Pay the Price for Growth

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t have a desire to grow. We know that growth increases our sense of joy and contentment. It increases our self-confidence and sharpens decision making.    And it produces a depth of wisdom and understanding that impact the quality of our relationships.  With all these benefits who wouldn’t want to grow?

The problem isn’t the lack of desire, it’s the lack of discipline.  Typically most people don’t grow until they are forced to by tragedy, loss or pressure. When life is good, or at least tolerable, it’s easy to put our personal development on hold.  The truth is growth always requires surrender and sacrifice.  If I want to grow in my relationship with Christ I must surrender the will of my flesh to pursue the desires of the Spirit .  If I want to grow as a leader I must sacrifice having an abundance of leisure time for the sake of having adequate learning time.  When I refuse to surrender or sacrifice I won’t have the margin to grow to my greatest potential.  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 23:23, “Buy… wisdom, instruction and understanding.” Solomon is implying that  growth is never free, we must exchange something we value for wisdom, instruction and understanding. Growth will always cost you something: time, money, energy, pain or greater humility.  And the funny thing is when you pay the price you value it even more.

What do you need to give up in order to grow up?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mac Lake

Mac Lake

Mac is a pioneering influence in the church planting movement. In 1997, he planted Carolina Forest Community Church (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina). In 2004, he began serving as Leadership Development Pastor at Seacoast Church (Charleston, South Carolina) where he served for over six years. In July 2010, Mac Lake joined with West Ridge Church to become the Visionary Architect for the LAUNCH Network. In 2015 Mac begin working with Will Mancini and Auxano to develop the Leadership Pipeline process. He joined Auxano full time in 2018. Mac and his wife, Cindy, live in Charleston, South Carolina and have three children, Brandon, Jordan and Brianna.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

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