Some Context - In the beginning of Acts we see the church in Jerusalem growing and then in chapter eight the church suddenly loses most of its congregation.  Ultimately the persecution that scattered the church led to the Gospel being taken throughout the Roman Empire which was God’s plan, but I wonder what it felt like to be left behind in Jerusalem.  I have seen a scattering from Buckeye over the past couple of years including a number from MVCC, so I feel a tiny bit of the grief these early Christians must have felt.  Fortunately, our challenge is merely economic and we don’t face significant persecution.  Also, fortunately there are new people still moving into our area so the opportunity to do ministry and the need to share the Gospel are as viable as the day we started the church. 

My Answer - The answer to this question is in two parts. 

1. First of all, we need to be growing in our faith/spiritual maturity regardless of whether the numbers in the church are growing.  I see evidence that God is using the sermons, the home groups, Bible studies, counseling sessions, discipline situations, hospitality, leadership training, mission projects, and friendships within our church to produce spiritual growth in the people of MVCC.  Praise God! 
2. We do need to seek to grow numerically.  Now, let me qualify this.  Growth can happen through means other than by the hand of God.  For instance if we stopped teaching the unpopular parts of the Bible and started giving away $100 to every person who attends our church every Sunday, I guarantee that we would grow.  So, growth that comes at the expense of compromising our biblical values and our calling to share the Gospel would not be right. 

On the other hand, some people have mistakenly bought into the idea that church growth isn’t a spiritual matter and they are wrong.  Examining the early church in Acts we see that church growth is a sign of:

1. The working of the Holy Spirit in and through the church.
2. A church’s commitment to sharing the Gospel and burden for people.
3. A church’s faith in God as they take risks for Him and choose to invest their time and money to meet needs.
4. Unity within the church.
5. A church’s effectiveness at equipping leaders and giving away ministry responsibilities to people with specific giftedness

Unlike a place like Detroit, our local population isn’t shrinking, it’s just changing over.  We have a choice of whether we will continue to reach out to the new people moving here or be distracted by the disappointment of saying goodbye to friends and neighbors.  My guess is that the early Jerusalem church learned to continue reaching out in spite of the mass exodus of Christians and the persecution they were being threatened with.  Our challenge is keeping our focus outward on those who continue to move here realizing that some of these newcomers are non-believers who would welcome an invitation to church while the others are believers who are searching for a church to belong to.  As long as people still need to hear the good news of Christ’s love and sacrifice we will reach out.  As long as there are Christians in the west valley who don’t have a church home we will invite them.