In this episode of The E.A.R. Podcast, host Brandon Queen tackles a question that often challenges church leaders and believers: How do we measure the growth of the church? With Jesus' promise in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church,” as the foundation, Brandon explores whether growth should be gauged by numbers, spiritual depth, or faithfulness to the Great Commission. Discover why numbers matter but shouldn’t define success, what true growth looks like in a church, and how to stay faithful in seasons of both abundance and stagnation. This episode is for you if you’ve ever wrestled with balancing trust in Christ with practical stewardship. Tune in for Biblical encouragement, practical insights, and a renewed perspective on what it means to build a church that glorifies God. Don’t miss this insightful discussion—listen now and be inspired to lead your church, big or small, with faithfulness and courage!
Full Episode
The Ear, Evangelical and Reformed, Christian Podcast. Welcome to The Ear, the Evangelical and Reformed, a Christian podcast that urges you to think deeper and draws you closer to God through faith. Through powerful sermons, teaching segments, and discussions, The Ear hopes to give you a different perspective on secular topics from a Christian worldview. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Please welcome your host, Brandon Queen.
Good morning, podcast world, and welcome back to the Ear podcast. This is another great segment of Pew Talk on the small church. I'm your host, Brandon Queen. And before we dive into today's topic, I want to kind of get some. good news off my chest, if you will. So Pastor Bill will not be joining me. That's not good news. He is actually preparing for the Lord's Day and also Christmas Eve service.
So he needs a break away from the podcast for a minute. But most of you may know this or you may not know this, but I recently got engaged and I am still excited about that and still basking in that precious moment, if you will. But moving on from that, Today's topic touches on a question that many pastors, church leaders and Christians wrestle with. How do we measure the growth of the church?
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16, verse 18, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This promise reassures us that Christ's authority and commitment is to the church. But does that mean we shouldn't focus on numbers at all? Or should we look at numbers to gauge growth and effectiveness in our ministries?
I don't know, but let's go ahead and explore what the scripture says and how we can balance trust in Jesus with our responsibility to steward the resources he has already given us. So Jesus will build his church. So first let's start with the foundation. Jesus declared that he will build his church.
This means the ultimate responsibility for growth, both spiritually and numerically, rests in Christ alone. You see, as believers, our job is to remain faithful to the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations, as stated in Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. We sow seeds, water them, and trust God to provide the increase, as stated in 1 Corinthians 3, verses six to seven.
So this should give us great comfort, right? If growth seems slow or stagnant, it doesn't mean that we've failed, provided we're being faithful to the mission. It also means that we shouldn't panic or compromise the gospel for the sake of numbers. Why? Because the church belongs to Christ and he will sustain it.
Now, when we talk about, you know, compromising the gospel, you know, there's a lot of churches and pastors that will isogeet the text instead of exogeet the text. It becomes I, or if you do this, your problems are David and are Goliath in life and you're David. And, you know, that's not the gospel.
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