How Do You Read GROW Magazine?

If you’re like me you really don’t read GROW Magazine, you thumb through from the back to the front looking for pictures of people you know. You might recognize someone in a group photo of a new congregation, or a pastor starting or growing a church.

Last issue I was delighted to see a picture of Navy Chaplain Richard Bonette at the beautiful Naval Academy cathedral in Annapolis, Maryland, my home town. The photography drew me into an interview through which I learned a lot from him about ministry beyond the walls of the church as most of us know it.

GROW started over 15 years ago when Church Growth director Bill Sullivan gave Neil Wiseman freedom to edit and publish a photo-journalism magazine about growing churches. Bill insisted on professional quality photography with minimal text – just enough words to profile the pictures of real people doing very good things for the Church of the Nazarene and the Kingdom of God in the United States and Canada.

Jim Dorsey took over from Neil in 2003 about the time I became UCME director. I still read GROW the same way – looking first at the great pictures, always glad to recognize someone I know and eager to see new people.

I’ve heard editor Jim Dorsey ask pastors and district superintendents for stories of new life and growth among our churches. He wants to be sure that you see what God is doing in every segment of the church in the USA and Canada. Contact him if you know of or have a story about starting and growing churches.

Looking at GROW backwards or forward is like thumbing through a modern pictorial version of the Book of Acts – the story of the Spirit at work among the churches. If seeing is believing then GROW has convinced a lot of us that the story continues.

—Tom Nees