Maturity for Churches Also

Spiritual maturity is not just for individual church members.  It is also for the church as a whole.  Churches are to "grow up" as they learn to live sacrificially to worship God and to obey Him as well.  Churches should be made up of mature disciples, and then the church will be mature as well, pleasing to God because they are about His business, not just their own.

Robert Banks, Paul's Idea of Community, writes:

"Paul's description of the community as a 'body' indicates that its goal is not just the creation of harmony between the members--that is more the emphasis of his family terminology--but also their development towards corporate maturity.  Paul stresses the need for individuals to progress toward maturity on a number of occasions, though generally in contexts where the corporate maturity of the community is in view.  (1 Cor. 1:1; 14:20, and others--See Banks, p. 67 for more references.)  God's intention is not the fashioning merely of mature individuals but of mature communities as well.  The Christian community does not exist just as a means to individual ends, though a mature community is an influential factor in shaping the individual maturity of its members."  (Banks, p. 67)

Mature churches will have an outward focus.  Yes, they will be focused on God and worship of Him.  But worship will not just "end" at worship.  It will give the church an outward focus on the needs of others outside the body of Christ, outside that particular group or church. 

According to Real Life Discipleship, (Jim Putman, Avery Willis, and others), a growing Christian will move through stages from spiritual infant to child to young adult to discipler of others.  The infant and child are very focused on self, but when one matures to a young adult, one of the indicators of that stage will be that one begins to be focused outwardly, on others not just oneself.  Unfortunately, many believers never get to this stage of discipleship.  Instead they become fixed on "me, myself, and my family" alone.

And what unfortunately is often found is that those fixed in spiritual infant or children stages become the leaders in churches, especially as churches age and begin to decline.  Then what happens, probably already has happened, is that the church as a whole reflects who is there, and their purposes.  And their purposes become so self focused that they forget the purpose of the Lord to reach out, to care for others (outside the body), to grow disciples and mature.

Churches are composed of people.  And mature churches, those seeking to be outwardly focused, are those made up and led by spiritually mature people.  That is not just a spiritually mature pastor, but other spiritually mature leaders as well.  Leaders who are not willing to "stay where they are in the faith," but want to continue to mature, grow, become, and reach out to mentor, make disciples, and help others grow in Christian maturity as well.  (See Paul's quest in Philippians 3:7-14).

Where are the spiritually mature churches?  They aren't always the largest or the ones that seem to be most successful at getting numbers of people out or into a building.  (Willow Creek confessed a few years ago that they were successful at reaching people, but that they had lost so many folk and didn't know where they were.  They sought to be more discipleship focused rather than just seeker-sensitive and worship centered.)  But mature churches are those that are focused on God's purposes of making disciples who make disciples (2 Timothy 2:2)--growing people into believers and growing believers to be more like the model, Jesus.

When the building is the focus--or the pastor is the focus--or a program is the focus, that is not maturity.  Jesus and God are to be the focus.  But also, their purposes are to be the focus--their purposes above our own.  That is maturity, shown in three connections--connecting with God, connecting with others, and connecting with (God's) purpose.  And throughout Scripture, yes even Old Testament, God was (is, always will be) a reaching out God who loves everyone and wants everyone to relate to Him in His way and with His purpose.

Self focused churches will continue to plateau and die.  But Christ focused churches, and that would include Christ's purpose focused churches, will see growth and maturity.  They will not be content to stay as they are--with who they have--with the individual spiritual maturity level they have.  But they will continue to connect with God, with others and with Christ's purpose, so they can mature in Him and His ways.

Are you part of a mature church?  Are you doing your part to make it a mature church?