Reading different theological perspectives. Historical readings express their authors' perspectives, including Arminian and Reformed or Calvinist traditions. Inclusion does not make an author's position settled CTS doctrine. Read with Scripture and the assigned material. A supported answer from another evangelical perspective should be assessed on its reasoning, not penalized simply for differing from the author. If an automated score rejects such an answer, ask CTS for review.

Master’s Assigned Readings (all five)

M.Div. and Th.M. students read all five assigned selections and take their separate exam after activation. The test page states the current rule; valid earlier completions remain valid.

Optional Honors (choose three)

Honors is optional on every track. Certificate and Associate students may read three honors selections without a required-reading exam. Honors does not replace either master’s exam.

The Master's textbook test: read Nevius, The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches (assigned excerpts), then take its test: twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once. Correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. It is separate from the reading test on the five digests below: passing one does not pass the other. On the M.Div. and Th.M. tracks both tests are being introduced; each test's page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take them, and a pass is kept in your record.

The Master's reading test: separate from the honors invitation below. Honors asks you to read any three of these digests; the Master's test covers all five. It has twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, four from each reading, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once; correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. You may try again after a short wait. The test is being introduced: its page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take it, and a pass is kept in your record.

Honors option: Complete any three of the five readings below. These readings supplement the course and do not replace its units or examinations.

On this site: Each of the five readings is a Chapala Theological Seminary digest, written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French here on the site — every one opens directly from this page, with nothing to download. The digests are CTS-authored teaching that rests on the great public-domain classics of the church and its growth (James Bannerman, Charles Bridges, the book of Acts, A. B. Bruce, John L. Nevius, and Roland Allen); those classic works are freely available online for any who wish to read them in full.

Selected: 0 of 3

Reading 1 · True Growth

What Is True Church Growth?

A CTS digest

Defining the growth God gives: more than numbers (a church may be large yet shallow, or small yet healthy — Bannerman); growth in depth as well as breadth (growing up into Christ); the marks of a healthy church; true conversions, not mere additions; the peril of worldly measures (the church is not a business); rightly ordering the two (numbers not despised, but sought as the fruit of faithfulness); and growth that pleases God.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

What Is True Church Growth?

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — seeking the growth God gives, not mere numbers

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain works on the nature and health of the church (James Bannerman's The Church of Christ, and others), and in Scripture.

Church Growth
True Growth Defined
Health, Not Mere Numbers
Anchored in classics

A word before you read. "Church growth" can mean simply bigger numbers, or it can mean something deeper and truer. Before we ask how the church grows, we must settle what kind of growth we seek. This reading defines true church growth — not mere numerical increase, but the genuine, deep, healthy growth that God gives and delights in.

1.A Word That Needs Defining

Before we can wisely pursue the growth of the church, we must ask a question that is too often skipped: what do we actually mean by church growth? The phrase can be understood in very different ways. To some it means simply larger numbers — bigger crowds, fuller buildings, more members on the roll. To others it means something deeper: the spread of the gospel, the making of true disciples, the maturing of believers, the health and faithfulness of the church. These are not the same thing, and they may even pull in different directions, for it is possible to increase the numbers while neglecting the health, or to build a large gathering that is spiritually weak. So before we set out to seek church growth, we must be clear about what growth we are seeking, lest we labor for the wrong thing. A shallow definition will lead to shallow labors and shallow results. The whole course before us assumes that we want true church growth — the kind that God gives and delights in — and so it is worth beginning by defining what that is. This first reading, then, seeks to lay a right foundation by asking what true church growth really is, so that all our later efforts may be aimed at the right target.

2.More Than Numbers

The first thing to say is that true church growth is more than a matter of numbers. This must be said plainly, because in our day the temptation is strong to measure a church simply by its size, and to call a church "successful" or "growing" merely because its numbers are rising. But numbers alone tell us very little about the real state of a church. A church may grow large while remaining spiritually shallow, worldly, or even unfaithful to the gospel; and a church may be small yet spiritually healthy, faithful, and pleasing to God. Size and health are not the same. James Bannerman, in his careful study of the nature and marks of the church, helps us see that the church is defined not by its numbers but by deeper things — by its relation to Christ, its faithfulness to the truth, and the marks of genuine spiritual life. To measure the church by numbers alone is to use a shallow and misleading gauge. This does not mean numbers are unimportant, as we shall see; but it means they must never be our only or our chief measure. A right view of church growth begins by refusing to equate growth with mere numerical increase, and by looking deeper.

3.Growth in Depth as Well as Breadth

True church growth includes not only breadth — more people — but depth — deeper people. A church grows not only by adding members but by its members growing up into Christ. The New Testament speaks constantly of this inward growth: of believers maturing, growing in grace and in the knowledge of God, being built up in love, and growing up in all things into Christ, who is the head. This maturing of believers is as much a part of true church growth as the adding of new ones, and perhaps more fundamental, for a church that is not growing in depth will not long grow rightly in breadth. Both belong to genuine growth: the church grows out, as new people are brought in, and it grows up, as its people mature. And the two must be held together; depth must never be sacrificed for breadth, nor breadth pursued at the cost of depth. A church swelling in numbers but shrinking in spiritual maturity is not truly growing but declining, whatever the figures say. So when we think of church growth, we must think of both dimensions: the increase of the church in number, and the maturing of the church in grace. True growth is the church growing up into Christ, as well as growing out into the world.

4.The Marks of a Healthy Church

If true growth is the growth of a healthy church, we must ask what a healthy church looks like. Here again Bannerman's study of the marks of the church is a help, directing us to the deeper signs of genuine spiritual life rather than to mere outward success. A healthy church is one built upon the Word of God, where the Scriptures are faithfully taught and believed; where God is truly worshiped; where the ordinances the Lord gave His church are rightly observed; where there is loving fellowship among the members; where holy living is pursued; where prayer ascends; and where the gospel is carried to those outside. These are the marks of a church that is spiritually alive and well, and they matter far more than mere size. A small church marked by these things is healthier, and dearer to God, than a large one that lacks them. The wise pursuit of church growth, therefore, aims first at these marks of health, for it is out of a healthy church that true and lasting growth springs. We do not chiefly ask, "Is our church large?" but, "Is our church healthy — faithful to the Word, alive in worship, growing in love, given to prayer, active in witness?" Where these marks are present, there is true life, and there true growth may be expected.

