Your previous post was interesting... but I think there are DEEPER reasons our church attendance is suffering. Bear with me... (why do I always have to be the kid who keeps asking questions after the teacher got the answer he WANTED???? DANG!!!) OK, here are few thoughts/observations - maybe theyre wrong, maybe theyre right, but THIS IS HOW I SEE IT. Feel free to disagree... soem filks may find they are in need of change, others will not, but at LEAST stop, look, and THINK. If we stop THINKING... we are dead already! 1) People are busier - at least the ones who WORK for a living! - than they ever have been, and they are going to seek respite and relief WHERE THEY CAN FIND IT. If church is a place where they hear Youre not DOING ENOUGH! - even if it is TRUE! - they will go ELSEWHERE. Maybe WE - the PREACHERS - are NOT REACHING them with the LOVE of Jesus, which is the ONLY true motivation for serving God... ???? 2) Perhaps people are feeling that CHURCH has become IRRELEVANT. I have been preaching for a small congregation and I only give them Sunday morning services. Last week I asked them if they knew WHY, and of course, they didnt. Then I told them the TRUTH (!) - with a 40 - 50 hour work week, home, vehicles, OTHER ministries (I have the privilege of helping out at the ONLY Baptist inner-city mission on Buffalo, NY) and my own church, I can only give you ONE message, because there is (usually) TWELVE HOURS of study for that message. Maybe you are asking, Why so long? So I will tell you what I told THEM: Which do you want to hear? A message, or THE message? I can go on the internet and get twelve outlines and preach to you ALL DAY LONG, and Im sure you will be edified... but that is NOT how its supposed to work. Gods people NEED TO KNOW that THE message was given by GOD, and the preachers werent going to give them second best. PERIOD. I sat through THOUSANDS of A messages, but I can tell you, only dozens of THE messages. Maybe there is an ESSENTIAL FLAW in the WAY we are developing messages! 3) There is a FEAR of the Holy Spirit on the part of leadership. I have never met a group of men more PARANOID and INSECURE than those in the ministry (Sorry, I HAVE to call it like I see it.) The things they cant control SCARE them... whether its the congregation, or a new way of doing things, or God raising up someone in the congregation to help them... or even the Spirit of GOD. Because you CANT control Him... and he might shake things up. We FORGET - HE is the agent of CHANGE... and we are TERRIFIED of CHANGE. That MUST STOP!!! 4) We lack FAITH; we dont really believe that God is in control, and we DONT believe in the PROVIDENCE of God. We have allowed ourselves to become a works-based (or performance-based) religion - If I work HARDER, maybe God will love me MORE! And that is the ANTITHESIS of GRACE. And GRACE is a GIFT from GOD; we have NO RIGHT to decide how God dispenses it. 5) We have replaced Gods command to live in GOOD CONSCIENCE with a steaming pile of MAN-MADE RULES. Jesus had no use for them - see his dealings with the Pharisees - and even lost people can figure THAT out. Thats why they want NOTHING to do with church; they can see WE dont believe our Bibles! 6) We are WORSE than corporate America or the stock market when it comes to SEEING results. If people dont come to church, or dont flood the altar (a truly misnamed thing!) we think it didnt get through WE have to stop living by sight, if we want Gods people to live by FAITH. We have lost sight of the fact that God deals with the HEART. If we would remember that, we would stop being discouraged with VISIBLE performance. Is our God BIG, or NOT? If someone only attends church once a week... SO WHAT????
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 15:29:00 +0000
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