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NASB | Acts 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 2:47 praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved. |
Subject: Question rephrased |
Bible Note: You wrote: 'Perhaps the better question is “What does the Bible say about growing a congregation?”' You have definitely asked the "better question" here. Here is the command God gave the apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." --Matthew 28:19-20 So we have disciple making by means of baptism and teaching. We then can look at other verses such as this one: "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." --Acts 2:42 Again, we see the teaching of the apostles (which we have today in written form), fellowship, the breaking of bread (the Lord's Supper), and prayer. what was the result of such "mundane" activities? "Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." --Acts 2:46-47 It takes some careful discernment to figure out why a congregation is dwindling. Many people assume that churches lose members because they are perceived as "out of touch" with the world around them, and the result of such thinking normally becomes trying to be more like the world in order to bring in more people. The problem with such thinking is that the church is NOT supposed to be like the world, and many people are leaving churches in droves precisely because there is no discernible difference between the values of the church and the emptiness of its messages, and the emptiness and lies which they hear from the world. There is the crazy scheme for church building that some people call evangelism. Not some neat-o musical program or drama team or laser light show or hard rock band, but the proclamation of God's unchanging truth, the whole counsel of God, to a lost and dying world. A lot of times church growth needs to start by focusing on the spiritual growth of its members rather than the numerical growth of its congregation. To do otherwise is to put the cart before the horse. The result of the dumbing-down of the church is twofold: shallow, self-centered, theologically-ignorant, perhaps only nominal Christians filling the pews with cries of "Bless ME"; and the departure of members who realize that the power of God lies not in its theatrics, but in the message of Christ and Him crucified (Romans 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5). If your church is involved in the Alpha Course, there are some serious doctrinal problems involved as well... --Joe! |