5.True Conversions, Not Mere Additions

When the church does grow in numbers, we must ask further what kind of increase it is. True church growth involves real conversions — people genuinely turning to Christ in repentance and faith, born again by the Spirit of God — not merely names added to a roll, or crowds gathered by other attractions. It is possible to increase a gathering without adding a single true believer, by drawing people through entertainment, novelty, or the offer of earthly benefits, so that the numbers rise while true spiritual life does not. Such increase is not real church growth, however it may look, for the church is the company of those who truly belong to Christ, and only genuine conversion adds to it in God's sight. We must therefore long not merely for more people, but for people truly saved; not for apparent fruit, but for real fruit; not for decisions lightly made and soon forgotten, but for lives genuinely turned to Christ by the Spirit's work. This is a searching test of our aims. Do we rejoice in mere numbers, or in true conversions? The growth that pleases God is the growth of His true church, as real sinners are really saved and added to the people of God.

6.The Peril of Worldly Measures

There is a real peril to guard against here: the peril of borrowing the world's measures of success and applying them to the church. The world measures success by size, numbers, popularity, wealth, and impressiveness; and it is dangerously easy to carry these measures into the church, and to judge a congregation as we might judge a business or a public gathering. But the church is not a business to be grown by clever marketing, nor is its success to be reckoned as a company reckons its profits. The Lord does not see as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. God's measures of a church's health and success are not the world's measures, and to adopt the world's measures is to be led astray at the very start. A church may be counted a great success by worldly standards and yet be poor and weak in the sight of God; and a church may seem small and unimpressive to the world and yet be rich and pleasing to Him. The pursuit of church growth must therefore be freed from worldly measures of success, and governed instead by God's own measures — faithfulness, holiness, true conversions, and spiritual health. To measure the church as the world measures is to pursue the wrong thing entirely.

7.Rightly Ordering the Two

Having said all this, we must not swing to the opposite error of despising numbers altogether, as though the size of the church did not matter at all. Numbers are not to be scorned, for behind every number is a soul, and the addition of true believers to the church is a good and joyful thing. Scripture itself records the numbers of those added in the early church, and rejoices in them; there is joy in heaven over even one sinner who repents, and surely joy over three thousand. So we do not despise the ingathering of many; we long for it. The point is not that numbers do not matter, but that they must be rightly ordered — sought as the fruit of faithfulness and the work of the Spirit, not as an end in themselves or pursued by any means. We long for growth in numbers, but as the overflow of a healthy church and the fruit of true conversions, not as a substitute for health, nor as a prize to be won by worldly methods. When numbers rise as the fruit of faithful, healthy, Spirit-filled church life, they are a cause for great rejoicing. It is only the pursuit of numbers apart from health, or in place of health, that we must refuse. Rightly ordered, the increase of the church is a blessing devoutly to be desired.

8.Growth That Pleases God

Let us gather all this into a single aim: the growth we seek is the growth that pleases God. It is true conversions, as real sinners are saved by grace; the maturing of believers, as they grow up into Christ; the health of the church, marked by faithfulness to the Word, true worship, loving fellowship, prayer, and witness; and, flowing from these, the increase of the church in number, as the Lord adds to His people. This is the growth God gives and delights in, and this is what we set ourselves to seek. Before we ask how the church grows — which the rest of this course will consider — we settle what growth we are seeking, and we settle it thus: not mere numbers, not worldly success, but the true, deep, healthy growth that comes from God. The Lord Jesus said that His Father is glorified when His people bear much fruit; and it is fruit that abides, real and God-given, that we long to see. With this right aim before us, we may go on to consider, in the readings that follow, how such growth is to be sought. Let us seek the growth that God delights to give, to the glory of Christ, who builds His church.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. When you think of church growth, do you think first of mere numbers, or of the deeper growth God gives — true conversions, maturing believers, a healthy church? Do you measure the church by God's measures or the world's? And do you long for the increase of the church rightly — as the fruit of faithfulness and the Spirit's work, not as an end pursued by any means?

Select

Reading 2 · God's Work

Growth Is God's Work

A CTS digest

The church grows by God's power, not human cleverness: the Lord adds to the church; God gives the increase; the Spirit builds it; the danger of trusting technique (Bridges); growth through faithful means used in dependence (not idleness); rooted in prayer and holiness rather than method; freedom from the crushing burden of numbers (resting in God's work, responsible only to be faithful); and faithful labor joined to humble dependence.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

Growth Is God's Work

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the church grows by the power of God, not the cleverness of men

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain works on fruitful ministry (Charles Bridges' The Christian Ministry, and others), and in the book of Acts and the whole of Scripture.

Church Growth
God Gives the Increase
Not Technique, but the Spirit
Anchored in classics

A word before you read. The deepest truth about church growth is that it is God's work, not ours. The Lord adds to His church; the Spirit builds it; God gives the increase. This reading considers what this means: that we cannot grow the church by technique, that we must depend on God in prayer, and that this truth brings the pastor great freedom and rest.

1.The Lord Adds to the Church

When we look at the growth of the church in the book of Acts, we find a truth that lies at the foundation of everything else: it was the Lord who added to the church. Luke tells us that, day by day, "the Lord added to the church those who were being saved." Not the apostles, not the preachers, not any human effort, but the Lord Himself was the one who brought people in and made the church grow. This is the great truth we must grasp before all others: the growth of the church is God's own work. He is the one who saves sinners, who converts hearts, who draws people to Christ, and who builds His church. The church grows, in the end, because God grows it. This does not mean that human labor has no place, as we shall see; but it means that behind and above all human labor stands the God who alone gives the growth. If we forget this, we shall either take to ourselves a credit that belongs to God, or take upon ourselves a burden that only God can bear. So we begin here, at the foundation: the increase of the church is the work of the Lord, who adds to His people those who are being saved.

