Even though believers do not need to
be evangelized, in keeping with the theme of the chapter
I’ll briefly include some ideas to spur growth within this
group that makes up such a large percent of the church.
Pastors and other church leaders have longed to find better
ways to spur spiritual growth within their churches and you
yourself may be interested in how to be more committed or
incite growth within another believer.
The first thing I would suggest is a
study on the fruit of the Spirit and others fruits I have
mentioned. As believers, these things are evident, but there
is always room for growth. If we want to be more loving, we
should understand what love is all about. If we desire to be
more patient, we should understand patience. And so on.
The second study I would suggest is
spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts have gotten a bad
reputation in some churches because of a reaction to the
charismatic movement. There is a lot more to be learned
about spiritual gifts than just speaking in tongues. I
believe that a proper understanding of gifts is essential to
the growth of a church.
1 Corinthians 12 gives the bulk of
information on spiritual gifts which I won’t go into detail
with here. However, it should be recognized that the church
is a body and as parts of one body we are all different
parts. That means that one person is not more important than
another one in the church. Can you decide if your feet or
your hands are more important? You wouldn’t want to operate
without either one of them. But a church whose members are
not using the gifts God has given them may be in essence
operating without feet or hands.
If you want to move from being a
simple believer to being a fully devoted disciple, you
should be actively using your gifts within the church, no
matter if that is teaching, taking care of the property,
leading a small group, or anything else God has given you
the ability to do.
Next Chapter - I
Planted, Apollos Watered
