There are a lot of big churches out there today that keep getting larger, but just having a lot of people in services does not mean that a church is strong.

God measures church growth by more than just attendance.

Ephesians 4:11-13 tells us that God gave the church specific types of leaders, including pastors and teachers. Their job is to help other people grow spiritually so that everyone can participate in ministry.

Big churches may not be strong churches; and strong churches may not be big churches.

Ephesians 4:13 defines the goal of a strong church:

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” 

God measures church growth by the maturity of the believers that make up a local church.  And the more mature believers become, the more they will minister to others to help them mature in Christ as well.

The goal of church growth is not necessarily a large congregation.  God’s goal for church growth is a spiritually mature congregation made up of believers that serve each other.