Growth, fruitfulness and multiplication are all kingdom values. The Creator’s call to humanity in the Genesis account was,� Be fruitful and multiply�. Tim Laniak reminds us of two powerful truths:� Reproduction is ultimately the result of divine intervention.� (p.227) we can strategize, set goals and muscle up for redemptive expansion of our churches and ministries but ultimately; reproduction comes from “above�. New life comes from God. We as leaders and ministers must maintain a posture of God dependence. Laniak also reminds us of keeping first things first! “When we are healthy and well-resourced, reproduction is natural.� There has been a healthy shift in thinking regarding church growth. The old school of Church Growth could rightly be labelled the technocrats of church growth locked into a Newtonian worldview of causality. Cause “A� will result in effect “B�. Adopt the latest program and your church will grow. This ministry paradigm positioned the pastor-leader as a technician focussing on techniques, formulae, fads and nuts and bolts to grow the church.
Christian Schwartz has pioneered “Natural Church Development� whereby the emphasis is on health. The assumption is healthy things will grow and reproduce; thus the focus is on cultivating church health and seeing organic kingdom growth as a by-product. Here the minister is not a technician but more of a farmer; cultivating the church’s health.
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