The Word growth is a funny word. If I tell you, “I have a growth on my chin,” it is something completely different than if I tell you I have noticed growth in ReCAST church.
But to tell you I have noticed growth in ReCAST church is still not very clear. What kind of growth am I talking about? Numbers? Depth? Connection? Love? What exactly is growing?
I have been so grateful to see ReCAST growing along several different lines. We have grown in community. I went to the hospital yesterday to visit a family whose son has been hospitalized and I wasn’t the first to be there to sit with the family. Others had already been there to care for the family. I received a phone message from a man who needed a lift because his van broke down yesterday, and when I went to call him back five minutes later, someone was already on the way to pick him up!
We are growing deeper in our understanding of the Word of God, and our focus each Sunday on the Word has not caused us to shrivel up and die or become less “relevant.” I have been known at times to spend 10-15 minutes reading an extensive portion of Scripture on Sunday morning, and people keep coming, showing an appetite for the Word that many will tell you doesn’t exist in our society.
Our church has been growing in service within the church as well as outside to our immediate community. One individual in the church contacted the elders and asked if she could head up a collection of food to make Turkey dinners for those in need in Mattawan for Thanksgiving! We have so many willing and joyful volunteers from kids ministry to hospitality and people are growing in service.
All of this is very encouraging to see, and yet we also continue to grow along the numerical lines as well. We had about 150 kids in our ReCAST kids programs this past Sunday morning. Over 200 adults were in attendance in two services meaning that we had 350 at ReCAST church this past Sunday. We have seats for 150.
This is not a brag about ReCAST church blog. This is a mysterious look into the blessings of God. I can tell you what we have done, but I cannot tell you why The Lord has seen fit to grow us from 14 adults in a basement to 350 gathered in worship 4.5 years later.
God gets the glory, and not in some theoretical way. He has blessed us despite ourselves. I am not a polished visionary with a slick 5 year and 10 year plan with benchmarks, and dashboard analytics measuring our success. I am not a public speaker who draws in numbers with my oratory. And we quite frankly have little glitz and glamor in our services. God has grown ReCAST , and I am thankful that he has taken this ministry and held us in unity together.
We find ourselves nearing a point of decision regarding facility. We have purchased property. We do not have the money to build. Our facility is not sustaining our attendance. And our vision to reach out to our community cannot be jettisoned for the sake of making us all comfortable. We cannot turn the greeters into bouncers.
Some changes are coming, one way or the other. And in an attempt to put temporary plans in place, we are meeting with the superintendent of Mattawan to discuss using their facility as a temporary solution to our space issues.
Please be in prayer for continued unity, as we seek to carry forward our mission of finding worshipers for His name! He has a plan, and I am excited to see what God has in store for our church in the coming months and years!