“Growing the Local Church” – The Pastoral Office and Church Growth (Pastor Larry Vincent)

Excellent session from Pastor Larry.

The name of the message was “The Pastoral Office and Church Growth”.  Working from Ephesians 3 and 1 Timothy 3, the primary point that Larry made was the point of 1 Corinthians 3, namely that the minister is called by God to plant and water and rely on the Lord to provide the increase of the fruits of his labor.  Ministers are NOT to worry about the number or rear-ends in the seats on sunday morning (my words, no Larry’s :-) ), they are to preach and teach the word and trust the Lord to use it as He sees fit.

Well, my notes are not copying over from Word correctly so I’ll give you a few highlights.

The politicians, the governments, the educators are not guardians of the Truth, the Church is.

Pastors are to concern themselves exclusively with planting and watering

They are field laborers.  They can only work in the dirt.  They cannot make the rain fall from the sky, nor can they make the plants grow, nor can they make the seeds germinate.

A Pastor’s focus is on what God commands him to do, not on the job that God does!

God is Sovereign both on the Minister’s Labor as well as the increase of the Minister’s Labor

Pastor’s must ultimately rely on the Lord to provide visitors, repeat visitors and members

God’s Glory and the Members Spiritual Good are the concerns of the Pastor

The Church informs the Family, not the Family the Church

And here are some photos, followed by the video of the message.

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