Source/Author: Dr Michael Dalseno

We can glean a number of themes and principles about growth from this passage of scripture when it comes to expanding your Church or Christian organization.

Seven Basic Principles of Growth

By Dr  D

The backdrop to the following scriptural passage is the School of the Prophets, whose spiritual father was Elisha, and they were beginning to feel the pinch of a tight and limited space.

Text: 2Kings Ch. 6. 1-7

Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too limited for us. 2 "Please let us go to the Jordan and each of us take from there a beam, and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live." So he said, "Go." 3 Then one said, "Please be willing to go with your servants." And he answered, "I shall go." 4 So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed." 6 Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float. 7 He said, "Take it up for yourself." So he put out his hand and took it. NASB

We can glean a number of themes and principles about growth from this passage when it comes to expanding your Church or Christian organization.  

Firstly, there has to be the recognition that the current situation “is too limited for us” (v.1). As long as we are satisfied with the status quo, comfortable with existing conditions, or consider that stepping out is too painful, there will never be an ongoing forward movement. The future simply stays there, and nobody is reaching out for it. In looking for such an expanded place we are in fact laying foundations for greater growth, an expansion of ministries, greater influence, reaching into new territory, touching new people groups, and exploring new opportunities.

Secondly, this kind of forward movement involves every person in an organization or Church. When the School of the Prophets realized that it was essential to expand into new territory, they recognized that it would involve “each of us” to go and “take from there a beam” (v.2). Going to the Jordan and chopping down a beam from a tree was not going to amount to very much if only a few ventured to do it. It really calls for the commitment of every person for a Church to forge ahead and stake out new ground. A half-hearted attack is only a half-hearted response which will probably achieve a half-hearted result.

Thirdly, a special kind of willingness to participate and contribute is required. The prophets exclaimed, “please be willing to go with your servants,” from which came the reply “I shall go” (v.3). There is an ocean of difference between mental assent and practical involvement. Somehow, talk or lip service has to transcend into action otherwise talk only remains talk, ideas only remain ideas, and the best of plans only remain as plans. Like the tribe of Asher (Jud.5.17), some will only sit and talk but nothing gets done.

Fourthly, there will be challenges. When one of the prophets was cutting a tree the iron head flew off the handle and fell into the water, “Alas my master, for it was borrowed” (vs. 4-5). This initially sounds like a moot point, but the kind of expansion usually envisaged with Church growth will usher forth hitherto unexperienced challenges, a stirring of unfamiliar nests, and the ruffling of some hostile institutional feathers of a kind not fully experienced in the earlier history of the church or organization. But it’s no reason to turn back. Just another reason to move ahead with one mind and purpose.

Fifthly, there will be God’s provision, even if not readily apparent where it comes from or how it will be provided. The Prophetic company did not have the resources they needed in order to render their expansion plans possible. Evidently they could not afford an axe, but borrowed it instead. When it was subsequently lost, the Lord’s provision came in once again and the axe head was miraculously retrieved from the water, “he cut off a stick, and made the iron float” (v.6). Expect a few miracles along the way, though they are usually inconveniently preceded by some shortfall, problem or attack. The stick, or piece of wood, speaks volumes to us about the cross of Christ being applied to every challenging and impossible situation.

Sixthly, we are to experience those miracles for ourselves, “Take it up yourself. So he put out his hand and took it” (v.7). It is not sufficient that one generation of leaders relies on the experiences of their forebears or the miracles that took place in a prior generation of leaders. Every generation, and every phase of church leadership, must experience God for themselves. This is a special time in which many leaders and members step out in faith, believe God, contribute their time, gifts, talents and money, and take an active role in what the Lord is doing in their time. Some opportunities only come once.

Finally, our eyes are to be fixed on the Lord and pray for His presence all through the expansion and stepping-out process. Notice that the prophets would not shift to an expanded place unless their master went with them. Their master, Elisha, gave them permission to go (v.2), went with the people on their journey (v.3), and actively stepped in when the going was rough and tough (v.7). Throughout your journey of expansion and moving forward into the future, pray, seek God, receive His strategies, and trust in the “Master” for every provision. If He leads you forth to tackle the future, He will be with you.

God bless you as you seek Him regarding your part in the growth of the Church. The future may depend on it.