Growth

There's quite a bit of talk (and has been for some time) about church growth. Do you want "your" church to grow? Some random thoughts have come to my mind lately, mostly in the form of questions.

• What kind of growth are we talking about?
• Are we talking numerical growth?
• Are we talking spiritual growth? Or, both?
• What kind of growth do we aim for?
• Do we want "flash in the pan" kind of big spurt growth?
• Are we talking about slow, sustainable growth?
• To use Andy Stanley's phrase, are we looking for "deep and wide" growth?
• What kind of growth do we normally celebrate in our specific Christian circles?
• Are we even to "seek" after growth, and do we measure "growth" using the same standards of measurement the world does?
• Why do we celebrate "success" the way we do?

Anyway, I don't know that I've come to answers to all these questions that satisfy my curiosity; in fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't. I'm just trying myself to follow Jesus and help others do the same.

Why do we have to complicate things so much? Just sayin...