A Treatise on Church Growth part two

Back to the subject of leadership, another point - when the goal of maturity, when the process of maturing begins to take effect within a people, leadership should at some point stand down and let God be God to His people! (witness: Peter at Cornelius' house) In other words - hey get out of the way, the cake is finally done, it's out of the oven, the frostings cooled, now let God enjoy it! When maturity in an individual christian's life brings about the wonderful fruit of that growing intimacy and maturity, let the people and God enjoy that fruit for it is that fruit indeed that God will in turn use to feed and strengthen the congregation and continue the process all over again. Remember the principal of sprititual genetics found in Genesis 1:11&12?
What are some of this fruit of maturity? A clarity and sharpening of an individuals ability to communicate with God, just as a child in the natural grows in his ability to communicate as his understanding grows, so do spiritual children. The more mature he becomes, the less he will need you (pastor) to clarify whether a voice, a plan, a doctrine or interpretation of scripture was from God or not. In fact, they will reach the point where they will beging to teach the teacher! I have learned things from my children I never would have learned otherwise. This is a wonderful benefit of having children.
More fruit - an ability to love and care for people should continue to grow throughout a christian's life. Eventually you won't have to create special groups, programs, cliques, activities, whose real goal all along is simply to get people to love each other, to care for one another, to discern the Body (who am I naked with underneath the hem of His garment)?
Won't it be wonderful when people of their own initiative begin to heal each other? Begin to evangelize, teach, prophecy, pastor each other - not because some program or teaching told them to but because they are following the supervision and leading of the Holy Spirit? What? You mean the Holy Spirit is leading, feeding and empowering the people directly, all by himself? You may ask, "Where do I fit in as a leader"? You are a gift from God to the people. As a gift, like at christmas time, you should be received with joy, treasured by the people, loved. But just as toys at christmastime are often used in a child's maturing process, so are you. Remember, we are a family, as we know God, we are to know and love each other ( know those who are among you). In other words, if we stop thinking in a worldly or carnal way, but think and reason with the mind of Christ, as leaders, we see people God brings into our care as children and we rejoice to see them grow up! Just like God starts out as just our Father, then becomes our dearest companion and friend and eventually becomes our husband, as our relationship deepens and becomes more intimate with him over time, so it should be with us. Maybe a better example is again, parents and children. I certainly hope you do not have the same relationship with your children when they are twenty five as you had when they were two. It should be the same in any congregation, the relationship between a leader and his people. It should continue to mature throughout the life of the relationship till the day comes when they are our peers. We will always be a parent to them, but the dynamic of our relationship will drastically change over time.

To be continued...