"The Living Church
The growth pattern of the New Testment Church is impressive, if not staggering. They were 'added to' by the Holy Spirit's ministry (Acts 2:47; 5:16), and then the adding began to compound to the multiplication of believers (Acts 6:7) and finally the multiplication of churches (Acts 9:31). The living Jesus produces a living church: it is His body filled with resurrection life and power that offers hope to the world.
Isaiah 58:8 prophesies of the glorious life of God's people, saying, 'Thine health shall spring forth speedily!' The incredible multiplying of churches in Acts, however, was different from the kind of 'increase' the church of history has learned. The multiplication has been in kinds rather than of kin. And a plague of division has racked the body of Christ; a cancer in which cells multiply but, unfortunately, to the devouring of each other.
Our church's growth is not phenomenal, not by New Testament standards. All spiritual life and growth in an individual or in a congregation never takes place by accident, it happens on purpose! And the purposes we share must be kept in focus by all of us.
There are three basic factors that we hold dear:
1) Jesus Christ Himself is the center of everything.
2) Holy Spirit is the keynote to all that is done.
3) The Word of God is the foundation for all that is taught.
It's the Godhead at work in the midst of the church that produces a steady flow of His transforming power.
We are committed to a biblical principle that had, from the very beginning, been the basis of our gatherings. Three things characterized the first-century church's life in Acts chapter two:
1) They ministered unto the Lord - verses 42, 46, & 47
2) They ministered unto one another - verses 42, 44, 45, & 46
3) They ministered unto the world - verses 43 & 47
They believed, as we do, that all blessing flows from the Father above and that worship, prayer, and His Word are the foundation for growth. The result of people's vertical relationship produces a horizontal flow of love that is both contagious and healing. No church has a valid reason for existence if it doesn't embrace a burden for a lost world.
May our enlargement [as a ministry] be a continued evidence of our Lord's release of virtue and love that He promised to pour forth on all who would wait on Him.
Growing up,
Ron Mehl"