Bearing Much Fruit That Will Last


No doubt we are praying that Makati Gospel Church would grow both in quality (spiritually) and quantity (numerically). This is exactly what the Lord Jesus wants: “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit [quantity], showing yourselves to be my disciples…You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. [quality]” (John 15:8, 16a, NIV. Emphasis added)

At the turn of the century, the Natural Church Development Institute headed by Dr. Christian Schwarz studied more than 1,000 churches in 32 countries on all six continents. Church leaders hailed it as “the most comprehensive study ever conducted on church growth.” According to that study, big churches are not necessarily healthy. Hmmm. It sounds like “A fat person is not necessarily healthy.” Ouch! That hurts! :-) Likewise, small churches are not necessarily unhealthy. But, healthy churches grow. Quality leads to quantity.

One of the essential qualities of a healthy church that they discovered in this study is growing small groups in the church. In fact, Dr. Schwarz wrote, “If we were to identify any one quality as the ‘most important,’ then without a doubt it would be the multiplication of small groups.”

But this idea is not something new. In fact, it is a Biblical pattern. In the Old Testament, Jethro advised Moses to divide the people into groups that he may effectively and efficiently minister to the nation Israel (Exodus 18:13-26). In the New Testament, Jesus Himself had His small group—the 12 disciples. Other than their large group gathering in the temple, the early church had their fellowship “from house to house” (Acts 2:46, The NET Bible). Even the Apostle Paul did that. “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.” (Acts 20:20, NIV)

Thus, we would like to invite you to join the Discovering My Cell Group Ministry seminar this coming Saturday, May 28, 9:30-11:30AM at Room 109. We welcome all of you who want to serve God in this ministry. It’s a 9-session workshop. It’s also free. You may register by calling the MGC office at 816-0634 (Look for Sis. Joyce). Sign-up forms are also available at the Usher’s table.

See you this Saturday!

Yours in Christ,

Bro. Eyriche Cortez

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