In planting churches in the black community, the church planter or pastor needs to recognize the fact that down through the years many of our people have adopted the idea that they can live any way they wish, just as long as they do some good works every now and then.
So in bringing down the walls of tradition in the black community, we as church planters and/or pastors are not only to build numerically, but we must commit ourselves to building the people that we win to the Lord spiritually. Social programs and new ideas of men are not what our people need. Now let me quickly say that we should use every Biblical method available to win people to Christ. However, we're not only interested in winning them to Christ, but also helping them to grow into strong Christians as well. I heard Dr. James Earls say once: "What do you want, cucumbers or oak trees? One can grow cucumbers overnight, but it takes years to grow an oak tree." These new ideas or programs seldom produce the spiritual dynamics necessary for growth. However, the right spiritual climate (which is the Bible preaching and teaching), produces growth. Far too often, we spend our time looking for new programs and methods, when we should be investing our energies in building spiritual character into our people. The apostles recognized this truth when they said that their priorities were to "give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:4). You see, colorful story-telling methods will not build strong people.
The New Testament presents two kinds of church growth. The first is numerical growth and the Bible uses such terms as: grow, increase, added, and multiplied. And then the other kind of growth is spiritual growth, and the Bible uses such terms as: edify, confirm, establish, and strengthen when it refers to this kind of growth. Spiritual growth is quality growth. It is the growth of the individual within the local church in their relationship with God. "Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," Peter says in II Peter 3:18. Only the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God can produce a spiritually growing individual or church. Therefore emphasis must be put on the teaching of the Word of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Church planter/pastor, as you build a church, don't forget to build strong people.
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