You Must Have Great Purpose Preface and Chapter 1 from How to Build a Great Church by Mac Layton

Building Through Patience “A brickmason stood before a huge stack of bricks, about to go to work. A passerby asked him, ‘How will you ever get those thousands of bricks laid?’ He answered, ‘One brick at a time!’ Local church work is the finest of the fine arts, and it is done only with patience, time, love, and ‘one brick at a time!’” (p. 12).

The Greatest of All Enterprises It is a holy temple of the Lord – Ephesians 2:21 Jesus said all the forces of hades could not prevail against it – Matthew 16:18 The Lord added the saved to it – Acts 2:41, 47

The “Fulness” of Christ The church is called the “fulness of Christ” – Ephesians 1:23 –The word denotes completion as well as perfection –In the passive tense, it refers to the completion of a task –Jesus began it all by bringing the hope of eternal salvation –Now it is our blessed opportunity and mission to complete His work by taking the message to others.

In the Local Church… one finds the pillar and ground of the truth – 1 Timothy 3:15 all glory is given to God “unto all generations for ever and ever” – Ephesians 3:21

The Purpose as Heaven Sees It The eternal happiness and salvation of man is the principle purpose as far as heaven is concerned. Our Lord, therefore directed us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness – Matthew 6:33

The Purpose Must be Clear The first purpose of the church is to preach the gospel – Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16 The second purpose is teaching the saved – Matthew 28:18-20, through the powerful word of God The third purpose is upholding and defending the truth – 1 Timothy 3:15; 1:3; 4:6; 2 Timothy 1:13; John 8:32

The Purpose Must be Clear The fourth purpose is to build the kind of character God wants – Galatians 4:19 The fifth purpose is to provide the atmosphere where the Christian life can flourish –Our children should learn to love the truth and remain faithful –Remember God’s view of the church – 1 Corinthians 3:17

A Harvard Business School Study To successfully operate any major enterprise, four things must be present: –Purpose –Strategy for results –Shared goals –Effective systems of information (communication)

Determination Is the Key In the work of the church, you plan to grow or you die. Paul commended the Thessalonians’ “work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope” – 1 Thessalonians 1:3 When the church takes a determined course of growth, it surpasses what it first planned to do – 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

Sustaining the Purpose Perseverance in a grand purpose is the golden path to success. Paul traced all his greatness back to that glorious mission to make “known through the church the manifold wisdom of God” – Ephesians 3:10 Remember, the Lord is going to present to himself the church as his bride in judgment – Ephesians 5:27