2.It Is God Who Gives the Increase

The apostle Paul teaches this same truth with a vivid picture. Writing to a church that was tempted to exalt its human leaders, he said: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase." Here is the truth stated plainly. There is a place for planting and watering — for the labors of those who preach and teach and serve — but the actual growth, the increase, comes from God alone. The one who plants the seed cannot make it grow; the one who waters cannot give life; only God can cause the seed to spring up and bear fruit. And so Paul draws the humbling conclusion: those who labor are, in themselves, nothing; it is God who is everything. This is a truth that keeps the laborer humble, for it strips away all boasting and reminds him that the decisive work is not his. And it is a truth that keeps the laborer hopeful, for it means the growth does not depend on his own poor powers, but on the mighty God who gives the increase. We plant and water faithfully; but we look to God for the growth, which He alone can give.

3.The Spirit Who Builds the Church

How does God give this increase? By His Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who convicts people of their sin, who opens blind eyes to see the glory of Christ, who gives new life to those dead in sin, and who builds them together into the church. Without the working of the Spirit, no true growth is possible at all, for no human power can raise a dead soul to life or create genuine faith in a heart. The church is a living thing, and only the Spirit can give the life by which it grows. This is why the Scriptures declare that it is "not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD," that God's work is accomplished. The growth of the church is a spiritual work, requiring spiritual power, and that power is the Holy Spirit's. So the church grows not by human strength, cleverness, or resources, but by the power of the Spirit of God at work in and through His people. This truth must shape all our thinking about church growth. We are utterly dependent on the Spirit, for it is He who does the decisive work; and where He works, the church grows, while apart from Him all our efforts are in vain.

4.The Danger of Trusting Technique

This brings us to a danger we must earnestly guard against: the danger of trusting in technique. Because growth is God's work by His Spirit, it cannot be produced by human method, however clever. Yet there is a strong temptation, in every age and perhaps especially in ours, to treat church growth as chiefly a matter of finding the right technique — the right program, the right strategy, the right style, the right marketing — as though the correct method could produce growth by itself. Charles Bridges, in his wise counsel on the Christian ministry, warns leaders against relying on technique and skill rather than on truth, prayer, and the Spirit of God. This is a real and subtle peril. It is easy to shift our confidence, almost without noticing, from God to our methods, and to labor as though the growth of the church depended on our getting the strategy right. But no method, however excellent, can convert a single soul or give spiritual life; that is the Spirit's work alone. When we trust in technique, we trust in something that has no power to do the very thing we most need. The peril is not in using wise and orderly means, but in putting our confidence in them rather than in God. We must guard our hearts against this quiet transfer of trust from the living God to our own methods.

5.Growth Through Faithful Means

We must be careful here not to fall into the opposite error, as though, because growth is God's work, we had nothing to do but wait idly. This is not so. God is pleased to work not apart from means but through them. He grows His church through the faithful preaching and teaching of His Word, through the witness of His people, through prayer, and through holy and loving lives. These are the means He has appointed and is pleased to bless, and we are to use them diligently and faithfully. So there is much for us to do: to preach the gospel, to teach the Word, to bear witness, to pray, to love, to live holy lives. We are not idle spectators, but laborers in God's field. Yet the crucial thing is the spirit in which we use these means: we use them depending on God for the power, knowing that the means themselves, apart from Him, can accomplish nothing. The seed we sow is good seed, but it is God who makes it grow. So we labor with all diligence in the use of the means, and we look to God alone for the increase. Faithful means, used in humble dependence on God, are the appointed path along which He is pleased to give His growth.

6.Rooted in Prayer and Holiness

If growth comes from God, then the things that most matter in seeking it are the things that draw near to God: prayer and holiness. Charles Bridges roots all fruitful ministry not in technique but in truth, prayer, and holy character; and this is a lesson of the greatest importance. The minister's own walk with God — his life of prayer, his personal holiness, his nearness to the Lord — is more vital to true church growth than any method he might employ. For if the power belongs to God, then to be much with God in prayer, and to be a holy vessel fit for His use, is to be in the very place where His power flows. A prayerless, worldly ministry, however busy and skilled, lacks the one thing needful; but a praying, holy ministry, however humble, is the kind God delights to bless. The early church devoted itself to prayer and to the ministry of the Word, and the Lord added to their number. So the wise seeker of church growth gives himself first of all to prayer, pleading with God for the increase that He alone can give, and to holiness, that he may be a clean instrument in the Master's hand. Growth flows from a ministry rooted in prayer, holiness, and the truth of God.

7.Freedom from the Burden of Numbers

This truth — that growth is God's work — brings the pastor a great and precious freedom. If the growth of the church rested finally on his own shoulders, on his skill, his energy, his cleverness, the burden would be crushing, and the pressure and anxiety unbearable. But it does not rest on him. He is not responsible to produce results that he has no power to produce; the increase is God's to give, not his to manufacture. His responsibility is to be faithful — to preach the Word, to pray, to live a holy life, to use the means diligently — and then to leave the increase to God, trusting Him for the outcome. This brings deep rest and peace to the heart of the servant of God. It frees him from the crushing weight of feeling that everything depends on him. It frees him, too, from the anxiety that gnaws when numbers do not rise as he wishes, from the envy that compares his church with others, and from the temptation to reach for worldly methods out of desperation. He may labor with a quiet heart, doing his part faithfully and resting in God for the rest. This is not idleness or indifference, but the peace of one who knows that the work is God's, and that a faithful servant may safely leave the results in his Master's hands.

8.Faithful Labor, Humble Dependence

Let us draw these things together into the right posture for all who seek the growth of the church: faithful labor, joined to humble dependence. On the one hand, we labor diligently, using with all our strength the means God has given — preaching, teaching, witnessing, praying, loving, living holy lives — never sitting idle on the excuse that the growth is God's. On the other hand, we depend wholly upon God for the increase, never trusting in our own labors or methods, and giving Him all the glory when growth comes. We avoid both errors: the idleness that presumes God will work without us, and the self-reliance that strives as though everything depended on us. The apostle Paul held both together perfectly when he said, "I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." He labored hard; yet he knew it was God's grace working through him. So too we work hard, and depend entirely on God. Church growth, then, is God's work by His Spirit, and our part is faithful, prayerful, dependent labor, that He may give the increase and receive all the glory. For in the end it is Christ Himself who said, "I will build My church" — and build it He surely will.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Do you rest in the truth that the growth of the church is God's work, not yours — freed from the crushing burden of producing what only He can give? Do you guard against trusting in technique rather than in God, and give yourself instead to prayer, holiness, and the faithful use of His means? And do you hold faithful labor and humble dependence together, working diligently while depending wholly on God for the increase?

