What is Church Growth?

Hope Valley Values?

Honesty with Acceptance

Commitment to Transformation

Growth by Replication

What is a value?

A value isn’t a value, when you have to tell people what it is

A value is something that people naturally understand about your culture, by spending time in it

Today’s Focus: Growth by Replication

What does that mean?

It means that we believe that God’s plan for church growth follows the same pattern of family growth

i.e. parent’s develop kids into parents - the family grows by creating new homes - not expanding a current one

This pattern is clearly God’s design throughout creation

Hope Valley is intentionally structured so that our size can only grow through discipleship and multiplication of house churches

We want a culture that creates space for people to step into ministry

A “minister” is simply someone who attends to a need

Why?

Let’s look at...

Ephesians 4:11–16 NLT

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

What is this scripture teaching?

The purpose of leaders is to replicate themselves - not just gain a following (4:12)

We are meant to all grow into knowledge, maturity, and ministry, not just gather around someone who has (4:13)

Church growth happens when everyone in the church is living in their role (4:16)

There is no one in Ephesians 4:11-16 who is released to just be a church attender

Every person in the church is called to ministry - the only variation is the nature of the ministry

Meaning: every person in the church is called to attend to a need

“Church Growth” is both increase in member maturity and increase in community size

Increased numbers are the result of maturity growth - that’s what we see in the Book of Acts

When the church is healthy, it manifests in evangelism - Acts 6:7

As the church focused on true growth - God added people to their number (Acts 2:41-47)

What should you do?

Ask yourself…

Have you been approaching the church as an attendee? How so?

What role has God been equipping you to perform in the family of Hope Valley?

Get creative, think outside the box, and don’t compare to others