Published on: 10/03/2026
In his book, ‘Natural Church Development’, Christian A. Schwarz argues that the Kingdom of God will naturally grow as long as we let it. He cites the Kingdom parables of Jesus relating to agriculture, in which growth is normal and natural and expected. We can therefore have confidence that God wants to grow His Kingdom, and as has been mentioned previously on these blogs, this is the Missio Dei.
It can feel like the reality is somewhat different. We don’t always see growth in our own local churches in the same way that Jesus alludes to in the parables or indeed Christian Schwarz discovers is possible in his research, so what is going on? This short blog post isn’t going to answer that question but perhaps an observation or two about confidence might help.
When we have confidence we have confidence in something. We can have confidence in ourselves, confidence in other people, confidence in structures, processes, traditions etc. This is normal and natural, but what us allows us to place our confidence in these or any other things? The answer is knowledge and understanding of thing we have confidence in. I have confidence in myself when I know my abilities, I have confidence in others when they are known to me, I have confidence in a bridge I will cross when I can see its construction, and so on.
Having confidence allows us to act, or to trust or both. So how do we develop our confidence in God to grow the kingdom, and therefore the church, and how do we act on that confidence? Confidence in God growing the church comes from knowing it is God’s will and purpose to grow the church, and acting on that confidence comes from knowing that God wants us to take part in the process.
We know that God wants to grow His Kingdom throughout the whole of His Creation. We see this in God’s relationship with Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, the prophets, with Jesus and with the first Disciples. In he same way we know of God’s desire to involve humanity in the process. Especially worth considering is Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus has all authority and then he sends His disciples to make more disciples, and then the narrative of the book of Acts where we see this beginning to unfold.
Acting on this confidence is key. Having confidence in God’s desire to grow the church and His desire that we should partner in this, is no help unless we prioritise acting on it. As a Diocese we are engaging in the LyCiG (Leading your Church into Growth) process at the Diocesan conference and beyond, which will give time for reflection and planning for growth. In the meantime if you have ideas or want to reflect with someone, do get in touch with me, john.marsh@sheffield.anglican.org
This week’s Blog post was written by John Marsh, Mission Development Adviser