First, it needs to be stated that our primary responsibility is to make disciples and not bring in big numbers; however, when the environment for making disciples is as it should be, the people will begin to come in.  It is very easy to have a blinded eye to the barriers that bring the coming in of people to a halt.

There is the pschological barrier of our idea of the church that’s just the right size.  We must quickly repent of any such thoughts, for it is unbiblical.  There should always be a plan in place for discipling more people.  When one effective thing is done, God’s people, and especially church leaders, need to be praying for further direction for the next step.  It would be impossible to overemphasize the necessity of placing the preaching of the gospel in the very center of everything that’s done.  The reason the pulpit is placed in the center of the pulpit area in almost every Baptist church, and most other evangelical denominations, is because we understand that the preaching of the word is central to all other things that happen at church.  Expecting a church to maintain solid growth apart from the preaching of the gospel would only lead to disappointment and burnout.

In incruments of about every 50 people, there’s a barrier.  It is the comfort zone barrier.  It is said that the most difficult one of these to break through is the 200 mark.  Church leaders would do well to give thought and planning to what the Lord would have them do to break through the next comfort zone barrier.

It is said that the single greatest physical barrier to growth is space.  While we love the idea of packing them in, because there’s a few more seats, when a worship space, or educational space, is 80% filled, it will never consitently go any further.  There are several ways to meet the space need, but it must be met.  To fail at this point puts churches in the company of multitudes of others who are in a pattern of decline, instead of growth.

Organizational structure is a major barrier to growth.  Organizational structure in a growing church is always in a state of change.  This is very uncomfortable for people whose top priority is not reaching people for Christ.  One of the reasons the “house church movement” in some of the communist countries is growing so rapidly, is because it is too dangerous to assemble more than about 15 people together at a time, so they have to constantly start up another house church.  If we could learn that in our comfortable buildings and atmosphere of freedom, there’s no telling what we could do.  A very wise pastor told me that a class that is more than four years old, and has not be restructured, will never grow any larger than it is at the present time.  I think he’s exactly right.

A barrier that many churches are facing today is the worship style barrier.  It is indeed challenging to find a balance of style that will minister to those who have many years of tradition behind them, as well as those who do not see the traditional way of doing church as being relevant to their lives.  I recently heard evangelist Rick Gage say that he is for anything that will get people’s attention for Christ.  He said, “If a dog was going down the street barking, ‘Jesus,’ I’d get behind him!”  I don’t know that I’d go that far, but I am for attracting people’s attention to Jesus, because I know when they look at Him, they are going to find exactly what they’ve been looking for.

I will share some more barriers with you in a subsequent article.

You can get imitation everything these days.  Some of the fakes appear very authentic, and it really takes a trained eye to tell the difference.  I am told that the best way to spot the counterfeit is to be thoroughly familiar with the real.

I googled the word, “fake,” and I got thngs like, how to apply fake eyelashes, how to fake pregnancy, how to make fake snot, and how to fake your own death.

How do you know what’s real and what’s fake in spiritual things?  The answer is in who gets the credit.  When it’s real, God gets the credit.

True love is seen by the action of the one who loves.  A husband or wife might demonstrate their love for one another by the things they do around the house.  God showed His love for us for us by sending Jesus to pay for our sins on the Cross.  We show our love for God by obeying Him and loving others.

Love is more fundamental than even faith.  Faith that would move mountains is of no profit without love.  Love is the fruit of the Spirit upon which all the others depend.  The motivation for God sending His Son to this world was love.

It is interesting to look at a congregation during congregational singing.  Almost all the women will be singing, but you can always spot some men who have their mouths tightly clamped, and in many cases, their facial expressions and body language will say that they are totally tuned out.  Look at the choir in most churches, and you will see that the women singers outnumber the men almost three to one.

Maybe some men don’t sing because they don’t feel that they could do a good job of it.  Yet, it has been proven, time and again, when training for singing is offered very few men show up.  Could it be that many men do not sing because, whether they realize it or not, the devil hates it when men sing, and he fights against it?  God gave men the responsibility to lead their families in spiritual things and singing praise to God is very much a spiritual thing.

We should sing, not because we can sing, but because we have a song to sing.

Please read the following excerpt from an article by Tim Challies.   You can read his entire article here.

• The issue of profanity in the church is one that continually surprises me….  One thing that I find is often missing in discussions on profanity is the connection between the heart and the tongue. We need to realize that the tongue is not an isolated instrument in the body. The tongue or the mouth speaks for the heart. Said otherwise, what proceeds from the mouth is a sure indication of what is in the heart. If a mouth pours forth filth, it is a sure indication that there is also a filthy heart. If a tongue spews forth rebellion, there is rebellion in the heart. If the tongue pours out praise, there is godly joy in the heart.

If it is true that the tongue reveals the heart, and it is, then all we have to do is listen to ourselves talk and we can descern much about where we stand with God.