"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:12-14)

The apostle Paul in the scripture above was speaking of his own personal action in seek­ing to be pleasing to God and to the obtaining of heaven as his final reward. There are also three vital lessons in these verses that can be applied to individual congregations and to con­gregational growth.

There are three mindsets found in many congregations that greatly hinder or totally pre­vent spiritual and numerical growth. Here are two of these albatrosses that hang around the necks of many congregations:

1. Continually dwelling on problems and failures of the past

2. Comparing the present situation with the "good ol' days" of the past and bemoaning pre­sent conditions.

3.  The third is the mindset of being content with the present status quo.

All of these attitudes are recipes for spiritual failure! All of these have some common spiritual faults. All share a weakness of faith in God and His word. They also share the problem of lack of responsibility and accountability in that they all to some degree place the blame on someone besides self. That is not to ac­knowledge that there may have been others who caused some of the problems, but the ulti­mate responsibility of how one serves God rests on each individual. Another shared prob­lem is the lack of vision for the future. Yesterday is forever gone and the future depends on what we do TODAY AND TOMORROW (if it comes). And to a degree they exhibit a lack of love for the Lord, His church and the souls of the lost all around us. Now let us discuss each of the three mindsets above in more detail.

1) Dwelling on Problems and Failures of the Past:

A simple solution to this problem is to pinpoint the problem(s) and correct those that can be corrected is to not talk about them another ten of twenty years! Those that cannot be fixed because of time or others reasons should be forgotten, buried, turned over to the Lord and let go. Each individual involved in those problems or failures needs to sincerely examine himself/herself and ask was I part of the problem or am I keeping that problem going and continuing to hurt and weaken the church at this time? If I was not a part of the problem what did I do from a Biblical stand­point to help solve the problem. Jesus said "blessed are the peacemakers" (Matt._5:9)? Did I follow the Lord's instruction to go to that brother or sister and seek to reconcile the problem in brotherly love (Matt._18:15-17)? Do I still have ill will and resentment in my heart toward a brother or sister in Christ, not having forgiven him or her (Mark_11:25, Matt._18:21-22, Col._3:13)?

Many inside of the church and those outside the church remember problems in the church by the manner in which they are resolved or not resolved. The main point is that past problems ought and must be put in the past, whether they are one year, ten years or twenty five years old. They will continue to hurt the church until they are put in the past. No one is perfect and before we place blame on others we should look closely in the mirror of the perfect law of liberty and examine our own lives. We need to be certain we are not guilty of judging and condemning other when we may also be guilty (James_1:22-26, John_7:1-7)

Paul said, "…but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil._3:13-14). That is what those in the church must do concerning problems and failures of the past if the church is to grow and prosper.

2) Comparing the "Good Ol' Days" with the Present and Bemoaning the Present Conditions:

When I hear this manner of discussion I think about the Jews with Moses that wanted to return back to Egypt (Ex. 14-40). Also most every congregation at some time in its life will have a time when things are difficult and the number in the congregation decreases. This may happen for a number of reasons. The demographics of the community may change and a large number of members move out of the area. Changes in preachers or leadership in the congregation may be the cause. Members may for any number of reasons get disgrun­tled and leave. The causes may be scripturally valid reasons or they may be personal, or they may be worldly grounded.

What ever the cause for the congregation to diminish in size it is no reason for it to di­minish spiritually! Looking back at the time when the congregation had twenty or a hun­dred more and bemoaning the fact will no more bring the numbers back than bemoaning losing a thousand dollars will bring the money back. To get discouraged and throw up our hands in despair shows a weakness of our faith in God, Christ and the scriptures.

What is the solution to the problem? First it is the same as with the "dwelling on past problems" of last week. As far as biblically and humanly possible determine the cause and correct those that can be corrected. A good place to begin is with our personal attitudes. Some causes like that of demographics cannot be corrected. Those dealing with attitudes and problems within the congregation can be worked on. The Bible must be accepted as the final authority. If people leave because they don't want to follow sound doctrine then, out­side of pleading with them from the scriptures there is little that can be done.

Having determined all the factors involved in the decline and corrected what can be cor­rected, the congregation must move forward. That will take love, unity, faith, determination and WORK on the part of every member. The congregation that dwells on the "good ol’ days" and does nothing, makes no needed changes and does not have the faith in God to trust in Him and His plan for the church, and work His plan, will continue to diminish:­

3) Being Content with the Status Quo:

 I have heard more than once when in discussion about a lack of growth in a congregation one or more members make statements to this ef­fect. "I like this like they are, I like having the group we have now." One even said "We're not concerned about growing just keep us happy." Huh? What is wrong with this type of a mind set? It either has forgotten or doesn't care that the reason for Jesus coming to die on the cross and the purpose of the Lord's church is TO SAVE LOST SOULS (Luke_19:10, John_3:16, Matthew_28:19-20)!

It is a fact that a congregation either has a program of evangelism for its members and works that plan in harmony with God's will or it is going to die. Taking members from other congregations is not church growth. It is church swelling! The true growth of a con­gregation is measured by the number of NEW members it has. Sure a congregation should work to get new members in the community involved in the local congregation as quickly as possible and it should work within Bible principles to hold the members it has. That is different from going out and recruiting members from other congregations. The fact that some congregation may swell in this manner does not LESSEN THE RESPONSIBILITY of other congregations in seeking to reach the lost with the gospel.

The fact is, God has given His people marching orders to move forward and we must seek to do our best in obeying those marching orders. Holding bad attitudes and spiritual work ethics will not accomplish the goal. Faith and trust in God and His word and acting with conviction on that trust will.

Let us be a congregation that moves forward!

Gary Barnes