How to grow a church

There are hundreds upon hundreds if not thousands of books and programs addressing the topic of "How to grow a Church", yet thousands upon thousands of Churches are fading away. Many of those that are growing are built upon trends, gimmicks or motivational speakers that will eventually die or become so common they will no longer hold anyones interest.

What is the difference between todays churches and those that were led by men like Charles Spurgeon, George Whitefield, John Wesley, John Calvin and Jonathon Edwards?

When you read the writings about these men and the books they have written the difference is unmistakable. They had a love and desire to know God, and a fear
and understanding of His holiness and wrath not just a desire "to grow the Church."

George Whitefield preached to tens of thousands at a time yet would walk into the market square and preach for an hour or more while people threw tomatoes and rocks at him.

Jonathon Edwards preached about hell while people fainted in the aisles in fear.

Charles Spurgeon pastored the largest Church in London by the time he was 20yrs of age and his sermons were printed in the newspaper. Almost every sermon He preached called sinnersto repentence.

John Wesley rode on horseback from town to town and preached 2 to 3 sermons a day and died in poverty.

When John Calvin first came to Geneva He could not walk down the street without someone throwing a rock at him or siccing their dog on him but after he eventually left they called him back.

These are Men that people of God look up to hundreds of years after their death, The real difference between them and the Churches of today are that they had a love and desire for God, not just a love and desire to see their Churches grow.

Do you have a love and desire for God?

When people have a love and desire for God:

They will be at Church early and leave late desiring to fellowship with the Saints of God.

They will pray continually and read the Bible daily, not because they are supposed to, but because they want to.

They will witness regularly, not to build the Church but because they love people enough to warn them about hell and God's jugement if they don't repent.

They may purposefully turn on the radio and listen to sermons of preachers that are condemning them of their sins, because they know their sins are separating them from the God they love so much.

Psalm 42:1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.