In The Heartbeat of the Church, we considered a simple conviction: the heartbeat of the church is the glory of God seen in a people who love God, love one another, and make disciples among all nations.
But if that is true, perhaps renewal requires us to ask some deeper questions—not simply about our churches, but about ourselves.
Who is becoming greater—Jesus or us?
John the Baptist understood something about ministry that is remarkably easy to forget. Crowds had been coming to hear him preach. People were being baptized. His influence was growing. But when the attention began shifting toward Jesus, John didn’t see it as a threat. He understood that his life and ministry had always been about pointing people beyond himself to Christ.
His response gives us one of the clearest pictures of Kingdom ministry in Scripture:
“He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” John 3:30
John understood that the success of his ministry was not measured by how many people stayed with John. Success meant people getting to Jesus.
John’s words are not a call to think less of ourselves or to diminish the value God has given us. They are a declaration about the supremacy of Christ. John understood his place in God’s story. Jesus was the center; John was not. His ministry existed to prepare the way and point people toward Christ.
That truth should challenge the church today. We naturally measure attendance, giving, baptisms, groups, volunteers, programs, and influence. Those things can be helpful, but there is a deeper question beneath all of our measurements:
Is Jesus becoming greater?
Are people seeing more of Christ because our church exists? Are they becoming more dependent upon Him? Are our neighborhoods experiencing the presence of Jesus through His people? Are we building His Kingdom, or are we primarily building our own?
John’s words also force us to consider what must decrease. It is easy to say, “Jesus must increase.” The difficult part is accepting what comes next: “I must decrease.”
Sometimes our preferences must decrease. Our need for recognition must decrease. Our desire to be right must decrease. Our attachment to familiar ways of doing things must decrease. Even our definitions of success may need to decrease.
Renewal requires more than adding something new.
Sometimes renewal requires surrender.
Perhaps we need to ask:
- What needs to decrease in me so that Christ can increase?
- What am I holding onto that God may be asking me to release?
- Am I more concerned about building our church or advancing His Kingdom?
- Are we producing church attenders or disciples who can make disciples?
But there is another question I believe belongs in this conversation:
Who is becoming stronger because I’m becoming stronger?
Spiritual maturity was never intended to terminate with us.
Whatever strength we possess ultimately comes from Christ. The knowledge we gain, the lessons God teaches us, the suffering He carries us through, the wisdom we receive, and the faith He develops within us are not simply for our benefit. Christ strengthens His people so that His people can strengthen one another.
Paul gives us this picture in: Romans 15:1–7
Paul calls those who are strong to come alongside those who are struggling. Our strength is not given merely for our own benefit. It becomes a responsibility to bear with others in their weakness, seek their good, encourage them, and build them up.
In other words, biblical strength bends toward the weakness of another.
So Romans 15 invites us to ask some very personal questions:
- Who is becoming stronger because I’m becoming stronger?
- Who am I intentionally coming alongside right now?
- Whose burden am I helping carry?
- Who am I encouraging when their faith is weak?
- Who am I building up rather than simply expecting to keep up?
- Am I using the strength Christ has given me to serve others or simply to make life easier for myself?
- Who is learning to follow Jesus because I am walking alongside them?
That changes the way we think about spiritual growth. The question is no longer simply, “Am I growing?” It becomes, “Who is growing because I am growing?”
This is where discipleship becomes more than a program. It becomes a way of life.
Jesus gave His church its mission in: Matthew 28:18–20
Making disciples among all nations requires more than inviting people to attend something. Jesus calls people under His lordship—to identify with Him, obey what He has commanded, and learn to follow Him in every area of life.
That kind of disciple-making requires entering people’s lives. It means walking alongside people long enough for them to see what following Jesus looks like in ordinary life. We pray together, open Scripture together, wrestle with questions together, bear burdens together, celebrate together, and learn obedience together.
And eventually, something beautiful should happen: The person we are strengthening begins strengthening someone else.
That’s multiplication.
A healthy church isn’t simply filled with stronger Christians. It is filled with Christians who use the strength Christ gives them to strengthen others. Mature disciples come alongside others, help them follow Jesus, and equip them to do the same for someone else.
Imagine if that became one of the ways we regularly evaluated the health of our churches:
- Where do we see Jesus becoming more evident in people’s lives?
- Who are we intentionally coming alongside?
- Who is becoming stronger because we’re becoming stronger?
- Where are disciples making disciples?
- Who are we equipping and sending?
- What are we willing to surrender so that God’s Kingdom advances?
Those questions change what we celebrate. And what we celebrate eventually shapes who we become.
Perhaps this is an important part of what church renewal looks like. It isn’t simply getting more people into our gatherings. It is seeing the life of Jesus increasingly reproduced in His people—and then, through His people, in the lives of others.
And we should be clear about where that renewal comes from. Mission does not renew the church by itself. Christ renews His church through His Word and Spirit as His people trust Him, obey Him, love one another, and participate in His mission.
The church does not need to become less significant. It needs to become less interested in its own significance. We exist to display the glory of God, point people toward Jesus, and help one another become more like Him.
John gives us the posture: Christ above us—He must increase.
Paul gives us the relationship: Christ among us—we bear with and build up one another.
Jesus gives us the mission: Christ through us—we make disciples among all nations.
These three belong together. Christ above us. Christ among us. Christ through us.
As Christ increasingly shapes my life, what He is doing in me should become strength for someone else. And as Christ shapes that person’s life, they begin pouring into someone else.
Through ordinary people faithfully coming alongside ordinary people, disciples become disciple-makers, the gospel moves outward, and Christ renews His church.
So perhaps spiritual maturity shouldn’t be measured only by how much I know, how long I’ve followed Jesus, or how much I’ve grown.
There is another question worth asking: Who is becoming stronger because I’m becoming stronger?
Because what Christ is producing in us was never intended to end with us.
It was meant to move through us—for the good of others, the advance of the gospel, and ultimately, the glory of God.
Gary Morgan (Pastor at Story Church – Nashville, TN)
Church Planting Strategist
Nashville Baptist Association