As we continue to help you think through the process of Church Growth we come to our fifth question, “How serious are you about church growth?”.  Most churches and pastors would agree that a growing church is a good thing.  But, have you really counted the cost?  In order for a church to grow, you have to deal with a lot of change.  When push comes to shove, no matter what people say, we really don’t like change.  We don’t like it when somebody sits where we always sit as church.  We don’t like it when the Pastor is not as accessible as he used to be.  We don’t like it when it feels like we don’t know as many people at the church.  As a Pastor, are you willing to do what it takes to help your church to grow?  Multiple services? More delegating of responsibilities, more staff, more volunteers, more programs, bigger buildings? Don’t be surprised if somewhere along the journey you don;t look back fondly at the good ole days when the biggest ongoing problem was that there never seemed to be enough money.  As your church grows, there will still  never be enough money and you will have a lot more problems.

Still want to grow?  Me, too.  A growing church is generally a pretty helthy church.  Healthy things grow!  With all its problems a growing church provides an amazing adventure in the Kingdom of God.  The initial question still stands, however, how serious are you about church growth?  I remember thinking through this process some years ago in a discussion with Steve Sjogren.  He gave me something to think about along these lines.  At our church we are involved in servant evangelism on an ongoing basis.  I encourage our people to do at least one act of kindness a day and in the doing to present a connect card (a card that basically says we are blessing them to demonstrate God’s love in a practical way, and gives a little information about the church and a phone number.  Steve said that the phone number on the connect card shouldn’t be the church number, it should be the Pastor’s cell phone number.  What??!!!  How serious are you now?

It makes sense when you think about it.  If you are investing the time and energy in doing outreach, and someone wants to talk to you, isn’t the Pastor the one who should get the call.  You really don’t want someone calling and getting your answering machine.   So, my cell phone number is on every connect card we give out.  How many phone calls do I get?  Not as many as I would like to get.  Aren’t people always calling and asking for something?  Sometimes.  When they have legitimate needs I either try and help them or send them to somewhere they can get help.  It provides some opportunities for prayer.  What if somebody gets your number who is annoying or not quite right?  If you get someone who is misusing your phone number, just add them into your phone book with a Do Not Answer name attached.  If it shows up on your phone, don’t answer it.  I also turn the phone off when I go to bed.  Having my cell phone number on the cards has resulted in a lot of good contacts over the years.  How serious are you?