The Good News of Our Growth
One of the first privileges I enjoyed after becoming your pastor a little over a year ago was to inform you that Caldwell had been the fastest-growing church in our Presbytery in 2007, as measured by percentage increase.
At last month’s meeting of the Presbytery of Charlotte, our seven-county region of 133 Presbyterian churches, we learned that Caldwell again held the top spot for rate of growth in 2008.
The addition of 41 members here amounted to a 37% increase, followed by churches of roughly similar size whose growth rates respectively were 19%, 15%, 14% and 12%. The data showed that 55 churches grew in 2008. Membership at 25 remained flat.
At the end of 2008, Caldwell had 153 members (not counting our children and ‘friends’) and that number now stands at 170. Only five churches grew by more members than Caldwell’s 41.
Stewardship and Discipleship
All of this raises some interesting questions and considerations. First and foremost, we give thanks to God for the blessings we enjoy – blessings of energy enthusiasm, an inclusive and welcoming spirit, growing ministries, joyful and engaging worship and lots of positive momentum, to name just a few.
While dozens of members and friends work hard in many ways to bring Caldwell back to life, we know that the sum of it all is not of our own creation, but God’s. As Jesus communicated with the parable of the farmer that scattered seed that grew whether the farmer slept or worked, what’s happening here, like the kingdom of God, is beyond our grasp.
That is not to say, however, that we can sit idly by and marvel at what is happening. God calls us to be good stewards. To that end, we are being well served by a number of leaders here who are planning and implementing steps to ensure that our expansion is sustained and glorifies God.
Several months ago, your session launched The Discipleship Project. Its ultimate goal is to engage fully our members in ministries through which we care for others and ourselves as a family of faith. The leaders of the Project are Janet Blanchard and Bob Metzler, but a number of others are involved.
These leaders understand that we must plan for expansion and all of its implications, including how we can make an out-sized difference in the mission field, how we build relationships within the church, how we identify talents and gifts, how we ensure that we can extend care and love when our members need it and how we continue to revive our marvelous old campus.
The bottom line of their work is to ensure that Caldwell never takes its “good news” of expansion and energy for granted. Rather, we hope to be a church that, for many years to come, tells a story “incline” instead of “recline” or “decline.”
If you are interested in the Discipleship Project or any other way you can contribute your time and talent, contact Janet or Bob or me.
To God be the Glory.