The Growth of Your Church

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31).

“How do you account for the growth of your church?” I asked the pastor. Before I relate the story, it is important for you to know where the dialogue took place.  We were in a Chinese village several hours from a major city, and I hasten to add that when you go into the countryside of China, you are never quite sure what to expect. But for sure there is one thing you can count on:  God is there, and you can also be quite certain that you will find animism, spirit worship, and remnants of paganism which survived the half-century plus of communism almost as though it had no effect on the belief system of the people.

Answering the question, the pastor began, “Well, let me tell you what happened.  About two years ago, there was a little girl four years of age who was possessed with an evil spirit.”  Seeing the somewhat puzzled look on my face, he explained that the parents had been involved in spirit worship and that the result, he believed, was a little girl who had actually been indwelt by a demonic spirit.

He explained that the little girl was in the hospital dying, and that doctors were trying unsuccessfully to save her life.  The parents had no connection with their church and were not Christians in any sense of the word, but when you have a child who is dying, you will grasp at almost any straw.

“I went to the parents,” said the pastor, “and asked them if I could go to the hospital and pray for their little girl.”  “Yes, yes” responded the grateful mother and father.  So, the pastor went to the hospital, and in simple faith, prayed that God would touch the little girl and bring healing to her body.

And what happened? The little girl remarkably recovered.  And her recovery was immediate.  The family knew that something miraculous had happened.  He said, “The mother and father, the grandparents, aunts and uncles–in fact,” he added, “half the people in our church became Christians as the result of what God did!”

If the story which I related to you were an isolated event, I would perhaps walk away in wonder and awe, not quite sure what to think, but I have to tell you that since 1979 when I first visited China, I have seen an ongoing pattern of events which embrace the supernatural, which have been related firsthand by people who would have no purpose in fabricating a story.

There is a direct connection between what God has done in response to simple faith and the vast numbers of people–both in registered Three-Self Churches and in unregistered house churches–who swell the ranks of the faithful in China.

Take time to read through the book of Acts and you will see the same kind of things which have produced growth in Chinese churches.  Long ago Jesus told a blind man, “According to your faith, be it unto you!” (Matthew 9:29).  Today, I think He would speak those same words to blind men who have never seen God do anything miraculous, and dumb men who do not know that the same God who answers prayer in China will do the same in Manila, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and Sydney.

If we have not because we ask not, it is well possible that God would do the same things in your church, no matter where it is, that He has done and still does where people gather together in His name and quietly ask Him to show He is still the God who “answers by fire” and responds to the simple heart cries of His people. By the way, if you were asked the same question, “How do you account for the growth of your church?” What would you say? It’s something to think about. And, if there is no growth… why not?

Resource reading: Acts 4:23-31.