DEALING WITH GROWTH PAINS (11 OF 34)
Scripture: Acts 6:1-7
This content is part of a series.
Dealing with Growth Pains (11 of 34)
Series: Acts
Robert Dawson
Acts 6:1-7
When I was little my Granny used to tell me that my hiccups were a sign that I was growing. When I had aches and pains in my joints she would tell me those aches and pains were a sign that I was growing which is why they called them growing pains.
I am not sure it was true, especially the hiccup part, but I do know that in life we all experience some form of growing pains. That is true of individuals, families, companies and churches.
The Jerusalem church, the first church, in the book of Acts was definitely experiencing its share of challenges as well as its share of growing pains.
1. The church that essentially started with a small group of 120 in the upper room who spent time praying and waiting on the promise of the Holy Spirit. Since Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came, that group of 120 had now supernaturally and miraculously swelled to a church of roughly 20,000 people.
2. It was just a matter of time before the explosive and expansive growth caught up with them.
In the verses we are going to look at today we are going to see the challenge of growth and how they dealt with the inevitable pain that came with it.
One pastor said that we are always concerned with growth until we experience it and when it comes we are not exactly sure what to do with it or if we really wanted it to begin with. We can somewhat sympathize with that statement.
1. A small church knows it is supposed to reach out and wants to grow because it knows it is supposed to but then growth comes, more people come, and the degree of change that comes with that growth was much higher than they imagined.
2. The commitment, cost and energy to sustain and continue growth increases because much of the growth that comes is not ready to contribute and lead just yet --- there is time needed.
3. The relational dynamics of the church changes - in the congregation as new relationships are form ...
Series: Acts
Robert Dawson
Acts 6:1-7
When I was little my Granny used to tell me that my hiccups were a sign that I was growing. When I had aches and pains in my joints she would tell me those aches and pains were a sign that I was growing which is why they called them growing pains.
I am not sure it was true, especially the hiccup part, but I do know that in life we all experience some form of growing pains. That is true of individuals, families, companies and churches.
The Jerusalem church, the first church, in the book of Acts was definitely experiencing its share of challenges as well as its share of growing pains.
1. The church that essentially started with a small group of 120 in the upper room who spent time praying and waiting on the promise of the Holy Spirit. Since Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came, that group of 120 had now supernaturally and miraculously swelled to a church of roughly 20,000 people.
2. It was just a matter of time before the explosive and expansive growth caught up with them.
In the verses we are going to look at today we are going to see the challenge of growth and how they dealt with the inevitable pain that came with it.
One pastor said that we are always concerned with growth until we experience it and when it comes we are not exactly sure what to do with it or if we really wanted it to begin with. We can somewhat sympathize with that statement.
1. A small church knows it is supposed to reach out and wants to grow because it knows it is supposed to but then growth comes, more people come, and the degree of change that comes with that growth was much higher than they imagined.
2. The commitment, cost and energy to sustain and continue growth increases because much of the growth that comes is not ready to contribute and lead just yet --- there is time needed.
3. The relational dynamics of the church changes - in the congregation as new relationships are form ...
There are 18195 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
