I have decided to listen how others talk about their church and try to compare it to mine, and I notice a growing trend in the church. Each church, no matter the size, denomination, faith, ethnicity, all care about two things: faith and numbers.
I will cover faith now, and numbers in a second.
Churches have this trend they like to abide by. They want it to be as biblical as possible without forcing anything down any one's throat. Every preacher wants his congregation to leave the sanctuary and feel like they got juiced up with GOD and they blended with the message and the people giving it. The people want to get out of this strong experience with the Holy Spirit and feel like they had a connection with the Word. The band wants to feel like they built a bridge between GOD and congregation to make the ends meet once they reach the mount. Every person inside that building of bricks/stone/dry wall/whatever wants to feel like they each make a piece of the Earthly puzzle. And it's exciting every Sunday!
Then comes the major downfall of most churches...
People look at this and think "Wow, this is amazing! We should share this with everyone!". So the preacher and congregation make a mental bond to focus on numbers. More people means more fun right? The more people you can stuff in that building the better your church is? WRONG! Most churches try to attempt this feat at least one in the lifetime of the church to have the most people possible. Unfortunately, this becomes a bickering war with other churches and a competition to see who can get the most.
The reason that these two are intertwined into one blog is that they are in opposition. You can't focus on both things at once. I don't care if your preacher, youth pastor, musicians, people in the church say you can, you can't. No, you can't. No. No. No. The moment you start thinking, 'the more the merrier', your church will start to lose a lot of faith. You may have thousands and thousands of people, but a much smaller percentage of those will actually know the full word.
This is also evident in something that seems so simple, and a great idea too, CHURCH SIGNS. They say things like "Burn or Perish" or "1 Cross + 3 Nails = Forgiven" or my personal favorite "The church for people who do church". If we post these things up, and it is seen by the masses, that's really a horrible way to express the love of Jesus and his followers. The purpose of the signs, numbers. We post stuff on these signs trying to draw people in, when in turn it actually pushes them farther away.
Well, you are probably sitting there asking yourself, "How can we find a successful medium?" This lies in the greatest commandment, LOVE. If we express love through people we know or don't, people will come. GOD will bring the people, we have to do nothing. They will look at us and want what we have. They will want to experience the happiness we get just by waking up in the morning. It brings satisfaction to everyone! EVERYBODY WINS!!!
13 comments:
Love is the key!
Very good Nick
Who would be mad if his bride gained beauty? Jesus or Satan?
Who would prefer that the church be small? Jesus or Satan?
Joseph, I'm not sure I understand your comment, but thanks for it!
I disagree with your opinion on the size of the church. We should be willing to do anything short of sin to get people into the church and lead them to Christ. A big Church is not necessarily a healthy Church, but if the Church is not constantly growing then we are not doing our job. Evangelism is not optional, it is required. A healthy Church is a growing Church and should not be limited by a number of people.
I'm not saying a large church is bad, I'm saying that when the church says "NUMBERS NUMBERS, MORE MORE!", that is bad.
But the point of the church is to increase the number of people that can hear the Gospel. We want more people exposed to that. In your post "Expanding the Religious Spectrum," you write:
"I think it is time for churches to stop trying to get people into the church, but to look at the people they already have and make sure they are getting the full story.
If you are a football coach, are you going to do better having 1000 really weak guys, or 50 strong players?"
Aren't we called to disciple and do exactly the opposite and get people into the Church?
Nope. GOD made church as a place for people to worship him. Read John 4 sometime Joseph, it will give you a new view on it. How can someone worship something they don't know? John 4 gives a great, straight-from-Jesus, response :)
Matthew 20:28 states that Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve. The Church is better prepared to help people up than anyone in the world.
You need to dig deeper into that and read the context. We are called to make disciples. Read Matthew 28:18-20. Often, the CHURCHED people are the most lost because of our focus on making the Church into some sort of members only club. We have so many churches that have that attitude, saying that it's not for the lost... What does that do to them? Who are we to keep them from the Gospel?
You need to look further into scripture. Yes, Church is a place for us to worship together, spur one another, encourage one another, and instruct one another(Romans 15:14) You have the first part; How can a non-christian worship someone they don't know, though you're ignoring the fact that we are called to go and make disciples, and add to the kingdom of God. The Bride of Christ is the most qualified to do this! No human being should ever disciple by taking someone under their wing and encouraging them to be more like themselves... We are human and will always show them our sin. Let's show them that they want to be more like Christ. Never close your doors to the unsaved, because, with that action, we will show them how selfish "Churched people" are. No human has changed someone's life by salvation. It is only through Jesus Christ and we can only lead them to The Savior. We need to teach people who Jesus is, and help them fall in love with Jesus Christ.
We don't need to be making more people like us, we need to be leading people to become more like Jesus Christ.
Once again, don't focus on ONE aspect of the Church. Look at the entire picture. How else are we going see people receive salvation? We don't dare stand idle and focus on the people already in church.
Part 1: How can someone worship God if they don't know him?
Part 2: How can they know God if we don't introduce them to Jesus?
Now, referencing back to your comment on: "If you are a football coach, are you going to do better having 1000 really weak guys, or 50 strong players?"
Read Matthew 18:12-14, The Parable of the Lost Sheep. I think our Savior would go out of his way for 1 really weak human. So much that he would not be willing to have any of them be lost.
Honestly, I'm not sure. We both have two different views of who should or shouldn't be in church; sounds like a good topic for me to write on next. Neither one of us is wrong, it's just a matter of opinion.
I look forward to reading it.
Just make sure that when you write it, you explain why anyone should be excluded from Church. I want you to back that up with scripture.
Shepherds and Sheep
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