Is America Still Growing?

A Biblical Confrontation on Growth and Mindset

There is a serious cultural question facing America today: Are we truly growing, or have we drifted into a survival mindset that rejects biblical expansion?

In a recent teaching, Pastor Jaco Booyens—pastor of Mercy Culture Washington D.C., founder of Jaco Booyens Ministries, and a leading fighter against sex trafficking—directly confronted this issue. His challenge was not about superficial progress, but about recovering a biblical growth mindset rooted in the Spirit of God.

Pastor Jaco warned that many churches, organizations, and the nation itself have slipped into autopilot. They become maintenance-driven rather than mission-driven. And when that happens, genuine growth stops.

America Has Abandoned a Biblical Growth Model

Pastor Jaco stated the problem plainly and prophetically:

“Our country has not been growentric for 200 years. We built cities in this country. Skyscrapers. When last did you see a new city be built in this country? Tell me. Tell me. Where’s the new skyscraper city that’s being built in this country? … We are not growentric. That is an unbiblical model. From glory to glory, not glory to defeat. America is not operating in a biblical growth centric model.”

This is not merely an economic or political critique. It is spiritual. A nation once known for pioneering vision, bold construction, and long-term expansion now often operates with short-term thinking. Pastor Jaco highlighted how America functions in four-year political cycles while “evil understands this” and rival powers think in generational or even thousand-year terms.

He confronted the broader Church in America, noting that the sons and daughters of God are supposed to lead a growth-centric model. Instead, much of the Church has mirrored the culture’s survival mentality:

“Most churches go into autopilot and are not growth centric. Most businesses are not growth. Our country has not been growentric for 200 years.”

The Biblical Growth Mindset: Spirit-Fed and Spirit-Led

Pastor Jaco rooted the solution in Scripture. True growth flows from being filled by the Spirit before attempting to lead by the Spirit:

“Only the Spirit fed will be spirit led. … It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life.”

He emphasized that believers cannot bring kingdom solutions in their own strength. They must consecrate themselves, receive revelation personally from the Holy Spirit, and then step into their assignments with value that produces real increase. This is the opposite of the “commodity” mindset seen in much of the corporate world and in human trafficking:

“You cannot lead that way. You have to be spirit fed, which means you got to get into the word of God. And he has to reveal things to you … Then you will lead because you will be led by the spirit.”

Growth, in this biblical mindset, is not striving or performance. It begins in gratitude and surrender—remembering that “just being His is enough”—and moves into intentional stewardship. Pastor Jaco stressed that healthy culture must be guarded daily, because “if it works and it’s of God, it means Satan’s coming for it.”

The Danger of Short-Term Focus

One of Pastor Jaco’s most vivid warnings came through the image of a sniper aiming at a distant target. He explained how losing focus on the ultimate goal—even slightly, causes massive deviation:

“It takes nothing for Satan to set mercy culture off course because we are actually only focusing on this interim step of the target. … You do not miss at the target. You missed at the barrel.”

He applied this directly to the Church and the nation. Short-term victories can create the illusion of alignment while America drifts from its deeper calling. Families, churches, and the country become reactive instead of visionary. We celebrate the next election, the next budget, or the next building, yet lose sight of generational faithfulness and the ultimate target: the return of Christ for a purified bride.

Pastor Jaco contrasted this with kingdom strategy:

“That is not kingdom strategy. That is not how you take territory. That is not how you make sure a country never abandons God. That is not how you make sure the 5-year-old today when he’s 25, we’ve already set him on his ways.”

Saved Unto Something Greater

Central to the biblical growth mindset is a vital shift: Christians are not merely saved from something (addiction, bondage, or crisis), but saved unto something—purpose, assignment, and contribution to the Kingdom.

“Most Christians want to be saved from something. … Yes, you needed to be saved from something. But what if I tell you the ultimate goal is for you to be saved unto something. The from something is short-term. … Are you attributive to the body of Christ? Are you bringing it all? Are you saved unto something?”

This “unto” mindset demands growth. It calls every believer to reject autopilot and become Spirit-fed contributors who produce fruit, value, and reformation in every sphere of life.

A Confrontation and a Call to the American Church

Pastor Jaco’s message confronts the American Church head-on: without a return to biblical growth—Spirit-led, long-term, intentional, and aimed at God’s eternal purposes—the nation continues its unbiblical drift from glory to defeat.

Yet the diagnosis carries hope. The Church across America is called to lead the way by modeling this growth mindset. When believers daily check their aim, steward their spheres of influence with intentionality, and bring heaven’s solutions into the earth, they become a light and a well in dry ground.

The deeper question is not merely whether America is still growing in worldly terms. According to Pastor Jaco’s biblical framework, the real issue is whether we, the Church in America—are growing toward God’s design.

“We have to grow in this house. You’re going to have to grow. … We have to take territory.”

If Christians across the nation embrace this Spirit-fed, growth-centric calling, rejecting short-term survival for long-term kingdom vision, renewal remains possible. America does not need more maintenance. It needs sons and daughters of God who are saved unto something greater and who refuse to miss the ultimate target.

This message is for every believer, every local church, and every Christian leader in America. You don’t have to be part of a specific ministry to apply it. Start today by consecrating yourself afresh, feeding on the Word and the Spirit, and asking the Lord to realign your focus on the eternal target. Live intentionally. Guard what God has entrusted to you. Bring Spirit-led solutions into your workplace, your family, your community, and your nation. When the Church in America grows first in this biblical way, the nation can still be impacted for good.