I believe in miracles
Our Church Council met last night. Part of their meeting included a discussion about a book they’re reading together: 8 Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches
The first virtue they discussed was: Rapidly Growing Churches Believe in Miracles and Act Accordingly
Here’s a few quotes they considered and reflection questions to go with them. We’d love to hear your responses to some of the questions. Is there a quote from the first chapter that interests you?
Introduction
- “Our system as Methodists has often been really good at keeping dying churches from closing and keeping growing churches from growing more.”
- “But Methodism is a revivalist movement. If we, of all God’s church, are not reviving anybody, then what are we there for?”
Reflection: How does our local system(s) inhibit or facilitate our church’s growth?
Chapter 1
- “Praying fervently, boldly, and specifically for miracles begins to focus our vision.”
Reflection: As leaders, what have we prayed boldly for in the last decade?
- “In the rapidly growing churches we studied, a belief in the miracle-producing work of the Spirit led such churches to not only pray, to not only see, but to ultimately act.”
Reflection: Name the miracles we have experienced as a congregation?
- “We have to act as if we expect God to do miracles. We have to try things that, if God is not real, will almost certainly fail.”
Reflection: What have we learned from our failures?
- “They aren’t willing to make a hard, risk-taking move in order to do what they believe God is calling them to do. Instead they are looking for a solution that keeps people happy and maintains a roughly consensual stasis. They want to see the sea split without wading in up to their neck.”
Reflection: Identify 1-3 “hard, risk-taking” moves that might upset people at Kelsey but, ultimately, move us forward.
- “But when a church is in decline, they begin to make decisions differently. Often congregations are more afraid of running out of money than they are of missing a God-anointed possibility.”
Reflection: Which “God-anointed” possibilities inspire you?
- “In our churches, we often overestimate the cost of trying something new and underestimate the cost of doing nothing.”
Reflection: What’s something God might be calling us to do that we are too worried or distracted to respond to?