The Holy Spirit and Church Growth

     When you walk into most churches today, about twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work (I like to think that ERCC is different in this regard, but my point remains the same). The pastor preaches, teaches, visits the sick, counsels the troubled, and manages the organization. A handful of faithful volunteers teach Sunday school, lead worship, and serve on committees. Everyone else? They attend. They consume. They evaluate the performance. Then they go home.
     This isn't how the church was meant to function. Paul's letter to the Ephesians reveals a different vision, one where every believer operates in Spirit given gifts and the whole body works together in supernatural unity. The passage we're examining this Sunday, Ephesians 4:11-16, shows us how the Holy Spirit designed the church to grow. It's a design that challenges our modern assumptions and offers hope for churches struggling to make an impact in increasingly secular communities like ours here in the Pacific Northwest.
     In the context of this passage, Paul has just spent three chapters explaining our position in Christ. We've been chosen, redeemed, sealed by the Spirit, raised with Christ, and made into one new humanity. Now he turns to the practical question: how does this theological reality work itself out in everyday church life? His answer centers on the Holy Spirit's distribution of gifted leaders who equip every believer for ministry.
     The passage begins with a simple statement: "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers." Notice what Christ doesn't give. He doesn't give programs. He doesn't give buildings. He doesn't give organizational structures. He gives people, specifically, Spirit empowered people who serve distinct functions in building up the church.
     Apostles were those sent out with unique authority to establish churches and lay doctrinal foundations. The Spirit authenticated their ministry through signs and wonders. He revealed mysteries to them that became our New Testament. Prophets spoke direct messages from God through the Spirit's inspiration. They provided immediate guidance to local churches.  Evangelists are those specially gifted by the Spirit to proclaim the gospel to unbelievers. Philip provides our clearest biblical example. The Spirit directed him to specific people and places, empowering his witness with supernatural effectiveness. Some believers have this gift in unusual measure. They can't help but share Christ. Conversations naturally turn to spiritual matters. People respond to their witness in ways that seem disproportionate to their efforts.
     The final category, shepherds and teachers, represents one gift with two functions. The Greek construction links them together grammatically. These are the pastor teachers who feed God's flock through Spirit empowered teaching of the Word. They protect the sheep from wolves. They bind up the wounded. They seek the straying. They do all this not through mere human compassion or organizational skill but through the Spirit's enabling.
     Here's where modern church practice often diverges from Paul's vision. We've turned these Spirit given leaders into a professional clergy class who performs ministry for passive congregations. But verse twelve reveals the actual purpose of these gifts: "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ." The Greek word for equipping, katartismos, carries important meaning. Doctors used it for setting broken bones. Fishermen used it for mending torn nets. The word suggests restoration, preparation, and bringing something to its intended purpose.
     Spirit gifted leaders exist to equip all believers for ministry. Not to do all the ministry themselves. Not to entertain passive audiences. Not to build their own platforms. They exist to prepare God's people for works of service. Every Christian has received at least one spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 12:7 makes this crystal clear: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." No exceptions. No purely passive members. Every believer has a Spirit given role to play.
     This radically democratizes ministry. You don't need seminary training to serve in Spirit power. You don't need official recognition. You need to discover and deploy the gift the Spirit has given you. Maybe it's mercy, showing God's compassion to the hurting. Maybe it's helps, serving behind the scenes to make ministry possible. Maybe it's teaching, explaining God's truth in ways others can understand. Maybe it's evangelism, administration, or encouragement. The specific gift matters less than the recognition that you have one and the commitment to use it.
     The Protestant Reformation recovered the priesthood of all believers in theory. We affirmed that every Christian has direct access to God through Christ. But we often failed to recover the ministry of all believers in practice. We still operate with a clergy/laity divide that the New Testament doesn't recognize. We still expect pastors to do the ministry while members watch and evaluate. This grieves the Holy Spirit who has gifted every member for service. A church of one hundred with three paid staff has three ministers in the traditional model. A church of one hundred where leaders equip all members has one hundred ministers. Which church will have greater impact on its community? Which church will see more people come to faith? Which church will provide better pastoral care for its members? The answer seems obvious, yet we persist in the professional model.
     Paul continues by describing where this Spirit empowered, every member ministry leads: "until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." The goal isn't organizational efficiency or numerical growth, though these may result. The goal is spiritual maturity, both individual and corporate. We attain unity together. We reach mature manhood, singular, as one body. We grow to match Christ's fullness collectively. Individual spiritual growth matters, but Paul envisions something more. He sees local churches becoming corporate representations of Christ in their communities. Not perfect representations, but recognizable ones. Communities where the Spirit's fruit is evident. Where truth and love balance perfectly. Where every member contributes their unique gift for the common good.
