Sometimes the enemy will launch an attack against the
church and the local populous as well through well coordianted
religious deception in the area. 

Failure to do the work of evangleism, and hard hearted attitudes
toward people in general are not unknown in church work. 

There are barriers to growth which must be successfully overcome. A
minister may work with God and build a church to about 110-120 people,
and find it very difficult to pass that point. Most churches in the
USA are about 75 in number. He will have to learn some new things
about living and working with people to surpass that number.
Sometimes, the community simply doesnt "fall in" tothe church after
that point, but a spiritual war must be won to break the "percentage
rule". 0.017%-0.025% of a municipal area can be EXPECTED to come to
the truth teaching church (statistically speaking). Theres enough
experience to suggest this. Another way of saying it is "God gives you
this much". More, you're going to have to fight harder for. 

While we ought to be growth oriented, we should not allow a blanket of
discouragement to fall on ourselves as a whole when growth doesnt
happen on our time table.

There are many churches in the US whuch are experiencing excellent
growth today. The statistics are interesting. In many cases these are
already large churches. There is an interest in "mega churches" in
society and people are impressed by the size. It gets them to come
looking. Us Home Missionaries might look at that and say "what hope is
there for the guy with a few souls, virtually tapped out by the
demands of living in an expensive society and surrounded by callous,
discouraged people". Well, that is calls upon what I suggested
earlier: The Holy Ghost can do a lot in the believer. 

Awsome growth overseas is a token of the progression of the harvest.
We are nearing the end of time. Much labour has been invested. God
promises that those who diligently sew will reap. America has a
mission minded church. Among many of those minsters who are not "hot
shots" today, and have not gotten "fame" with present day church
growth are men who have, for 30 years, placed Foriegn Missions as
their number one priroity in giving. This is not a small thing. 

Also, the Africans, and many Asians do not have Christian Tradition to
cope with. Animists and pagans who believe in powerful spiritual
phenomenon will quickly swap their idols for the God that made the
material from which their gods derived, IF they hear of Him, and see
His power demonstrated. In Ethiopia, for 20 years people have paid a
great price, and believed God as He did extraordinary miraculous
works. The people did not love their lives unto the death, so God has
rewarded them with His life in a very big way. The same thing can
happen here, but on the same basis. Deep spiritual hunger is still
somewhat veiled in our society ... Oh my! Im lecturing here. Sorry to
write such a long thing. I lost track of the moment.

Just a few comments. I hope they can be of some help to someone.


--
The Whole Gospel to the Whole World    -   Life Tabernacle UPC
"Preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ,
with all confidence, no man forbidding ... " - Acts 28:31