My dream has always been to plant a church and see it grow from the ground up. We’re eight years into it and I think I’m learning some new lessons right now. And that is what is exciting about pastoring a growing church–there are always new challenges. We’ll never arrive. We’ll always be a work in progress. And I’ll always have a measure of “divine dissatisfaction.”
When I think about where we’re at as a church here is the metaphor that comes to mind–growth spurts. We’re eight years-old. And here is what life is like for eight year-olds. And by the way, I’m an authority on eight year-olds because I have one.
Healthy eight year-olds have amazing growth spurts. They can go to bed one night with clothes that fit fine and wake up the next day with “floodwater” pants. It’s incredible. Eight year-olds grow like weeds. There are times that my eight-year-old feeds his sixty pound body more than I feed my two hundred pound body!
Along with those growth spurts comes a degree of uncoordination. It’s pretty funny to watch. Summer is amazing at physical comedy and she doesn’t even have to try. She makes Kramer look coordinated. She can be standing still and fall down. Lora and I look at each other and just laugh sometimes beause it’s amazing.
Here’s what’s going on. Their coordination hasn’t caught up with their bodies. They’re walking and the brain forgets that their legs grew an inch overnight and they hit the ground awkward and fall. Or the brain forgets they are two inches taller and they walk right into a counter top! The end result is lots of bumps and bruises and bangs. But that is part of growing up.
What does that have to do with NCC? We’re eight years-old and we’ve experienced unbelievable growth spurts tripling in size in three years! When you grow by 43% three years running you ought to expect some bumps and bruises and bangs. In this book Dog Training, Fly Fishing, and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century, Ted Haggard says it’s nigh unto impossible to assimilate people if you’re experiencing more than 20% growth. We’re experiencing more than twice that. And I think our growth spurt has caused some uncoordination. We’ve got to catch up with our body.
Growth spurts can be scary for eight year-olds. They are literally changing before their eyes! That can be scary. What is happening to my body? I don’t look like I used to? I don’t feel like I used to? I have body hair or body odor? That is part of the deal. That is part of maturity.
How we navigate this growth spurt is critical to our future as a church. We’re going to fall down and trip over our own feet and bump our head a few times. It just comes with the territory. But it is the only way to mature to the next stage as a church.