God's Principle of Church Growth

Jesus said to Peter, "... I will build My church ...." (Matt. 16:19)

Paul said, "I planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God gave the increase." (1 Cor. 3:6,7, NKJV, emphasis added).

The spiritual truth is, the Church is built by God and increases by God. No human wisdom, intellect, ideas, strength or efforts can take the place of God in making the Church grows the way God wants it to grow. No one can boast of his salvation (Eph. 2:9) and similarly no one can boast that the growth of the Local Church is entirely contributed by his hard work and wisdom.

I believe the biblical principle of Church growth can be found in the Book of Acts.

"Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, there were multiplied" (Acts 9:31,NKJV, emphasis added).

The NIV says, "...it was strengthened: and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord".

The Amplified Bible says, "The church ... had peace and was edified - growing in wisdom, virtue and piety - and walking in the repect and reverential fear of the Lord and in the consolation and exhortation of the Holy Spirit, continued to increase and was multified".

It is clear that the Church had peace and were edified and strengthened in the Holy Spirit with wisdom and grew in numbers and was multiplied, because of two important ingredients.

1. Walking in the respect and reverential fear of the Lord.

According to Isaiah, Jesus is filled with the seven-fold manifestations of the Holy Spirit:

"The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of Knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2, NKJV, emphasis added).

The next verse says, Jesus delights in the fear of the Lord.

Notice that, "the fear of the Lord" is a manifestation of the Spirit of the Lord which is the Holy Spirit. If Jesus, being the Head of the Church needs to walk in the fear of the Lord, how much more christians need to walk in the fear of Lord. I believe when the Holy Spirit is in control of his life, the christian will delight in the fear of the Lord. Conversely, when a christian does not walk in the fear of the Lord, he is unlikely to be under the control of the Holy Spirit.

The writer of Hebrews wrote about Jesus, the Great High Priest, "who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7).

Jesus' prayer at the Garden of Gethsemane was heard because of His godly fear. He found the Will of God to die for our sins. I believe if we (the Church) fervantly want to find the will of God we must pray with Godly fear. In fact, our prayer may not be heard (let alone getting an answer from Him) if we fail to pray with Godly fear.

The fear of the Lord is so important that, the Bible mentions "fear of the Lord" 27 times, and "fear God" 17 times in the New King James version.

Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil" (Proverbs 19:23).

In other words, anyone does not want to be "visited with evil" but wants to have a life full of satisfaction he needs to walk in the fear of the Lord.

2. Walking in the comfort and encourgement and exhortation of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is another Comforter who takes the place of Jesus will remain with the believers forever.

Jesus said, "If you love Me you will keep My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener and Standby) and He may remain with you forever" (John 14:15,16, Amplified Bible, emphasis added).

In conclusion, the Church will growth if there is peace which is the result of believers walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The Church will not only grow in numbers but also in maturity as well.