Select

Reading 3 · The Pattern of Acts

The Pattern of Acts

A CTS digest

How the church grew in its earliest days: it began at Pentecost (the Spirit's power); the Word preached ("the word of God grew and multiplied"); people converted and gathered into the church; a fellowship devoted to teaching, breaking of bread, and prayer; growth through persecution (the scattered believers preaching everywhere); the mission spreading outward from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth; and a living pattern to learn from — the same God growing His church still.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

The Pattern of Acts

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — how the church grew in its earliest days, and what we may learn from it

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the book of Acts, the inspired record of the early church's growth, and in the whole of Scripture.

Church Growth
The Pattern of Acts
Word, Spirit, and Mission
Anchored in Scripture

A word before you read. The book of Acts is the inspired record of how the church actually grew in its earliest days. This reading traces the pattern found there — the Spirit's power, the Word preached, true conversions, a devoted fellowship, growth even through persecution, and the mission spreading outward — that we may learn the enduring ways in which God builds His church.

1.Learning from Acts

If we would understand how the church grows, there is no better place to begin than the book of Acts. Acts is the inspired record of how the church actually grew in its earliest days — how it went from a small band of disciples in Jerusalem to a movement spreading across the Roman world. It is not a mere human history, but a Spirit-given account, given to show us how God builds His church, and it repays careful study. In it we see the church growing in real situations, facing real obstacles, and advancing by the power of God through the means He appointed. So we turn to Acts, not to find a mechanical formula that we can copy detail by detail, but to learn the living pattern by which God grew His church, and to discern the enduring principles at work. As we trace how growth happened in those first days, we shall see the Spirit's power, the Word preached, people truly converted and gathered into churches, a devoted and praying fellowship, and the gospel spreading ever outward, even through opposition. Let us learn from Acts how God grows His church, that we may seek to walk in the same ways, and be encouraged that the God of Acts is our God still.

2.It Began at Pentecost

The growth of the church began with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Before He ascended, the Lord Jesus had told His disciples to wait until they were clothed with power from on high, promising, "you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses." And so it was: when the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, the disciples were filled with power, and Peter, who not long before had denied his Lord, stood and preached Christ boldly to the crowd. That day, about three thousand were converted and added to the church. From the very first, then, the growth of the church was the work of the Holy Spirit. It was not human eloquence or organization that produced this great ingathering, but the power of the Spirit, poured out upon the disciples and working in the hearts of the hearers. This sets the pattern for all that follows in Acts: the church grows by the power of the Spirit of God. Everything else — the preaching, the witness, the fellowship — is carried and empowered by the Spirit, who is the true source of the church's life and growth. The church was born in the power of the Spirit, and in that power it grew.

3.The Word Preached

The central means by which the church grew in Acts was the preaching and spreading of the Word of God. The apostles preached Christ — His death, His resurrection, and the salvation to be found in Him — and as the Word went forth, the church grew. Luke marks the progress of the church again and again by the spread of the Word: "the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly"; "the word of God grew and multiplied"; "so the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed." It is striking that Luke describes the growth of the church in terms of the growth of the Word, as though the two were one. For the Word is the seed from which the church springs; where the gospel is faithfully proclaimed, there people are converted and the church grows. This teaches us that the preaching and spreading of the gospel is central to church growth, not one option among many. The early church did not grow by clever schemes but by the faithful proclamation of Christ, spreading from person to person and place to place. If we would see the church grow, we too must give ourselves to the spreading of the Word, for it remains the seed of the church's growth.

4.People Converted and Gathered

As the Word was preached, people were converted — and they were gathered into the fellowship of the church. Those who heard and believed did not remain isolated individuals but were joined to the community of believers. On the day of Pentecost, "those who gladly received his word were baptized," and were added to the church; and immediately we read that "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." Here we see that true growth in Acts was not merely the gaining of decisions, but the making of disciples who were incorporated into the life of the church. Conversion led into community. The new believers were baptized, joined to the body, taught, and drawn into the shared life of worship, fellowship, and prayer. This is an important pattern. The church did not grow by gathering crowds who then dispersed, but by adding true converts to a living community, where they were nurtured and built up. Growth, in Acts, meant people truly saved and truly joined to the church, becoming part of its ongoing life. So we too must seek not merely to see people make a start, but to see them converted and gathered into the fellowship of Christ's people, where they may grow.

5.Devoted to Fellowship and Prayer

The church that grew in Acts was a devoted community, given to fellowship and prayer. Luke's description of the early believers is memorable: they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers; they were together, shared what they had, worshiped, and praised God; and "the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." Notice the connection: it was to a devoted, worshiping, praying, loving community that the Lord added new believers. The inner life of the church — its devotion to the Word, its fellowship, its prayer, its love — was not separate from its growth but bound up with it. A healthy, praying, loving fellowship was the setting in which growth took place and the soil in which new believers were nurtured. This teaches us that the inner health of the church matters greatly for its growth. Prayer, in particular, marks the church throughout Acts; again and again we find the believers praying, and God working in answer. The growth of the church was sustained by a community devoted to God and to one another. So the church that would grow must attend to its own inner life — its devotion to the Word, its fellowship, and above all its prayer.

6.Growth Through Persecution

One of the most striking features of the pattern in Acts is that the church grew not only in times of peace, but through persecution and opposition. When a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and the believers were scattered, this might have seemed the end of the young church; but instead, "those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word." The very persecution that was meant to crush the church only spread it further, carrying the gospel into new places. Throughout Acts, opposition rises against the church — imprisonments, beatings, threats, and worse — yet the church continues to grow, and the Word continues to prevail. God, in His providence, used even the fury of the church's enemies to advance His purposes, so that the gospel spread all the more. This is a great encouragement to believers who face opposition and suffering for their faith. Persecution, however painful, cannot stop the growth of Christ's church; indeed, God has often used it to spread the gospel further and to purify and strengthen His people. The church in Acts grew not despite opposition merely, but often through it, as God turned the assaults of its enemies to the furtherance of His work. His church cannot be stopped, for He Himself is building it.

