The Apostles Pattern For Church Growth (Part 1)

(Part 1) Pastor Nkechi Ene (Mrs.) 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it lled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of re, and one sat upon each of them.

4 And they were all lled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.

6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?

8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?

9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,

“Whatever could this mean?”

13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.

15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all esh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.

18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.

19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and re and vapor of smoke.

20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.'

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—

23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucied, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucied, both Lord and Christ.”

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

40 And with many other words he testied and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”

41 Then those who [gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. (Everybody say three thousand souls were added to them) 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

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GOG - 20 - 290: The Apostles’ Pattern For Church Growth (Part 1)

44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and dividedthem among all, as anyone had need.

46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:1-24, 36-47 Reading from the portion of scripture, we observe that the apostles had a pattern for church growth. Although the early church made attempts to grow, the church suffered so great persecutions, that at a point the people were scattered all over.

Consequently, the church began to hold in the homes of several people. Today, this can be likened to having multiple church services. In this article, we shall learn strategies to adopt for church growth.

work or even your landlord. Take advantage of that opportunity to preach the good news of salvation to the unbeliever. Church growth is not necessarily about sending invitations to people who are in other churches. I recognize, and I understand that God will cause Christians who are being abused and misused in other churches to be delivered from those churches.

Now, a city that is set on a hill will be seen. When you keep a light in the open and not under a bushel, that light will be seen. As long as you are doing what God has called you to do, as long as you're preaching the Word, people will come to hear you, even from other

If a church is not outreach-oriented, that church will die after a while. The birth of the church was for people to get saved and to keep fullling the great commission. So, the minute a church stops fullling the great commission or takes its eyes off the unbeliever as the primary target, that church will dwindle and eventually die.

You've got to recognize that each time you come in contact with an unbeliever, you're coming in contact with an opportunity to get somebody born again. It could be in a taxi, your place of

because you have what it takes to do it.

Can you imagine if each believer brought one soul to the Lord every year? That is such a feeble target, but so many believers haven't even been meeting it. If every believer in twelve months got one person born again the church will grow.

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

Utilize The Power Of The Holy Ghost The second truth to know about church growth is that it's your responsibility as a believer to grow the church. It's not your pastor's responsibility. You have to utilize the power of the Holy Ghost for the church to grow. We're not told of any church growth before the day of Pentecost or the baptism of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures.

Evangelize And Win Souls At Every Opportunity The rst strategy to adopt for church growth is evangelism and soul-winning at every opportunity. Our primary target when talking about church growth should be the unbeliever.

However, when we talk about church growth, unconsciously, we think about our Christian friends, and how to bring them over to our church. Because lots of churches do not make unbelievers the primary target, they fail to grow at the rate they should.

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churches. There are Christians who want to serve the Lord, but their pastors misuse their loyalty and abuse them; God will redirect the steps of some of them here, and the seeds they sowed in those churches, they would reap the harvest here because we are one body of Christ. Amen. Nevertheless, we shouldn't let that take our eyes off the primary target, which are the unbelievers.

You may have got somebody in your ofce who doesn't know the Lord, talk to the person about Jesus. Open your mouth at every opportunity to evangelize. Preach the gospel, preach the good news, and tell people about Jesus. I'm sure you can remember when you heard about Jesus and when you got born again. Now, stop and think. If somebody didn't tell you about Jesus, what would have happened to your life? Do the work of an evangelist

We are not necessarily told that the church grew before the Holy Ghost fell upon the church. For anything to grow and multiply, there has to be a centre nucleus of life or power. Every single cell in your body has a nucleus that is the centre of life. There's got to be a source of power for growth and progress to be initiated.

No matter how rickety a car looks, when you take a good battery and put it in, it will start, and it will move. If you want to make progress, move, or grow, there has to be a source of power that you utilize. A lot of churches have been turned to cinemas and all kinds of things because they never utilize the power of the Holy Ghost. You may have even heard of some fake churches. My mum, who is born again shared one of such stories with me. In the next article, we will nd out more as we discover truths on the Apostles' pattern for church growth.

The Carpenter’s Church, Greenville, Port Harcourt. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other form, without the prior permission of the above.