About Us

Brief History of Ephesians Four Ministries/Church Growth Institute

As a business owner and active layperson in Cecil County, Maryland, Larry Gilbert decided to form a Christian businessmen's organization. In the businessmen's meetings, which included pastors, he heard of problems in boosting church membership, motivating congregations to get involved, and helping laypeople develop into spiritual mature Christians. The pastors' frustration and quest for answers greatly concerned Gilbert. He was motivated to help struggling pastors.

Gilbert founded Steps in Living Ministries in 1978 as a means to provide resources that would help pastors and churches. He sold his successful sign business in Maryland and moved to Lynchburg, VA where he enrolled in Liberty University. There he met Elmer Towns. With Gilbert's business knowledge and experience and Dr. Towns' teaching ability and church growth expertise, the two them worked together to launch Church Growth Institute in 1984, a new division of Steps in Living Ministries. Steps in Living Ministries changed its name to Ephesians Four MInistries (based on Ephesians 4:11-12, ..."for the equipping of the saints..."). The nonprofit organization was located in Forest, Virginia. It would continue to develop and publish printed resources and would also hold seminars for church leaders across the nation. Dr. Towns authored several popular resources and was the foremost seminar speaker for the organization in the early years. Dr. Gilbert oversaw the resource development and administrative duties as he also researched and authored materials and served as a seminar speaker. While Dr. Towns still contributes new resources on occasion, he does not have an active role in the organization. Ephesians Four Ministries/Church Growth Institute is now led by Dr. Larry Gilbert and Mrs. Cindy Spear.

In 1998, Church Growth Seminars left the organization and became a separate entity, but has since ceased operation. Church Growth Institute remained the publishing arm of Ephesians Four Ministries and is still in business and ministry after 30 years. In keeping with changing times, Ephesians Four Ministries entered the world of online resources, such as the free online Team Ministry Spiritual Gifts Analysis at www.TeamMinistry.com (based on the best-selling Team Ministry Spiritual Gifts Inventory, by Larry Gilbert—over 4 million in print), the Team Ministry Spiritual Gifts Database for groups (available by subscription), downloadable books for purchase, web store (at www.ChurchGrowth.org), and the free daily e-devotional, Prime Time With God. Through the years, our most popular resources have been Friend Day (evangelistic attendance campaign), the Team Ministry series (including Team Ministry, Team Evangelism, Team Mate and others), and the ever-expanding line of "discovery" tools such as the Team Ministry Spiritual Gifts Inventory, Spiritual Growth Survey, Evaluating Your Friendship Skills, Marriage Communication Assessment, Leadership/Management Inventory, etc.

Sign Up Today

It is so easy!

Fill out the form here and pay the tuition for your desired course.

Dive head first and grow in God's grace!