An Interesting Pattern

 I am not a pastor or an evangelist. I am just a man who has been around a long time. I have paid attention and I have noticed certain patterns that, now that we as a Fellowship have been in existence for a few years, I see emerging.

We have churches that have been in existence for many years now. Our churches have reached a size that reflects the pastor's ability to care for. We have a vision that works, but it seems to not be working as well as it used to. So we try harder to make something happen. Or we adjust our focus to minister to the people we have now. We support the overall vision of evangelism and discipleship and church planting. But we have changed.

One thing that I have noticed is that the explosive growth of our Fellowship is not happening in our older, more mature churches. It is happening on the cutting edge of church planting. New pastors and new churches in new cities doing what we do. And they are seeing the spectacular growth and the exciting evangelism we used to see. No one church has planted 4000 churches. We have seen God use our vision to keep the fire burning out on the fringes of civilization.

The older churches that are still thriving today have come to grips with where they are in the trajectory of revival and have found a way to continue to minister to faithful people who have stayed by the stuff, some for many years now. 

If you are a pastor and you miss the exciting days of early revival, then go pioneer a brand new church or be a missionary in a new country. We will miss you and we will support you and we will pray for you.