The vision to grow numerically and multiply within Australia is becoming a reality.   The CRC churches have not seen its membership over 9000 members for 13 years.   But the decline is reversing.   This past year, according to CRCA statistics, the CRCA has grown by 4.8%.   Just imagine!  The CRCA has not seen growth like this for almost 50 years -- five decades!

Yes, the last time the Christian Reformed Churches in Australia(CRCA) saw significant growth was 1962 -- long before man took their first steps on the moon.   In the early sixties the CRCA even recorded double digit growth.   But for the past fifty years the CRCA has seen both gradual growth and gradual decline.   This growth continued until it peaked in 1991 when the CRCA had 10439  total members.   Since there there has been a gradual decline with just several little growth spurts.  In 1997-8 the CRCA membership declined below 9000.    But the future looks very promising.   Since 2007 the growth curve has been changing (see chart).   In 2007 and 2008 the rate of decline decreased.   Last year (2009)  there was almost a full percentage point of growth;  this past year (2010) the CRCA grew by almost 5%.Facts are your friends!  I often quote these words used by Bill Hybels (Willow Creek Community Church) in his speaking and writing.   Facts tell us a story of what is happening.   These recent facts gleaned from the 2011 CRC Yearbook, which just arrived in the post, tell us a story about the CRCA.   This story has many parts to it.   The cover story is one of God's grace and faithfulness.   When I arrived in late 2007 to Australia I came to a denomination which was praying that God would bring revival and enable us to realize the vision to reach the lost for Christ.   Churches had adopted the mission to grow numerically by reaching out to the lost, the least, and the last in our communities.  By God's grace this vision and mission is being realised.   God has heard our prayers.   More than a dozen churches are at one stage or another of being planted.  And we are growing as a denomination.   Numbers mean something.   Not only do we find such a book in God's Word;  numbers represent people -- men, women, and children who are part of God's growing family in Australia.   People count; they matter to God and they matter to the church.   An increasing number of them are converts -- our young people and others coming to faith.   Praise God for his faithfulness!The recent statistics also tell the story of what is happening in various parts of the CRCA denomination.   The churches in Queensland are growing at a rapid pace -- more than 10% this past year (10.4%) followed closely behind by the churches in Western Australia (9.6%).   Every state saw growth this past year (see chart below).   In the state of Victoria, while the South Gippsland Classis saw growth of 2.5%, the Maroondah Classis recorded a decline in overall membership (-.9%).    While the growth of the CRCA in Victoria is the least of all the states, the door of opportunity for the gospel is wide open.   Recent news reports point out that Melbourne's outer suburbs are experiencing a population explosion, with more than 1000 people moving into Melbourne's fringes every week.  The fields are white for harvest, with millions of people like sheep without a shepherd.  Pray to the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth workers to gather in the harvest (see Matthew 9:37-38).Could you imagine doubling the size of your church's membership in one year?   Well, this is exactly what has happened at Grace CRC in the northern suburbs of Perth.   They grew by 104% this past year.   Grace moved to having multiple services on Sunday to accommodate all the people joining their church.  Bray Park Community Church, in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, grew by 22% making it now the largest church in the CRCA.     This past year they began a satellite congregation on the same campus of their church to reach out to even more people.   Another congregation on the southside of Brisbane, Mansfield CRC, has experienced double digit growth (20%).   This church has received funding from the Church Planting Taskforce to resource the planting of a new congregation.  Two suburbs have been identified as potential areas for establishing a new church.   But Mansfield, Bray Park, and Grace are not the only churches growing;  if you check out the statistics you will discover that an increasing number of churches are experiencing growth in numbers.  Thanks be to God! There is one more story that I would like to share as we look at these recent statistics.    The CRCA is not only committed to seeing local churches growing numerically but also planting new churches.   These two things complement each other.   Churches committed to planting new churches will also grow numerically.   Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York) points out that "new church planting is the only way that we can be sure we are going to increase the number of believers in a city and one of the best ways to renew the whole Body of Christ."  (You can read Keller's whole article:  "Why Plant Churches":  http://www.redeemer2.com/resources/papers/why plant 2 11 TLeaders.pdf )   In all three Classes where the CRCA is seeing above average growth (Tasmania, Queensland, Western Australia)  you will also find churches committed to planting new churches.  Renewal happens when churches engage in birthing new congregations.  It is like the joy that comes when a husband and wife welcome a new child in the family.   There is much rejoicing and excitement.   So too in the family of God when new converts are added to the family, when new churches are birthed.    But there is not only rejoicing on earth;  all of heaven rejoices (Luke 15:7,10).   As the CRCA continues to plant new churches, renewal will come to the whole body, and daily the Lord will add to the church those who are being saved.  

As the CRCA continues to be a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ, "let us run with perseverence the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that [we] will not grow weary and lose heart."  (Hebrews 12:1-3)