From Pastor Doug

15 Reasons

15 Reasons Why I Believe God Has Given GFMC a Green Light to Expand Facilities

(Please use as a prayer guide.)

The following “15 Reasons” are some random notes I made to myself as I prayerfully contemplated whether we should expand our facilities. I offer them to the church to show why I have come to the place where I can enthusiastically encourage people to give sacrificially.

The kingdom value of “maximum impact.” Maximum impact often requires an enlarged scope of influence resulting from increased size. My heart and perspective has changed since coming to the Greenville FMC and becoming oriented to the community. I now see the value and validity of being a large church in these circumstances.

My personal conviction and vision. I see a biblical mandate for “maximum impact” that leads me to believe we have God’s permission to pray and pursue being a church of 2000.

A coming revival. The responsiveness of our congregation to the call to prayer is the precursor to revival that will result in more than incremental growth.

The spiritual principle of “preparing a place.” It is the nature of God’s heart to prepare a place for people to be with Him. If our church is only for those who are currently coming and our children, we don’t need to expand and we don’t need to give. But our sacrificial giving for facility expansion is all about preparing a place for the multitudes that will come, if we are faithful to seek God for Holy Spirit revival. We are expanding for “them” not “us.”

God fills containers created by faith and works. One of the most important principles of faith is that you must take action for what will come before it comes. Creating space for many more people is such an act of faith that is often a prerequisite for fruitfulness.

Anticipated types of ministry programs. Expanded facilities will be required for the types of ministry programs we expect to provide. I believe GFMC should and will have increased emphasis on ministry to and with Greenville College, the local community, and the Free Methodist denomination that will require expanded facilities for training seminars and large group assemblies.

A large church ministry team. God has and is assembling a ministry team that suggests His intention for us to grow large. Seemingly without strategic planning, God has and is recruiting a ministry team that has the heart and ability to coordinate and facilitate ministries for a much larger congregation.

Momentum toward growth. Momentum is the work of the Spirit. It is hard to miss the momentum of the church. Certainly human factors contribute to that fact, but the current energy and enthusiasm exceeds the sum of those factors. God is at work blessing GFMC.

On-going divine blessing. God has been in the previous stages of planning. The master plan inspired by the Lord and confirmed by the 100 acre parcel of land is continuing to be confirmed by the on-going blessings of God. If the church has been heading in an ill-conceived direction we would not be experiencing such degrees of blessing.

A historic moment. There is a prevailing congregational sense of being at a historic moment. Scores of people in our church have been through pastors coming and going, ebbs and flows in attendance, and seasons of change. There is a general sense that this is different. “Something unique” is happening. Many people are reporting unexpected personal breakthroughs in life long issues, doubts and disbelief. This further contributes to the idea that God is doing something “large” that will be experienced by multitudes.

A harvest of radical generosity toward the poor. GFMC is in a seed planting ministry to propagate the much needed kingdom perspective of radical generosity. I fully expect that GFMC will and should produce multitudes of disciples who will learn about and live by the kingdom principles of extreme generosity. In basic terms the question comes down to this: do you give $3 million dollars to the poor today, or by investing in an enlarging ministry produce concentric circles of kingdom people who go out into the world influencing scores of other Christians and churches toward radical generosity, thus yielding a hundred fold harvest for the poor?

Adjust to the new economy. Is $ 3million extravagant? In today’s economy when 2000 square foot homes cost $200k to build a $3 million expansion is basic and unpretentious.

Appropriate temple extravagance. We shouldn’t be scared off by big dollar amounts as if there is something wrong with that in light of poverty, etc. Remember that God prompted and endorsed the extravagance of the temple within the framework of principled giving and provisions for the poor. God’s people can (and maybe should) do both.

Problematic creative options. Couldn’t we accommodate growth through creative programming? While creatively restructuring into sub-congregations is an option for accommodating growth, it militates against the unification of the church around common experience and vision.

The principle of “maximum distance.” There is a “maximum distance” people can be expected to come to church. However, distance isn’t measured only in miles. There is also cultural distance. How far from “home” can you expect people to travel? Home equals: standards of comfort and security, expectations of space and privacy, language and customs. In one sense, it can be argued that we could meet in a big top tent and save the $3 million. But that is “too far from home” for not only our own congregation but especially the “seekers” in our culture. We need to provide appropriate space and programming that helps people think, I can go there.