Acts 6:1
“And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.”
The growth of the early church was nothing short of miraculous. It is great to be a part of a growing church. This early church went from a small handful of disciples under Christ’s leadership to thousands. Yet, you see the church’s growth stop in the verse above. The church had become so large that the Apostles could not keep up with the “daily ministration.” They developed a plan to keep the church growing and that plan was to delegate some of their responsibilities to others. This decision led to the church’s continued growth to the point where they eventually turned their world upside down for Christ.
Anybody can grow things to a certain level, but there will come a point when that growth will level off and continued growth will be determined by what they do from that point. Yes, growth is up to God, but He blessed the decisions of the Apostles to divide their duties so that they could continue to grow. There were three things the early church had to overcome to see continued growth. If your church, ministry or business is going to continue to grow, then these three things must be done.
First, organization is one of the foundational keys to growth. You will never grow beyond your organization. You cannot grow with a crisis-mode decision making process. Organization helps you to avoid many pitfalls with personalities and open ended responsibilities because you close those open ends which helps people to work in their own areas preventing personality clashes. This early church was well organized, and you also must be organized if you want to grow.
Second, delegation is another foundational key to growth. The Apostles could only handle so much responsibility, and their only answer was to delegate some responsibilities to others. Delegation not only frees the leader to continue doing what is important, but it also helps others to grow. Don’t be the type of leader who is jealous of others getting some compliments. When you delegate, you are not losing control but you are gaining more control if you are organized. When you fail to delegate, you have set a ceiling on any potential growth.
The third foundational key to growth is to reproduce. The church’s growth stagnated when they didn’t send out. God sent persecution to force this church to send people out, and it was at that point when they turned the world upside down. A healthy organization must always send people out or they will die. Keeping everyone to build an empire will create inbred growth which stagnates a church, ministry or business. You must be willing to send people out to start more churches or businesses if you want to stay healthy.
These three foundational keys are important to the growth of any church or business. If your growth has stagnated, then look at these three areas and see what you need to work on. These three areas will keep you growing and influencing more people for Jesus Christ.