Three Things Growing Churches Believe

There are three things growing churches have in common.  Three core beliefs.  But let me be clear on how I define “growing” in this blog post.  I mean churches that are reaching non-church people in their community.  Churches that are bring non-believers to faith.  Not those that may grow by absorbing believers coming from other congregations.  Real kingdom growth.

So here are three things they all believe in common. 

People are lost without Jesus.  They know that sin separates people from God and they cannot save themselves.  The consequences of this sin is to stay separated from God forever.  God loves us so much that he made Jesus, who had no sin, to be sin for us.  So Jesus died on the cross so that everyone could be reconciled to God.  So growing churches understand that their communities are full of lost people that Jesus died for.

But faith in Jesus saves them.  Lost people have to be persuaded, encouraged, begged, led to believe in Jesus.  So growing churches are full of believers who live out their faith intentionally in such a way that non-believers might desire to know the hope we have.  There is no hope outside of Jesus.

And growing churches embrace their responsibility to partner with God in sharing the message of reconciliation to God thru Jesus.  They believe it is their mission to go into their world and make disciples.

So if your church is not growing, ask yourself the following questions.

Do we believe people are lost without Jesus?

Do they need to believe in him to be saved?

Is it our responsibility to engage our world with the good news of Jesus and to persuade men to follow him?

Yes, yes, and yes.

-Steve Ridgell