A woman is happy when she gives birth to a child. Her joy is full when she witnesses the child grow from one stage to the other. Great businessmen frown at anything or individual that militates against the growth of their companies. Growth is a natural thing and the desire of Christ is that His Church should grow.

When the church grows it will be reflected:
• Spiritually
• Materially
• Numerically
• Socially
• Economically
These growths are important, but the true measuring rod/rule for growth of the church is “spirituality.” Growth is never accidental, for any living thing to grow certain measures must be taken into consideration:
• The kind of food taken
• The environment/atmosphere
• The water intake, among others.
The health of the church is ascertained by the spiritual viability of such church either as a group or as an individual. It is not the nomenclature and the location of a church that will determine the viability of the church, but the three W(s) or P(s):
• The Word – Preaching
• The Worship – Praise
• The Warfare – Prayer

These three are distinctively connected to each other.
• The word enables the worship to be sound and brings the result of the warfare.
• The worship draws strength for the warfare and the warfare illuminates the word and the worship.
There are several units and areas in the church that showcases her beauty.
• The liturgy and administration
• The evangelism and mission
• The prayer unit
• The choral and praise unit
• The welfare unit
• The protocol and security among others.
God’s desire is for every member to be positively involved like Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5-13). Before any individual can make a mark such “must” grow to possess a positive contagious influence.
In Genesis 12:2, God revealed through His encounter with Abraham certain things that every believer should covet:
• A great name: (Identity) this is an individual that is just a person, an individual yet without any sense of honour, or an influence. Every human being is supposed to command a level of respect no matter how small it is.
• A great nation: (personality) this individual is not just a person, but is also a personality wherever he enters he command respect, he is respected but more when he is present.
• A great blessing: So blessed that through him all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
• Principality, an individual that is a principality has the ability to command respect whether present or not, just the name alone is a key to open certain doors.
Tips That Can Help Anyone Achieve Greatness
• Their faith must be genuine
• They must be good followers of the faith/heritage of the elders and the church
• There must be a transfer of grace from an elder (watch who you take as your mentor and who lays hand on you)
• Willing to put the gifts into work and not to hide it.
• Boldness without fear
• Having love and sound mind – flee from things that can pollute the mind.
• Never you be ashamed of your conviction and testimony.
• Hold firm and fast the pattern (orthodoxy) of your faith.

Why Church Won’t Grow
Lack of balanced diet: Every growth requires certain elements. The Church is the body of Christ; as a body it feeds on certain food for growth. Every creature has some diets that agree with their system if they must grow. The ewe cannot feed on fresh meat to grow neither can the lion feed on green grass to grow. The problem of today’s Church is in the fact that the wrong meal is presented to the church for growth. Rather than growing, she is dying of obesity or malnutrition.
When a child lacks the basic nutrition it becomes difficult to survive. The Church like a little child requires balanced diet to grow.
• Spiritual dwarfism. Heights is beautiful and can give advantage and intimidation. Dwarfism can bring negligence. Dwarves are born due to some hormonal imbalance.
When at the foundational level of the establishment of the Church, the right method of discipleship is neglected or there is poor application of divine principle, it will bring stunt growth. Sometimes it is practically impossible to undue it because it has acclimatised with the people’s response to faith and doctrine. It is a dangerous thing to lay a wrong foundation while building a church; what you win the people with, you certainly win them to it.
Therefore, it is a sacrilege to establish error as a cornerstone for the church, which purchased with his blood.
Others include:
• Spiritual dumbness and deafness —they are so blind to truth with a dull ear to divine signal
• Spiritual novice— Ignorance is poisonous because a man’s ignorance is a kind of knowledge. What he will teach and passionately defend will be within the span of his understanding. Some people teach and defend error because they do not know the truth. An unspoken truth is as strong as a defended lies. Some people chose to remain blind even when they are exposed to ray of light because over time the darkness of blindness has taken the shape of light. Therefore, even when they get to see the truth they are wilfully blind because of ignorance.
• Spiritual blindness: Inability to see beyond what is presented to them
• Spiritual Cripple: A paralysed system
• Spiritual Impotency: Unfruitfulness to every good work
No Matter The Illness, Cure Is Possible
There is no length or protraction of a disease either spiritual or otherwise that is terminal in God’s sight. Every disease considered terminal could be terminated by God’s power and grace. Medically, doctors consider a sickness terminal because it is deadly and, maybe, has no cure. To them the patient has been sentenced to die by such ailment.
Spiritually God has answers to all form of ailment. He does not go on research to ascertain a cure, He is the cure. Until the Church understands the cure, she will never regain health. May God open the eyes of the Church to the cure in Jesus’ name, Amen!
• Venerable Stephen Wolemonwu is the Rector, Ibru Ecumenical Centre, Agbarha-Otor

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