7.The Mission Spreading Outward

The growth of the church in Acts was marked by an outward, missionary movement, as the gospel spread ever further from where it began. The Lord had set the pattern in His parting words: His disciples would be witnesses "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And the book of Acts traces just this movement — from Jerusalem, out into Judea and Samaria, and then, through the missionary journeys, across the Roman world to city after city. The church did not stay in one place, content with itself, but reached outward, carrying the gospel to new regions and peoples, planting new churches wherever it went. As Paul and others traveled and preached, believers were gathered and churches established in place after place, and these churches themselves became centers from which the gospel spread further. This outward, missionary character is essential to the pattern of Acts. The church grew by reaching beyond itself, crossing boundaries of place and people to bring the gospel to those who had not heard. So a church that would grow in the pattern of Acts must have this outward heart, not content to remain as it is, but reaching out with the gospel to those beyond, that the good news may spread ever further.

8.A Pattern to Learn From

As we gather up what we have seen, we must use the book of Acts wisely. Acts does not give us a rigid formula to be copied mechanically, as though we had only to reproduce its exact circumstances to guarantee the same results. Rather, it gives us a living pattern to learn from, revealing the enduring principles by which God grows His church: the power of the Holy Spirit; the faithful preaching and spreading of the Word; true conversions, gathered into the fellowship of the church; a community devoted to teaching, fellowship, and prayer; growth advancing even through opposition; and the outward reach of mission. These are the abiding ways in which God has built His church, and we do well to discern them and to seek to walk in them, while trusting God to work in our own time and place as He, in His wisdom, sees fit. And here is our great encouragement: the same God who grew His church in the days of Acts grows it still, by the same Spirit and through the same means. The church of Christ is not a relic of the past but a living body, and its Lord is still building it. So we look to Acts to learn His ways, and we take heart that He who added to His church then adds to it now, and will continue until His purpose is complete.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Do you see in Acts that the church grew by the Spirit's power, through the Word preached, as people were truly converted and gathered into a devoted, praying fellowship? Are you encouraged that the church grew even through persecution, and that it reached outward in mission? And do you believe that the same God grows His church still, by the same Spirit and means, in your own time and place?

Select

Reading 4 · Making Disciples

Growth Through Making Disciples

A CTS digest

Durable growth through forming followers of Christ: the Great Commission is to make disciples, not gain decisions; more than decisions (measured in disciples, not raised hands); the Lord's own method (Bruce — forming the Twelve); investing deeply and patiently in people; formed in the likeness of Christ (by the Spirit's grace, not mere behavior-training); disciples who make disciples (the whole church, not just professionals); and the depth that makes growth last.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

Growth Through Making Disciples

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — durable growth comes through forming followers of Christ, not merely gaining decisions

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain work on the Lord's training of His disciples (A. B. Bruce's The Training of the Twelve), and in Scripture.

Church Growth
Making Disciples
The Lord's Method
Anchored in classics

A word before you read. The Lord commanded His church to make disciples, not merely to gain decisions. This reading considers the making of disciples as the path to durable growth: the difference between decisions and disciples, the Lord's own method of forming the Twelve, and the depth that makes the church's growth strong and lasting.

1.The Great Commission Is to Make Disciples

When the risen Lord gave His church its great commission, He did not command merely the gaining of converts or the counting of decisions, but the making of disciples. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations," He said, "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." The goal set before the church is disciples — followers of Christ who are baptized, taught, and brought to obey all that He commanded. This is a fuller and deeper thing than merely persuading people to make a profession. A disciple is a learner and a follower, one who has taken Christ as Lord and is being taught to walk in His ways. The commission is to bring people to this — not merely to a moment of decision, but to a life of discipleship. This must shape how we think about the growth of the church. The aim is not simply to increase the numbers of those who have responded in some way, but to make disciples: true, taught, obedient followers of Jesus Christ. Disciple-making is the very substance of the church's mission, and therefore of its true growth.

2.More Than Decisions

There is a great and important difference between gaining decisions and making disciples, and much depends on our seeing it clearly. A decision may be a mere momentary response — a hand raised, a prayer repeated, a card signed — which, if it goes no further, bears no lasting fruit. A disciple, by contrast, is one who is truly following Christ, growing in Him, and learning to obey Him: not a momentary responder, but a lifelong learner. It is possible to gather many decisions that never become disciples, and to count as growth what is only a passing stir. But the Lord did not command us to gather decisions; He commanded us to make disciples. This does not mean that a decision is nothing, for genuine faith must begin somewhere, and there is a first turning to Christ. But the first response is only a beginning; it must go on to become true discipleship, or it has not reached the goal. So we must not mistake decisions for disciples, nor count as true growth what has not become discipleship. The true growth of the church is measured not in decisions but in disciples — in people truly following Christ, growing, and obeying. This is the deeper thing we must seek. And it is a more hopeful thing as well, for a true disciple, being alive in Christ, will go on bearing fruit long after a mere passing decision would have been forgotten.

3.The Lord's Own Method

If we would learn how disciples are made, we may look to the Lord Himself, and to how He went about His work. It is striking, as A. B. Bruce observed in his study of the training of the Twelve, that the Lord did not give Himself only to preaching to the crowds, great as that ministry was. He gave Himself especially to forming a few. He called the Twelve to be with Him, that He might train them; He taught them, both in public and apart; He showed them by His own example how to live and to serve; He corrected their faults and answered their questions; and He prepared them, over the course of His ministry, to carry on the work after He was gone. In other words, alongside His public preaching, the Lord invested Himself deeply in the patient formation of a small group of men. This was not a lesser part of His work but a central one, for it was through these trained men that His mission would spread to the world. The Lord's own method, then, joined the wide preaching of the good news to the deep forming of disciples. And in this He has left us a pattern, showing us that the making of disciples is done not from a distance but through close, patient, personal formation.

4.Investing Deeply in People

The lesson drawn from the Lord's method is that durable expansion comes not through gathering crowds alone, but through the patient formation of people who can carry the mission forward. Bruce's study makes plain how much the Lord poured into the Twelve — teaching them, showing them, correcting them, bearing with their slowness, and preparing them — so that when He had gone, they were able to continue and multiply the work. Had He only addressed the multitudes and formed no disciples, His teaching might have stirred many for a moment and then faded; but because He formed the Twelve, the work went on and spread through the whole world. This is a wisdom the church must learn. It is easy to be drawn always to the masses, to measure our work by how many we can gather; but the deeper and more lasting work is often the investing of ourselves in people — teaching, discipling, and forming individuals who can then carry the mission forward and form others in turn. To pour our lives into people, and not merely to address crowds, is to labor as the Lord labored, and to build something that will last and multiply. The forming of people is the seed of enduring growth.

