That was one of the questions one of my classmates asked me during a recent trip to St. Louis. I was glad to answer, "Yes, God is still growing our church."
God gets the credit for all that is happening at Life in Christ. Neither I, nor our leadership can pat ourselves on the back and point to some grand program for church growth. We don't have a plan - not when I arrived seven years ago or today, for that matter.
When people ask me "What's your secret?" the best I can say is: "We have a warm and friendly group of people and we have Law and Gospel - the Word of God."
I don't think that there are many church growth experts who are going to ask me to write a book, based on my answer above. But it's the best answer I can give.
Our people help to make a good first impression on guests. It's easy to see that folks are excited to worship and receive the gifts of God that are delivered in worship at LICL. Our greeting team is so good at make guests feel welcomed.
And then there is God's powerful Word that works mightily in the hearts of those who worship. God's Law shows us that we are not even close to being as good as we think we are. In fact, it's just the opposite. We are, as we confess, "poor, miserable sinners."
But then God's Gospel sweeps over us and overwhelms us as we are touched deeply by the grace and mercy of God. We hear Jesus say, "You are forgiven." We learn in the proclaimed Word how Jesus exchanged His righteousness for our sins and then carried them to the cross and paid the penalty for those sins. Through faith, we have been made alive with Christ and are now wholly acceptable to our heavenly Father. Peace and joy fills our hearts.
That's good news, isn't it? Searching and hurting people want and need to hear such news. So many come back the next week and the next and so on. Through the power of Word and sacraments, the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the church. And we keep growing.
I have a number of church growth books on the shelf in my office. They're not very well read. I think we'll stick with what we're doing and trust that the Lord will grow His church as He pleases. After all - it is His church!
