9.9.2026
“Be patient, be patient, don’t be in such a hurry,” was a song we taught the preschoolers at the first church I served. I can still hear their little voices singing, “Remember, remember, that God has patience, too . . .”
And, boy! Are we thankful for that! I hope those little ones (now in their 40s) remember that.
We are a nation of do-ers. We prize industry and busy-ness with instant, measurable results . . .
But does God?
What if God does not prize the same things we do. What if so much of church growth is a reflection of our 21st century human obsessions and not a reflection of Christ nor the qualities that God is wanting to plant in our hearts.
I’m reading a book by Alan Kreider, the leader of a terrific video series on YouTube called “Resident but Alien: How the Early Church Grew.” I’ll put a link at the bottom of this Note. The book is The Patient Ferment of the Early Church (The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire), and I think it has a lot to say to the church today.
The early church grew when it really shouldn’t have.
When Jesus ascended, there were only about 120 believers. Within 300 years, there were about 6 million Christians in the empire – some 12 percent of the population. That’s 40% growth per decade!
Now, keep in mind that this was before Christianity was legalized. They were always under the threat of persecution. Christians had to be cautious. It was not uncommon for believers to be turned in by neighbors who didn’t understand what was going on next door. Early believers were the subject of LOTS of gossip.
Think about it: it’s the year 50 AD and you live in Colossae. It’s a nice neighborhood. Peaceful, at least for that time. All of a sudden, your neighbor’s house is filled with children and old people and sick people who were not related to your neighbor. And there are gatherings at their home with all sorts of unsavory people – especially slaves and women, none of whom belong to your neighbor. Not only that, but they call each other brother and sister (so there must be all sorts of shady sexual behavior going on) and talk about eating flesh and drinking blood (they must be cannibals!). So, of course, there is gossip.
So, no, the church shouldn’t have grown.
What about worship? Didn’t the early church use their services to attract people? The predominant model for contemporary worship started in the late 1970s when churches designed their worship services to attract non-believers, calling them “seeker sensitive services.” But in the early years of Christianity, churches did not use their worship services to attract new people.
In fact, and this blew my mind the first time I heard it; the early church closed their doors to outsiders! After Nero persecuted the church in the 60s, it wasn’t safe to welcome non-believers. There was a practice called the “discipline of the secret” which barred outsiders from entering "private" Christian worship and ordered believers not to talk to outsiders about what went on behind closed doors! No wonder there was gossip! The early church knew that the purpose of worship was to glorify God and edify the faithful, not to evangelize outsiders.
So, how did they grow?
A phrase we like to use at Christ Church, one we got from Dallas Willard, is “God is always up to something.” Despite all the barriers to growth, the church grew because God produced the growth, and God did it in his own way and in his own time.
Patience is a lost virtue. But this is the way God works. Church historian Adolph Harnack compared the growth of the church during those first three centuries to a “steady fermenting process.” Ferment is the “mysterious, bubbling life force” that causes a chemical change through the action of living microorganisms like yeast or, turning milk into yogurt or grain into whiskey.
In those first three centuries of Chrisitanity, there was a ferment happening in the church that was beyond anyone’s control. God was taking common elements – fishermen, slaves, women – and transforming them into something remarkable and unstoppable!
The church grew because these common people embodied the life and teachings of Christ in a way that was unmissable and unmistakable. They weren’t free to speak openly about their faith, but their actions – the lives they lived as simple, ordinary people visibly and faithfully living for God – attracted non-believers to Christ.
In 256, Cyprian, a bishop in North Africa, wrote, “Beloved brethren, [we] are philosophers not in words but in deeds; we exhibit our wisdom not by our dress, but by truth; we know virtues by their practice rather than through boasting of them; we do not speak great things, we live them.”
For me, to think of Christ Church as “fermenting” anything is perfect! But as we love God and love others, that is exactly what is happening . . . a “mysterious, bubbling life force” is at work among us.
What makes a difference in a person, a home, a community, a city and beyond is patient, consistent, faithful lives – winsome witness – leaving the timing and the results up to God.
Blessings,
Pastor Terry
PS - I am out of town this week from Saturday through next Wednesday. In case of emergency, please contact Dorene at 256-694-8823. Rev. Alan Weatherly is preaching – don’t miss it! Invite a friend! Ferment!
PSS - here’s the link to the video series: Resident but Alien: Odd but Intriguing (1 of 6)