Jesus promised that he would build his church, and all his followers should share his zeal for church growth. Many church growth programs have been proposed over the years and most of them have some good suggestions. However, the very best material for evangelism can be found in Scripture. One such text is Acts 6:1-7. Let’s look at this passage and notice some principles for church growth that can be applied today.

The church had been established and was growing in leaps and bounds. Then a problem arose that was so serious that it not only threatened the expansion of the young church, but perhaps its very existence. It seems that some of the widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food, and this was brought to the attention of the apostles, who decided to address the situation. They proposed that the congregation select seven men who were full of the Spirit and wisdom to take care of the needs of the widows. The apostles would then be able to devote their full attention to their main priorities—prayer and the ministry of the word. This proposal was acceptable to the whole church and the plan was quickly put into place. The crisis was averted and as a result, the word of God spread, and the number of disciples increased rapidly.

The first step in this church growth program was addressing problems in a timely and proper manner. The situation was brought to the attention of the leaders, and they determined that this was a serious matter. Not all complaints are legitimate problems that need to be dealt with. Leaders need to ignore—and perhaps put a stop to—complaints that are trivial in nature. Good church leaders will not hesitate to tackle real problems, and they will propose biblical solutions to those problems.

The second step in the program is to set your priorities. Feeding the widows was an important endeavor, but the apostles’ main task was to lead the way for the congregation in the areas of prayer and ministry of the word. Any other task, even an important one, would only serve to distract the leaders from their most vital responsibilities. Each member of the church, whether in a position of leadership or not, should understand their role in the church and should resist being distracted from their main job in the church.

The third step is to delegate. We are not meant to do the work of the Lord alone. The church is like a body, with its many parts doing various things to help the body function well so that it can stay healthy and grow. We need to recruit others to help us. This will help to ensure that the work of the church gets done and it allows others to get involved, using their gifts and talents for the Lord. Ideally, the people appointed for the tasks will be just like the ones in this passage—full of the Spirit and wisdom.

This 3-step program does not contain everything the Bible says about church growth. However, it is a good basic outline to follow to help ensure that the local congregation stays healthy and continues to grow. In implementing this plan, the early church demonstrated the unity (v.5a) that Jesus desires (John 17:20-23) and obeyed another important biblical principle by taking care of its neediest members (Matt.25:31-46; Gal.6:10). Let’s strive for the word of God to spread and the number of disciples to increase rapidly in our churches today, just as it came to pass in the early church.