5.Patient Formation

The making of disciples is patient, unhurried, long-term work, and we must be prepared for this. It takes time to form a follower of Christ, as it took time even for the Lord to train the Twelve. Those men were slow to understand, dull at times, and prone to failure; they misunderstood their Master, quarreled among themselves, and at the end forsook Him and fled. Yet the Lord bore with them patiently, teaching and forming them over the whole course of His ministry, until, after His resurrection and the coming of the Spirit, they became the bold and faithful founders of the church. This teaches us patience. The forming of disciples is not the work of a moment, nor can it be rushed; it is the slow, steady labor of teaching, showing, correcting, and encouraging, over time. The church and its leaders must be willing to labor patiently in this, not expecting instant results, nor giving up when people are slow to grow. Disciples are grown as plants are grown, over seasons, with patient care. If we would make disciples, we must settle in for patient work, trusting that the God who is patient with us will, in His time, bring the growth. Impatience will not make disciples; patient, faithful formation will.

6.Formed in the Likeness of Christ

We must be clear about what a disciple is being formed into, for this is not merely a matter of teaching right behavior or imparting knowledge. The goal of disciple-making is that people should be formed into the likeness of Christ — followers who come to think, love, and live like their Master. A disciple is not simply someone who has learned certain facts or adopted certain habits, but someone in whom Christ is being formed, who is growing up into His character. The apostle Paul spoke of laboring in birth again until Christ should be formed in the believers; and this is the true aim of all disciple-making. And here we remember that this deepest work is finally the work of the Holy Spirit, who alone can conform a soul to the image of Christ. We teach, we model, we correct, we pray; but it is God who forms Christ within, by His grace and Spirit. This keeps disciple-making from becoming a mere training in outward behavior or a filling of the head with knowledge. It is the forming of Christ in people, by grace, so that they become true followers who bear His likeness. That is the disciple we seek to make, and that Christ Himself, by His Spirit, makes through us.

7.Disciples Who Make Disciples

There is a wonderful multiplying power in the making of disciples, for the disciples that are made go on, in turn, to make other disciples. So it was in the beginning: the Twelve whom the Lord had formed went out and made many disciples, who themselves made others, and thus the work multiplied and spread across the world. The pattern is meant to reproduce. The apostle Paul urged his own disciple Timothy to commit what he had learned "to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" — a chain of disciples making disciples, each generation forming the next. This means that disciple-making is not the task of a few professionals only, to be left to pastors and teachers while the rest look on. It is the calling of the whole church. Every believer is to be discipled, and every believer, in some measure, is to help disciple others, so that the forming of followers of Christ goes on and multiplies throughout the body. A church in which disciples make disciples has within it the power of continual growth, for the work is not confined to a few but shared by all and reproduced in each. This is how the church, humanly speaking, has always grown and spread: disciples making disciples, who make disciples in turn.

8.The Depth That Makes Growth Last

We come to the great value of all this: disciple-making gives the church a growth that lasts. Where people are truly formed as disciples — taught, matured, conformed to Christ, and able to form others — the church becomes deep, strong, and enduring, and able to reproduce and multiply. But where growth is only in decisions and crowds, without the making of disciples, it is shallow, and it does not endure; such gatherings may swell for a time and then wither, having no root. It is the depth of disciple-making that makes growth durable. A church of true disciples will stand, and grow, and multiply, long after a mere crowd would have scattered. So the church that would grow truly and lastingly must give itself not merely to gaining decisions, but to making disciples — in the Lord's own patient way, forming followers of Christ who follow, grow, obey, and make other disciples. This is the deep and durable growth God delights to give, and it is worth all the patient labor it requires. Let us then set ourselves to make disciples, as our Lord commanded, that His church may grow not shallowly but deeply, to the glory of Him who gave the great commission and who is Himself building His church.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Do you aim not merely at gaining decisions but at making disciples — true, taught, obedient followers of Christ? Are you willing to invest deeply and patiently in people, as the Lord invested in the Twelve, forming them in the likeness of Christ? And do you seek to see disciples who make disciples, so that the church may grow deeply, durably, and to God's glory?

Select

Reading 5 · Reproducing Churches

Healthy, Reproducing Churches

A CTS digest

The capstone: locally rooted churches; self-supporting (carrying their own weight — generosity good, permanent dependency not — Nevius); self-governing (local elders, maturity); self-propagating (churches that plant churches); simple, reproducible church life (Allen — no wealth or professionals required, a liberating truth for hard and poor places); confidence in the Spirit at work in local believers (Allen's spontaneous expansion); and the whole course drawn together — Christ building His church by His Spirit.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

Healthy, Reproducing Churches

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — locally rooted churches that can stand, spread, and multiply

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain works on the planting and expansion of churches (John L. Nevius's The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches, Roland Allen's The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church), and in Scripture.

Church Growth
Reproducing Churches
Rooted, Self-Sustaining, Multiplying
Capstone

A word before you read. True church growth produces not just converts or a single large gathering, but healthy churches that can stand on their own and reproduce. This closing reading considers such churches — locally rooted, self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating, simple in form, and confident in the Spirit at work in local believers — and draws the whole course together.

1.Churches That Can Grow and Reproduce

As we come to the end of our study, we lift our eyes to the fullest fruit of true church growth: not merely individual converts, nor even a single large congregation, but healthy churches that can themselves grow and reproduce. The growth God delights in is not only the swelling of one gathering, but the multiplication of churches — healthy congregations that take root, mature, and become the seedbeds of yet more churches. This is how the gospel has spread across the world: not by the endless enlargement of a few great centers, but by the planting of churches that themselves plant others, again and again. So the true aim of church growth is healthy, reproducing churches — congregations strong enough to stand, and fruitful enough to multiply. This is especially precious for the people of God in places where resources are few and believers are pressed, for it means that the growth of the church does not depend on wealth or on outside help, but on the presence of healthy, rooted, Spirit-filled congregations that can grow and reproduce wherever they are. To this end we now turn, considering the marks of such churches, that we may seek to see them planted and multiplied.

