Eight million LESS people are going to church today than 20 years ago…we have a problem. Let's do our part in the Coweta-Fayette area to turn it around.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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About Me
- Ed
- Sharpsburg, GA, United States
- Blessed to have three great sons and a beautiful wife, to be pastor of a great church and to get to work with some of my best friends.
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4 comments:
What is the problem that makes people give up on church?
Several that I know of are: (these are not blanket statements)
Churches, as they grow, seem to become turned inward on themselves. Things become too much about the local body and not enough about the world to which we are called to go in to.
In an effort to monitor spiritual growth, check lists are created and people are expected to comply. That can become the measure of a person's growth. People become like cattle to be marked and numbered. Spiritual gifting and personality tests seem to become the Christian’s zodiac. People are judged on spirituality based upon their busyness in the church.
Preaching is typically geared to the lost and the believers are never taken past those elemental teachings.
Churches have become too businesslike and institutionalized in their functioning. People are usually the casualty of that.
Leadership can become too distant from the people. I sometimes think they would make great politicians and that is not a compliment and needs no further explaining. If a person does not walk lock-step with policy they are made to feel unwelcome or ignored completely.
There are too many books on church growth that too many are trying to emulate in their local congregations. Can’t there be more leaders who break free of the models espoused in all of those books and follow God’s leading and Word? Do what is fitting where they are at and not try to be like some mega-church or strictly adhere to some denominational frame work. That would really be a tall order to accomplish. Most of us, if you could look into the thoughts and knowledge inside, are a cornucopia of different influences and ideas. Solomon had it nailed:
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one might say,
"See this, it is new"?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us. Eccl 1:9-10 (NASB)
Can we really always be original?
These are just several things that come to my mind. If I sit here too long I could come up with a longer list.
Am I pulling a rabbit out of a hat? No, I do not think so. These are things that have tried to drive me away from church. These are things that I must fight against and resist if I am to stay the course.
It often becomes too much about other things and not the pursuit of God. I do not think these things always happen intentionally but they do happen and creep in to the way things develop as a church tries to move forward.
3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 2 Cor 11:3 (NASB)
I can tell you from the perspective of a local parent with a child with special needs who does not attend church right now why I do not. I actually live 5 miles away from your church but am afraid to go.
I have tried visiting and attending various churches around the area. I even signed my daughter up for one of their preschool programs.
The looks you get when they find out your child has a disability (my daughter has cerebral palsy which makes her limp, delays her speech, and has some behavior issues) are unimaginable when it comes from people who are supposed to be Christians. After 3 visits to the church and my daugher getting asked to leave the preschool program at the age of 18 months because she "cried too much" after just 2 times there, I decided to stop going to churches.
Unless you fit a cookie cutter mold, it is obvious that the churches in this area just would rather not have you there. The message I have gotten is that unless you are perfect, you are a burden.
I have seen your signs about "a church for the rest of us" but I have my doubts to be honest. Could your childrens' ministry handle my daughter? She is not that badly behaved. She is 3 and functions as a 2 year old and is improving every day. But to some, that is too much to bother with. Would they even want to or care to?
A lot of people have become disillusioned with the church. They say one thing about God's love and serving the community, but they fall short when it is time to practice what you preach.
I did not mean this to come off as critical or harsh. I was just surfing the "blogosphere" and came across your blog and noticed who you are and where you serve.
Turtles has spoken quite accurately. As I mentioned, if I would have sat long enough I could have come up with more reasons why people do not come to church. I speak from a 30 year inside perspective. I have had to deal with people's attitudes and actions because I did not follow the crowd. I probably should say I did not buy into the gross infiltration of the worlds values that is, unfortunately, so much of the mindset of those who take the name Christian.
I would ask that you do not give up on the church. I do not think that you have stated that. You only stated that you have quit attending any. The church is God's design. People are the problem. I have felt like bailing out many times in recent years but if everyone who has had those feelings did that, the church would be guaranteed to never change. When peoples hearts are changed from the inside by the life of Christ that lives within, the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control would be the natural outflowing manifestation towards those who are watching.
Turtles I'm so sorry to hear about your experience in the church. I can understand why you have doubts that our congregation would be any different. I can tell you that we will try. We do have families that have children with disablities come. Our children's ministry will do their best to work with you to make daughter's experience a good one. If you would like to talk to me personally about your experience or how we could help call the church office 770-251-9516 and ask for Ed. If I'm not there just leave me a message from Turtles I'll call back.
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