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BY JAMES FARMER

The Spirit was warm, joyous, and upbeat at the School of Evangelism at Wesley Seminary Nov. 12 as more than 130 lay and clergy began worship led by the gospel choir from American University.

I led workshop sessions on church growth where a number of things became apparent. First, many of the churches of which we are a part are not growing.

Second, there seems to be no one program, strategy or event that will by itself make the church grow.

Third, there needs to be a fundamental shift in focus from the church institution to the needs of others.

The Church of Acts 2 was growing, in fact, growing exponentially, and I believe that it is possible for each of our churches to grow and prosper. The early church was not growing by getting people to help with the budget or to work in the church school. They were not focusing on any institution, they were sharing the Good News of what God had done in Christ.

I believe the key to our growth is to share our faith stories and to meet the needs of those around us.

The real reason for the fruitfulness of the Acts 2 church, I believe, can be seen in the passionate 'faith sharing' of the early believers. Unless folks in the church today come to feel deeply in their hearts that it is important for others to know that God loves them and that Jesus died for their sins, we will not tell others, and we will not see churches grow.

We must come to see church growth not as a program, an event, or a process, but rather the result of a caring spirit and desire to see others brought into a personal relationship with God in Christ.

It will not matter if you adopt the Willow Creek model, the Saddleback model, the Bill Easum model or any other model. The church needs to come to understand that it is, in fact, the body of Christ.

We must invite, nurture, equip and send disciples. Believers and members may choose to share their faith; disciples will not only share their faith, they will replicate and multiply.

A disciple-making church will grow not for itself but because a bold, passionate, excited faith cannot be contained. Every person has a need for the Good News that only a loving disciple has to share.

The hope for all of our churches is that they can and will grow. There is a plethora of models, programs and events to enable us.

We must now pray for a heart and spirit that will allow us to deeply care for others enough to share the Good News of God?s love in Christ. We need to take seriously the Great Commission and live it out in the loving spirit of the Great Commandment.

The Rev. James Farmer is pastor of Trinity UMC in Prince Frederick. He is the 2005 clergy recipient of the Denman Award for evangelism in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.