2.Locally Rooted Churches

The first mark of a healthy, reproducing church is that it is truly rooted in its own place and among its own people. A church that belongs to the local community, made up of local believers, led by their own, and drawing on what God has given them, has a strength that a transplanted or outwardly-propped church can never have. John Nevius, from his labors in the mission field, saw the great importance of churches that were rooted in their own soil rather than dependent on foreign support and direction. Such a church is not a foreign thing set down among the people, but a living plant that has grown up out of their own ground. It belongs where it is; it speaks the language and knows the ways of its own people; and it can flourish and reproduce in its own place because it is truly at home there. This rootedness is a source of strength and of lasting fruitfulness. A church that has taken root locally can weather storms, meet its own needs, and spread among its own people in a way that no church merely maintained from outside can do. So we seek to plant churches that are truly rooted in their place, belonging to their people, and able to grow there.

3.Self-Supporting

From this rootedness flow three great marks that Nevius set forth, and the first is that a healthy church is self-supporting. That is, the church carries its own weight, meeting its needs out of its own resources, rather than depending permanently upon outside money. This is not to say that generosity and mutual aid between churches are wrong; the Scriptures themselves record churches sharing with one another in times of need, and such love is good. But there is a great difference between loving help freely given and received, and a permanent dependency that keeps a church weak and unable to stand. Nevius saw that churches made permanently dependent on outside funds often remained stunted, never growing into strength; whereas churches that learned to support themselves grew in health, dignity, and responsibility. A church that gives of its own to support the work of God among it, however poor, is stronger for it, and more truly its own. So the aim is not to keep churches dependent, but to help them become self-supporting — carrying their own weight, giving of what they have, and thereby growing in strength. Even the poorest believers, giving of their little, build a church that is truly theirs and truly strong.

4.Self-Governing

The second mark is that a healthy church is self-governing. A mature church is led by its own local elders and members, under the lordship of Christ and the authority of His Word, rather than being controlled from outside. In Acts we read that elders were appointed in every church, so that each congregation had its own leaders, raised up from among its own people. A church that governs itself takes responsibility for its own life — its teaching, its order, its discipline, its care for its members — and in doing so it matures. A church that is always governed from outside, whose decisions are made elsewhere, remains in a kind of perpetual childhood, never coming to full maturity. But a church that learns, under Christ, to govern itself grows up into responsible adulthood. This means that raising up local leaders is one of the most important tasks in the planting and growth of churches. Where local elders and leaders are formed and entrusted with the care of the church, the church matures and becomes able to stand and to reproduce. So we seek not to control churches from outside, but to raise up local leadership and to entrust each church, under Christ and His Word, with the governing of its own life.

5.Self-Propagating

The third mark is that a healthy church is self-propagating — that is, it spreads the gospel and plants other churches through its own members, rather than waiting for outsiders to do it. A church that has taken root and matured does not merely maintain itself, but becomes a center of mission, reaching out to those around it and giving rise to new churches. Nevius saw that the healthiest churches were those whose own members carried the gospel to their neighbors and beyond, so that the church reproduced itself. This is the crown of a healthy church: that it multiplies. Just as we saw that disciples are meant to make disciples, so churches are meant to plant churches, each congregation becoming, in time, the mother of others. A self-propagating church is a growing, living thing that spreads by its own life, carrying the gospel outward through its members and giving birth to new congregations. This is how the church has always multiplied across the world. So we seek to plant churches that will themselves become planters — that will not only stand and mature, but reach out, evangelize, and give rise to new churches, so that from each church others may spring, and the gospel may spread ever further.

6.Simple, Reproducible Church Life

Roland Allen added an important insight that helps churches to multiply: the value of simple, reproducible forms of church life. Allen observed that the church spreads most freely when its life is simple enough that ordinary believers can carry it on and reproduce it, without needing elaborate resources, buildings, or professional experts. When the essential life of a church — the Word taught, the ordinances observed, believers gathered for worship, fellowship, and prayer, and the gospel shared — is kept simple and rooted in what any group of believers can do, then such church life can be reproduced anywhere, even among the poor and among those with few resources. But when church life becomes complicated and dependent on things only a few can provide, its spread is hindered. This is a liberating truth, especially for believers in hard and poor places. It means that a true and healthy church does not require wealth, grand buildings, or trained professionals to exist and to multiply; it requires the gospel, the Word, the ordinances, and a company of believers walking together in the Spirit. Kept simple and reproducible, church life can spread from place to place through ordinary believers, and the church can multiply even where means are few.

7.Confidence in the Spirit and Local Believers

Underlying all of this, Allen pressed one great confidence: confidence in the Holy Spirit at work in local believers, and in the power of the gospel itself. Too often, he argued, the spread of the church is hindered by a lack of trust — a feeling that everything must be controlled and provided from outside, that local believers cannot be trusted to carry the work, and that the church cannot spread unless directed at every step. But this is to distrust the very Spirit of God, who dwells in every believer and is able to work through ordinary Christians as truly as through any others. Allen called for confidence that the Holy Spirit, given to local believers, would enable them to spread the gospel and build the church themselves; and he pointed to the "spontaneous expansion" that comes when Spirit-filled believers, trusting God, simply live and share their faith, and the church spreads through them naturally. This is a great encouragement. We may trust the Spirit at work in the humblest believers to carry the gospel and to build Christ's church. We need not control everything, nor doubt whether ordinary Christians can do the work; the Spirit who dwells in them is fully able, and through them the church spreads.

8.Drawing the Threads Together

Let us now gather up the whole of what we have learned about church growth. We saw, first, that true church growth is not mere numbers or worldly success, but the deep, healthy growth that God gives — true conversions, maturing disciples, and healthy churches. We saw that this growth is God's own work, accomplished by His Spirit and not by human technique, so that we labor faithfully while depending wholly on Him. We saw, in the book of Acts, the pattern of how God grows His church — by His Spirit, through the Word preached, as people are converted and gathered into a devoted, praying fellowship, and as the gospel spreads outward in mission, even through opposition. We saw that this growth comes through the patient making of disciples, true followers of Christ who in turn make others. And we have seen, finally, that it produces healthy churches — locally rooted, self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating, simple in form, and confident in the Spirit at work in local believers — churches that can stand and reproduce and multiply. And through it all runs one truth: it is Christ who builds His church, by His Spirit, and He is doing so still. So let us seek true church growth in God's way — depending on Him, proclaiming the gospel, making disciples, and planting healthy, reproducing churches — to the glory of Christ, who said, "I will build My church," and who is building it still, in every place, by His Spirit at work in His people.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Do you seek to plant and build churches that are locally rooted and able to stand on their own — self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating? Do you keep church life simple enough that ordinary believers, even in poor and hard places, can reproduce it? And do you trust the Holy Spirit at work in local believers to carry the gospel and multiply Christ's church, depending on Him who is building it still?

