Healthy, Growing Churches (4)

…till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ…  Ephesians 4.13-15

Epistle to the Ephesians 4.13
Theodoret (393-466)
“In the future life we shall attain perfection. But in the present life we need all the help we can get from the apostles, the prophets and our teachers.”

The apostles and prophets certainly teach that we should work hard to maintain unity. What about our teachers? Unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, is the foundation for all true church growth. We must work hard to maintain this unity, and extend it as far as we can, to all brothers and sisters in the Lord with whom practical unity is possible (Eph. 4.3). We do not expect to achieve perfect unity of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit here and now, but that is no excuse for not working hard to realize as much of it as we can. But if our teachers and preachers are not focusing on unity, then they are not following the counsel and example of the apostles and prophets; they are not laying the foundation a church needs for true health and growth; they are barring entrance to the Kingdom for those to whom it rightly belongs; and they are failing in their calling as shepherds of God’s flock. Do you want the Church to grow? Work hard at unity!

What evidences would you look for to indicate that your church is growing in unity? That the churches in your community are realizing more of our unity in Christ?

T. M. Moore

How goes the work of shepherding?
Pastor, where are you in your walk with and work for the Lord? Are you growing? Covering all the bases? Working fruitfully toward the Kingdom of God? Shepherding God’s flock? Our Pastoral Hope Initiative can help you establish a framework and baseline for steady, fruitful growth. Using a variety of assessment tools, together with the book Fan into Flame, this 14-week protocol will give you a thorough look at the state of your ministry. Men, if you think you might want to work through this with me, watch this brief video, then, if you’re interested, let me hear from you at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.