Be of good courage, little flock! Our Father is pleased to give us the kingdom. Jesus will build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Rejoice not that the demons submit to you, but that your names are written in heaven.
It is tough being a Bible believing Christian in the UK today. Christendom continues its long decline. There are many encouragements, but across the board church numbers are down or flat at best. At some point this might bottom out. How many merely nominal Christians are still in church most weeks? But in places the demographics are still against us. Some of those in the pews have more of their lives behind them than in front of them.
But we should not despair.
(1) Numerical growth is possible.
It is very hard for a modern Brit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. God and the Bible no longer seem natural and plausible to many. And yet Jesus is the risen Lord of Life. He rules. He can give life to whomever he pleases. All whom he chooses will come to him. He still has many people in the city. There is unchanged power in the unchanged word. The seed grows overnight all by itself, we know not how. There will be a great harvest that no one can number, thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown. Life by life and silently the Kingdom increases. This mountain shall fill the whole earth. The whole batch will be leavened. This tree will be the largest in the garden and the birds of the air will come and nest in it. The earth will be full of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
(2) We should pray and plan for numerical growth.
Will our building be big enough?! Do we need better loos and kitchens? How will we nurture all the new believers? Is the children's Sunday Club ready to go when the young families join us?
We implore God that the Word might do its work in the power of the Spirit. Our strategy is growth not decline. And we bend every sinew to Know Christ and Make Him Known by word and deed.
(3) But numerical growth is not our priority.
Our priority is faithfulness, loyalty to Jesus. We do not aim to grow at all costs. Nevertheless according to your word. We are people under authority.
We will not be handing out used tenners or bringing in the dancing girls to fill the pews.
We will stick to Jesus and his Word if it wins us a martyr's crown rather than a full megachurch.
The power is in the pure seed of the gospel so it would be folly to switch it for something which might seem to us more effective or acceptable. To the Old Paths, to the Word and the Testimony!
(4) Numerical growth is not our problem.
At the end of the day, we depend on the miraculous work of the Spirit. We can give no one new life. Jesus must call them forth from the tomb. We can only sow the word and implore the mercy of heaven.
The Lord of the Harvest knows what he is doing. Blessed be his name!
Ours is not to choose our times, only what we do with them.
May God be pleased to grow his church. And in his grace may he even use our weak and fallible efforts. For his name's sake and glory. Amen.
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