At what speed is the Church of God going? The general overseer has said that the executive council are dreaming of ways to speed up the church. He mentioned multiply campuses as one means of doing so. Speed changes things; a church experiencing rapid growth does not have time to spend endless hours or even years trying to determine when the Lord sanctifies someone. The book of Acts church moved fast, in understanding, in raising finances and in figuring out how to take care of the various needs within the community of faith. The Lord blessed them with His gifts while they were engaged in His service. It doesn’t take long for the Lord to sanctify, fill with the spirit or to empower with the other gifts; they will be there when there is a need for them. How fast is the CoG moving? The Seventh Day Adventists was formed just a few years before the CoG, mostly by a woman and with the emphasis of Saturday worship all of which should have been a deterrent to growth. Yet they now list 18.5 million members with 74,299 churches. The CoG lists 6 million plus worldwide and about 1 million in the states. This suggests that we have spent far too much time splitting hairs, trying to figure out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Which is another way to say that we have majored in minors.
What speed is wade Phillips movin?
I think you meant head of a pin not pen
Words of wisdom.
Church growth is by propagation
Based on what I’ve seen and realizing that they have fewer than a 100 congregations ( almost all small ) he is on a slow boat. This doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate him and his hard work and of course I have worked my flesh to the bone and haven’t done as well. One time I took a ride in a piper cub and the pilot gave me a thrill by turning over and diving. Another time I took a jet and cruised at 547 mph and enjoyed a nice lunch. After the piper ride I lost my lunch.
Compare the SDAs to Pentecostals. A quick web search says that a 2011 Pew study showed that there were 279 million classical Pentecostals worldwide. If you look at it that way, Pentecostalism has grown much faster than the SDA movement. Once people in the COG denomination no longer believed that their church was THE church, then did it matter so much if they moved for work if they went to a Pentecostal Holiness, Congregational Holiness, or even A/G, Foursquare, or a conservative Bible-focused Charismatic church?
Some SDAs think their church is THE church to be a part of in the last days, and other churches are Babylon or her daughters.
I wonder how SDAs ar eorganized. Does the denomination own the building?
Part of COG growth involved merging with overseas denominations. I don’t think the Gereja Bethel Indonesia typically owns church buildings. It is hard, legally, for a church to own a building in some parts of Indonesia. Some of them start non-profits that own buildings to work around that. A lot of them rent space. Some of them are in denominations within GBI, or that’s how I see it, a bureaucratic mother church that has a lot of rules for the daughter churches.
Foursquare grew a lot in the past few years. It merged with the old denomination that GBI used to be a part of a two or three or more denominational-splits back. It’s ironic. They merged with the Pentecostal Church in Indonesia, GPDI. Some of the GPDI folks only wear certain types of clothes, long sleeves, etc. They are more like ‘Holiness’ folks and a lot of the GBI/COG folks go by ‘Karismatik’ (Chrismatic), wear jewelry, and some of them are WOF. I think of Foursquare as little less traditional than COG. So it’s ironic which denomination wen with which other denomnation to team up.
Some of the church growth overseas comes through mergers rather than missionary efforts. There are missionaries with the COG sent from the US laboring over there, too.
I haven’t heard of any ‘Holiness Movement’ doctrine on sanctification from COG preachers, where it is seen as a one-time act after salvation.
It all comes down to the Holy Ghost. When the church is full of the Holy Ghost, we see revival and tremendous growth. When we compromise biblical standards, and no longer have the Spirit of God moving in our services, we decline in everything.
I was studying for a message one day. I was studying , I was reading where Jesus ask His disciples whom do men say that I Am. Some said John The Baptist raised from the dead. Some Elias or one of the prophets. Then He ask? But whom do you say I Am ? Peter quickly said. Thou Art The Christ the Son Of The Living God. Jesus said , thou art Peter. And upon This Rock ( Jesus ) I Will Build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. My point is as many times I have read this Scripture and even preached on it. I had never had it hit my mind before that He said I Will Build My Church. The Lord had shown me before that our church was going to start to grow. I noticed He Said I Will Build My Church. Who is He going to use. ? Or who does He use? He uses us , just like He told His disciples to go into All The World and preach the gospel. If we can’t go in all the world. Then we can help send , or we can go where we can. Sure any Church that really loves God is going to be doing what ever we can to help build our Church. Organize groups Jesus did. When the church in theNew testament couldn’t get to all the widows , eat The lord told them to call out 70 men full of the Holy Ghost to wait on tables , while they preached. Even Jesus had order. He told the five thousand that had followed Him. And they was Hungary. A little boy had carried his lunch. Five loves and two fish. He had them to sit down in fifties. And took the loves and fish. Lifted it to Heaven or to His Father and thanked Him for the loves and fish. Then He broke and gave a certain amount to His Disciples. They fed. Them all and took up five baskets full. If we will use what God has given to us. Lift it up to God and ask Him to bless it. Get others involve. God will bless and He will build the Church.
He will build his church that does not mean a particular denomination.
I forgot to tell you it was five thousand men beside the women and children. On five love of read and two fish. And took up twelve baskets full. That prove God multiplies what we do if we give our gifts to him first. We are not all called to do the same thing. What ever gifts He has given you. Lift them up to God. Thank Him for them. And then use them. Don’t hide your gift.
Pentecostal is the fastest growing denomination! Very few seventh d a. State side. I think u misunderstood. The speedup is for souls and& planting because we r living in the closing of time. Some have majored on the minors but u have to consider the enormity of the church worldwide. I would not want that job. It’s easy to criticize when u r not the one having the responsibility. Harmony & working together is what Christ desires & promotes growth.
AMEN Thank You Jesus
Does it matter at all that anyone is sanctified? Just as long as they can say they are saved?
Surely it matters that we live a clean life, separated from worldly pursuits. I have always thought of it as a second work of grace and yet I have met many who seemed to be sanctified but never understood it that way.
We definitely need faster sometimes.
Oh my. Going fast isn’t as important as going the right direction.
On the day of Pentecost, all those 120 were doing, was praying. And a lot got done very fast, that day.
Look at all the major revivals around the world, in history.
Did they happen because the church decided to speed up?
Or did they happen because a few slowed down… and prayed for a while??