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Religion
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Saturday, May 17, 2008, 3:00 AM
Healthy leadership a must in church By Robert Gorham | Wilson Chapel Church It is possible for an unhealthy pastor to lead a growing church, but it takes a healthy pastor to lead a healthy church. I have a problem with the way we measure church growth. For one thing, I don't like the incessant comparing of churches. They say it's foolish to compare yourself to others. If you find somebody who's doing a better job than you - you get discouraged. If you find you're doing a better job than someone else, you could become proud. Either way, you're dead in the water. A far better focal point than growth is health. Size is not the issue. You can be big and healthy or big and flabby. If churches are healthy, growth is a natural occurrence. I don't have to command my kids to grow. If I provide them with a healthy environment, growth is automatic. If growth is not happening, it means something's wrong because it's the nature of living organisms to grow. Church growth automatically means numerical growth to most people, but that's only one kind of growth God is looking for in his church. There are five ways to measure growth. A church needs to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through worship, broader through ministry, and larger through evangelism. You don't judge an army's strength by how many people sit in the mess hall. You judge an army on the basis of how many people are trained and active on the front line. There will never be a perfect church on this side of heaven because every church is filled with pagans, carnal Christians and immature believers along with the mature one. Jesus said, "Let the tares and the wheat grow together, and one day I'll sort them out." We're not in the sorting business. We're in the harvesting business. We do get a lot of unhealthy people at church because society is getting sicker. But Jesus demonstrated that ministering to hurting people was more important than maintaining purity. What does Jesus mean by "the keys of the kingdom?" He didn't say, "key to the kingdom." If you had the key to a hotel, you could get in the lobby, but not into a single room. If you have the keys to a hotel, you could unlock every room in the building. Jesus said (Matthews 18:18) "Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." In other words he is saying he will give believers authority and power to loose things on earth that are allowed in heaven and to bind things on earth that are not allowed in heaven. Jesus said, "You have authority to bind evil forces upon earth that cause sickness, disease, poverty and sin." What is loosed in heaven? Now you can understand why Jesus called the power of binding and loosing the keys of the kingdom! When the church begins to obey the great commission, we will teach all nations to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons. The revival will be on! Raise a few dead and you won't have to advertise your meetings. Sinners will come from far and near to be born again. We won't have to preach three hours to get it done. Just get a few people healed, a few cripples walking, a few of the dead to rise, and multitudes will come. Then, while you are trying to eat a quiet meal at home, there will be thousands outside trying to get in to hear what you have to say. Jesus never had to advertise a meeting. He tried, at times, to go into the mountains for rest, and five thousand people showed up out there to hear him. FROM THE PULPIT IS A WEEKLY FEATURE OF THE WILSON TIMES. COLUMNS ARE WRITTEN BY PARTICIPATING PASTORS IN THE WILSON AREA. INTERESTED WRITERS MAY CALL 265-7847.
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