     This maturity provides protection against a specific danger Paul identifies in verse fourteen: "so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes." Spiritual infancy leaves believers vulnerable to deception. Like small boats without anchors, they're pushed around by every new teaching that comes along.
     The imagery is particularly relevant for our Pacific Northwest context. We live in a spiritual marketplace where Eastern mysticism, New Age practices, progressive Christianity, and secular spirituality all compete for attention. Many believers lack the discernment to distinguish biblical truth from attractive counterfeits. They're drawn to whatever sounds loving, inclusive, or spiritually meaningful without examining it against Scripture.
     Paul uses another image, describing false teachers as using loaded dice. The Greek word kybeia refers to gambling with dishonest methods. False teachers don't play fair. They use emotional manipulation, partial truths, and sophisticated arguments to deceive. They prey on those who lack biblical grounding and spiritual maturity. How does the church protect its members from such deception? Not primarily through defensive strategies or theological gatekeeping. Protection comes through growth toward maturity. When believers are actively using their spiritual gifts, studying Scripture, and growing together in community, they develop spiritual immune systems. They can spot counterfeits because they know the genuine so well.
     This brings us to one of the most quoted yet least understood phrases in the passage: "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." The Greek phrase is actually more comprehensive than our English translation suggests. It's not just about speaking but about "truthing" in love, living out truth in all our relationships and actions. Here's where the Holy Spirit's work becomes essential. The Spirit is called the Spirit of truth in John's Gospel. He guides believers into all truth. But the Spirit also produces love as his primary fruit. When we operate in the flesh, we swing between two extremes. We either speak harsh truth without love, wounding people with our correctness. Or we offer meaningless love without truth, affirming people in their deception. Only the Spirit can enable us to hold both together.
     I've watched this dynamic play out countless times in church conflicts. One group champions truth, usually their particular interpretation of it, with little concern for relationships. Another group promotes love and acceptance while avoiding difficult doctrinal or moral questions. Both claim biblical support. Neither reflects the Spirit's balance. Truth without love becomes a weapon. Love without truth becomes enabling. The Spirit produces both simultaneously. This balanced maturity enables the organic growth Paul describes in verse sixteen: "from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." The imagery shifts from construction to biology. The church isn't built like a building through human effort. It grows like a body through the Spirit's life flowing through every member. The whole body participates. Every joint contributes. Each part must work properly. No passive members exist in a healthy body. When your kidney stops functioning, you don't say, "Well, that's just not a very active organ." You recognize something is seriously wrong. The same principle applies to the church. Non functioning members indicate spiritual illness, not acceptable diversity. The growth happens "in love," which serves as both the environment and the agency. Love isn't just how we grow but why we grow. The Spirit produces this supernatural love that transcends personality conflicts, cultural differences, and personal preferences. It's the love that enabled Jewish and Gentile believers to worship together in the first century. It's the love that enables diverse believers to unite today.
     This passage challenges several assumptions common in contemporary church life. First, it challenges the consumer mentality that views church as a provider of religious goods and services. You don't attend church to have your needs met by professional clergy. You participate in church to use your spiritual gifts for others' benefit. The question isn't "What can this church do for me?" but "How has the Spirit gifted me to serve this body?" Second, it challenges the CEO model of pastoral leadership increasingly popular in large churches. Pastors aren't vision casting executives building their own kingdoms. They're equippers preparing God's people for ministry. Their success isn't measured by attendance, buildings, or budgets. It's measured by how many believers they've equipped for effective service. Third, it challenges the therapeutic approach to church life that prioritizes felt needs over spiritual maturity. While the church should certainly care for hurting people, care isn't the ultimate goal. Maturity is. We want to see broken people healed, but healed for a purpose, to use their gifts in serving others. The church isn't a perpetual hospital but a training center for ministry. Fourth, it challenges the anti institutional bias common in our region. Many people in our city consider themselves spiritual but not religious. They want authentic spirituality without organized religion. But Paul's vision assumes structured community life with recognized leaders and defined roles. The Spirit doesn't work only through spontaneous, unstructured gatherings. He works through ordered communities where gifted leaders equip members for service.
     The Holy Spirit's design for church growth differs radically from human strategies. We gravitate toward programs, personalities, and platforms. The Spirit works through people, gifts, and service. We seek efficiency and control. The Spirit produces organic growth through diverse members working in unity. We're tempted by consumer religion that asks little and promises much. The Spirit calls us to sacrificial service that costs everything and delivers true life.