Select

Record your reading

When you have read your three chosen readings in full, enter your name and affirm it below. This record is kept on your honor, in this browser; it shows on your certificate as with honors.

Your name

On my honor, I have read in full the three readings I selected above.

✓ Recorded — this class counts toward your With Honors progress. Reading With Honors ↗

Honors Reading — recorded

affirmed on to have read, in full:

Chapala Theological Seminary · Church Growth · present or print this page as your honors reading record.

Further Study: Ten Public-Domain Works

These ten works are for further study, for the student who wants to go on reading. They are not part of the honors reading above: that stays as it is — the five CTS digests, any three read in full and recorded on your honor. All ten are in the public domain; each link opens the work online, and most can also be found in the Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg. Most are in English: the Chrome browser can translate a page (right-click, “Translate to…”; on a phone, the browser menu).

Biblical Background · The Acts of the Spirit

1. The Acts of the Holy Spirit

Arthur T. Pierson · 1895

Pierson reads the book of Acts as the record of the Holy Spirit building the church — showing how, at every step of its explosive early growth, it was the Spirit who convicted, converted, empowered, and multiplied. It is the ideal companion to the course's units on the biblical background of church growth, grounding the whole subject where it belongs: not in human strategy, but in the living work of God, who alone turned a hundred and twenty disciples into a movement that filled the world.

Open reading ↗

The Ground of Growth · The Gospel for All

2. The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation

Andrew Fuller · 1785

Fuller's landmark work broke the grip of a cold hyper-Calvinism that had paralyzed evangelism, arguing that the gospel is to be freely offered to and pressed upon every sinner without exception. It is a fitting foundation for the course's units on the biblical basis and principles of growth, for a church will only reach out as widely as its theology allows — and Fuller's recovery of the free, universal offer of Christ was the very spark that lit the modern era of missionary and evangelistic expansion.

Open reading ↗

Revival · A Faithful Narrative

3. A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God

Jonathan Edwards · 1737

Edwards' famous account tells how, in a single New England town, God poured out His Spirit and brought hundreds to Christ in a short time — one of the first great narratives of revival and rapid church growth. It speaks to the course's units on the history and principles of growth, showing what genuine, God-sent increase looks like: not manufactured by technique, but granted from heaven, marked by deep conviction, real conversion, and lasting change.

Open reading ↗

The Great Awakening · A History of Revival

4. The Great Awakening

Joseph Tracy · 1842

Tracy's history gathers the story of the eighteenth-century Great Awakening — the vast, continent-shaking revival under Whitefield, Edwards, and others that swelled the churches of America. It is a rich companion to the course's units on the history of church growth, showing both the glory and the growing pains of a genuine movement of God, and giving today's reader a longer memory than any modern model can — a reminder that the greatest growth the church has known came when God drew near to His people.

Open reading ↗

The Spirit's Fire · The Church's True Power

5. The Tongue of Fire

William Arthur · 1856

Arthur's classic on the power of the Holy Spirit takes Pentecost as its pattern, arguing that the church's true strength for growth is not organization or eloquence but the fire of the Spirit resting on ordinary believers. It speaks to the course's units on principles and on pastoral leadership, calling church and pastor alike to seek first the power from on high, without which all effort is barren, and with which even the weakest church may become a force that spreads the gospel like flame.

Open reading ↗

Revival in the Field · By My Spirit

6. By My Spirit

Jonathan Goforth · 1929

Goforth tells the story of the remarkable revival God gave through his ministry in China and Korea, and draws from it the abiding lesson of its title: not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit. It is a stirring companion to the course's units on principles and leadership, a firsthand account of real church growth in a hard mission field, and a rebuke to every attempt to grow the church by human energy apart from the reviving breath of God.

Open reading ↗

Prayer · The Engine of Growth

7. The Power of Prayer

R. A. Torrey · 1924

Torrey argues that prayer is the great secret behind every true revival and every growing church — that God has bound the outpouring of His power to the persistent, believing prayers of His people. It is a searching companion to the course's units on principles and leadership, pressing pastor and congregation to see that no program can substitute for a praying church, and that the shortest road to genuine growth runs through the prayer closet and the united prayer meeting.

Open reading ↗

Discipleship · The Training of the Twelve

8. The Training of the Twelve

A. B. Bruce · 1871

Bruce studies how Jesus grew His movement not by gathering crowds but by patiently training twelve men who would carry it on — the original and enduring pattern of disciple-making. It is the ideal companion to the course's unit on discipleship, showing that the deepest and most lasting church growth comes not from filling seats but from making disciples who make disciples, exactly as the Lord Himself did, one committed life at a time.

Open reading ↗

Establishing Believers · Christian Progress

9. Christian Progress

John Angell James · 1834

James wrote this sequel to his Anxious Inquirer to help the new believer grow up into a strong and settled faith — the very work a growing church must do if it is to keep those it wins. It speaks directly to the course's units on discipleship and on closing the back door, for a church that gathers converts but never establishes them will lose them; here is wise, warm guidance for leading young believers on from their first steps to a mature and lasting walk with Christ.

Open reading ↗

The Right Kind of Growth · Practical Religion

10. Practical Religion

J. C. Ryle · 1878

Ryle's plain, powerful chapters on the practical Christian life — on growth in grace, assurance, self-denial, and perseverance — describe the very health that church growth exists to produce. It is a strong companion to the course's units on discipleship and retention, keeping the reader's aim fixed on the right kind of growth: not a crowd of shallow attenders, but a body of real, growing, persevering Christians, which is the only increase worth counting in the sight of God.

Open reading ↗

Honor attestation: By selecting three readings above, you affirm that you have read those three digests in full. The digests are CTS-authored summaries that may include brief excerpts or adaptations of public-domain works.