In the life of a church – from the first century’s to today’s – growing pains are inevitable. We may not embrace this at first – who likes pain of any kind? But in reality, we often grow best through pain, don’t we? Financial pains teach us to manage our money with an eye to God’s directives. Relational pains shape our character. Physical pains develop dependency on God’s provision. And church pains can bring about resiliency, growth in our bodies of believers and outreach to those who don’t yet know Jesus. In Acts 6 we see how God used struggles to grow the church internally as His people and then externally to bring others to know Jesus. How might God do the same in our churches – and in us?
