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Are We Building God's Kingdom—Or Just Growing Our Own Church?

One of the greatest challenges facing the Western church today isn't always found in our theology or our worship. Sometimes it's found in our priorities.


Too many church leaders have become eager to bring spiritually mature believers from another healthy church into their own congregation simply because those people are gifted, dependable, and ready to serve.


Now, there are certainly times when God calls someone to a different body. There are churches where faithful believers have been overlooked, never discipled, or never given an opportunity to use the gifts God has placed within them. Sometimes God genuinely redirects people for His purposes.


But I don't believe that should be our first instinct as pastors.


Imagine your neighbor is struggling. They're barely making ends meet, trying to hold their family together, and working hard just to survive. Would you walk over and convince the strongest, most capable person in that household to come help yours instead?


Of course not.


You would ask, "How can I help strengthen that family?"


Yet this is often how we treat the Church.


We look across town, see someone faithfully serving another congregation, and begin imagining how much stronger our own ministry would be if they came here instead.


Somewhere along the way we forgot something important:


We are not building our kingdom.


We are building God's Kingdom.


The church down the street is not our competition. It is our ally.


Every healthy church preaching Christ weakens the kingdom of darkness.


Every believer equipped where God has planted them strengthens the Body of Christ.


When another church grows healthier, heaven celebrates. We should too.


One practice I've tried to keep in our own ministry is asking new visitors who come from another church a simple question:


"Why are you leaving?"


More often than not, I encourage them to work through the situation with their pastor before making a decision.


In fact, I've probably sent more people back to their previous church than I've accepted as members.


Not because we don't need help.


We certainly do.


But sometimes I recognize that their former church needs them even more.


As pastors, our responsibility is bigger than filling volunteer positions or growing attendance. Our calling is to shepherd God's people, even when doing so doesn't directly benefit our own congregation.


What if, instead of asking, "How could they strengthen our church?" we asked, "How can we strengthen theirs?"


Imagine pastors who prayed for neighboring churches instead of competing with them.


Imagine leaders who celebrated another church's revival as much as their own.


Imagine churches known not for protecting territory, but for advancing one Kingdom together.


The Apostle Paul reminds us that there is "one body and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4). We may gather in different buildings and worship with different styles, but we belong to the same Savior.


If one part of the Body suffers, we all suffer.


If one part grows stronger, we all benefit.


May we stop measuring success by how many people come from another church to ours.


Instead, may we measure success by how faithfully we strengthen the entire Body of Christ.


Because in the end, we won't stand before God and give an account for how large our church became.


We'll give an account for how faithfully we served His Kingdom.


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Thank you for standing with us as we seek to build God's Kingdom—not our own.


Pastor Scott



 
 
 

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