There was a time when I thought that all churches wanted to grow. In fact, I had grown up in a church that was progressive and dynamic. I thought that my church was typical of all churches. Then I went to be the pastor of a church. I was meeting one night with the long-range planning committee, and we were discussing a new building. I said to that committee, “Men, if we are going to grow, we must build this building.” The chairman looked at me in a matter of fact way and said, “Preacher, who said we wanted to grow?”
That was the first time it dawned on me that some people do not want to grow. That’s not a real option. We must either evangelize or fossilize. A church that is in a growing community and does not grow is sick. There is something wrong with it. It needs to have a spiritual checkup. A church that does not plan to grow plans to fail.
William G. T. Shedd said, “A ship is safe in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” There is more than one way to destroy a ship. A ship is safe in the harbor from the storm, but it is not safe from dry rot. There are a lot of churches that are rotting because they have lost their spirit of adventure and their faith in God to guide them into the future.