The document discusses the concept of being "Growers" in the kingdom of God. It provides several biblical references that portray sowing seeds, watching them grow, and eventually harvesting them. This represents sowing the seeds of the gospel through evangelism and ministry work, trusting in God to make them grow even though we don't always see or understand the process. It emphasizes having faith that the seeds will grow if we continue faithfully sowing and working, and encourages churches to continue evangelistic and outreach efforts to see more people come to faith and the churches grow in size and impact over time through God's power.

1. Growers
Mark 4:26-29
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man
scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps
or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not
know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk,
then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the
grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has
come.”

2. Identity in Christ
•Destined to Win
Overcomers
•Destined to Belong
Members
•Destined to Protect
Guardians
•Destined to Be Noticed
Influencers

3. Identity in Christ
•Destined to Move On
Forgetters

4. Identity in Christ
•Destined to Move On
Forgetters
•Destined to Change
Growers

5. Growers
• Mark 4:26-29
– He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A
man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day,
whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and
grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the
soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then
the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe,
he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

6. Growers
• We scatter seed
• We sleep
• Seeds grow … sprout … stalk … head … full kernel
• We harvest
Mark 4:26-29
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.
Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does
not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the
full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the
harvest has come.”

7. Growers
• 1 Corinthians 3:5-9
• 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only
servants, through whom you came to believe—as the
Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed,
Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So
neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is
anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one
who plants and the one who waters have one purpose,
and they will each be rewarded according to their own
labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are
God’s field, God’s building.

8. Growers
• One plants
• Another waters
• God grows it
• We get rewarded
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to
believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered
it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who
waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the
one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own
labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

9. Growers
• No labour … no growth
• No growth … wrong labour
– Wrong expectations

10. Growers
• No labour … no growth
• No growth … wrong labour
– Wrong expectations
1 Corinthians 4:10-12
10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in
Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are
honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour
we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are
brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard
with our own hands. When we are cursed, we
bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We
have become the scum of the earth, the garbage
of the world—right up to this moment.

11. Growers
• No labour … no growth
• No growth … wrong labour
– Wrong expectations
– Wrong methods
– Wrong team positions
– Wrong teaching
– Disobedience

12. Growers
• No single city or province in Canada has a
greater percentage of churched people
today than a decade ago.
• Among existing churches in Canada, 80%
are characterized as plateaued, declining, or
disintegrating.
• Evangelical churches have failed to gain an
additional 2% of the Canadian population in
the past 50 years. In other words, we are not
even reaching our own children!

13. Growers
• North America is the ONLY continent where
Christianity is not growing!
• Canadians dying without Christ: 165,000
souls each year.

14. Growers
• 2001 Churchill Meadows Christian Church
Mississauga ON

15. Growers
• 2014 Churchill Meadows Christian Church
Mississauga ON

16. Growers
• 2014 Churchill Meadows Christian Church
Mississauga ON

17. Growers
• 2005 West Coast Christian Church
Surrey BC

18. Growers
• 2013 West Coast Christian Church
Surrey BC

19. Growers
• 2014 Churchill Meadows Christian Church
Mississauga ON
2005 2006

20. Growers
• First 3 Churches
– 60,000 households
– 150,000 contact attempts
– 3,850 agree to hear
– 800 initial attendees who were unchurched
– 1,600 attendance 2014
• How did that happen?
– From 4 to 1,600

21. Growers
• Believe the harvest is ripe!
• Believe you have to sow!
• Believe the seed will grow!
• Believe more seeds today means bigger
harvest in the next season!

22. Growers
• Believe the harvest is ripe!
• Believe you have to sow!
• Believe the seed will grow!
• Generation #1– Believes It
• Generation #2 – Assumes It
• Generation #3 – Denies It

23. Growers
• John 4:34-38
– 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who
sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a
saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you,
open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for
harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage
and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower
and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the
saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent
you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have
done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits
of their labor.”

24. Growers
See You
Next
Week
1. a commonly owned direction
2. a common basis upon which that direction is owned
3. and a system that informs and motivates

25. Growers
See You
Next
Week
Drop By
Sometime
1. a commonly owned direction
2. a common basis upon which that direction is owned
3. and a system that informs and motivates

26. Growers
See You
Next
Week
Have You
Heard It
Yet?
Drop By
Sometime

27. Growers
• Change the belief
• Change the personal patterns
– Change one person at a time
• Change the organization
– Because the people are ready to stretch and grow!
– A pastor can’t take you anywhere you don’t want to go
– A pastor can’t lead if the church won’t follow
– The job won’t get done unless each person does what
they said they would do when they said they would do
it