Assemblies of God Empowered Magazine DESIGNED TO GROW | Page 5

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“This is to my Father’s glory, that
you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” John
15:8 KJV. Furthermore he says; “…I
chose you and appointed you so
that you might go and bear fruit—
fruit that will last” John 15:16 KJV
Thankfully, God not only has the wisdom to guide the growth of the church,
but He also undertakes to supply the dynamic that ‘makes things grow’ (1 Corinthians 3:7) Jesus uses the grape vine to
describe how He as the living vine gives
life giving sap to the branches. He says;

“I am the vine; you
are the branches.
If you remain in
me and I in you,
you will bear
much fruit; apart
from me you can
do nothing”.

whole Church flourishing and doing great
works for Jesus all over the world, that
brings glory to God in a process where he
‘gives the increase’.  Notice, Paul praises
the Thessalonians Christians; “…to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren,
as is fitting, because your faith is growing
exceedingly and the love of every one of
you each toward the others is increasing
and abounds” 2 Thessalonians 1:3 AMP
The Biblical instruction to produce
fruit is a clear call for living lives that are
productive and profitable in the kingdom of God. As we assess our lives and
the church in which we labour, we must
be careful how we discern and evaluate its fruitfulness. It’s an old question,
what’s important for churches, numbers
or Christian maturity, quantity or quality? I say both are important. We cannot
allow either to slip from our goals and
aspirations. Healthy church bodies need
to grow in many different ways. A truly
maturing church should have people being added through salvation. However, a
strong numerical church, that is without a
culture of love, is weak.

John 15:5 NIV
The apostle Paul makes it clear in
Ephesians 4 that the fruit the church also
needs to develop is lowliness, meekness, forbearance with each other, in a
growing environment of love. It is God’s
design that we become one body, one
Spirit under our God and Father.   Jesus
is looking for a church that as one body
is growing in the unity of faith. Paul also
notes to the Colossians that it is from the
headship of Jesus, that;
”…the entire body, supplied and
knit together by means of its
joints and ligaments, grows with a
growth that is from God”
Colossians 2:19 AMP
The church is a community where
fruitfulness ought not be focused on individuals who do ‘great exploits for God’,
although individuals do obviously play a
critical and strategic role. It’s about the

Feeling guilty over
fruitlessness will
only produce religious dead works.
The answer is to
present ourselves
to the Husbandman, our spiritual
Father and the
tender of the
vineyard.
Pruning is the answer, yet this may
require significant changes in order to
achieve fruitfulness, or at least to re-establish it. Pruning however may involve
painful changes. It could mean shifting
people around in the church, resignations and reappointments, the release

of new ministry calls and sometimes, the
closing of once effective ministries. We
are often fruitful in different areas at different stages of our lives and God may
wish to change how we engage His work.
Are you ready for fruit? Are you ready for
pruning?

The purpose of
vine pruning is to
direct the flow of
life giving sap, to
concentrate the
sap resources
for the purpose
of overall fruitfulness. An unpruned vine allows its sap to
flow into too many
branches. In a
way, as the vine is
designed to grow
it is also designed
to be pruned.
Ouch!
We address lack of growth with renewed vision, new direction and a reevaluation of our understanding of God’s
purpose. It doesn’t have to be in fine ‘blue
print’ detail. It may only be a renewed
sense of direction and fresh God breathed
purpose. Once this is secured however, reenvisioning becomes possible.
The church is full of hard workers,
some are so diligent that they are literally
prepared to die for the church. What however is the point of this noble courage if
the kingdom is not growing? We may excel in cutting down tall trees but what if
we are working in the wrong forest.