Now it is time for the church to make a decision

The very mention of the word church creates a lot of different reactions and responses. For those not afraid it will be a word that strikes friendly thoughts of times spent maybe as a child or a teenager hanging out with friends or participating in youth group or church activities that made an impression. Church can also be a word that is not welcomed in any form by those that had a bad experience with someone who described themselves as religious. Often individuals view a church as an outdated institution that is self serving and not relative with today’s happenings or issues. The last consideration to share would be that church is thought of as something for children and kids to attend and participate in. Folks with this attitude would also say that they find value in church for that age group and they believe this is the place everyone should start, but that save value doesn’t transfer into adult years.
For Christians who love attending church and enjoy the worship services conducted through their services and events they will not like anything I have just written. I can understand how they might be upset by these thoughts but the coin could be flipped easily and I could say I don’t understand how anyone could not see clearly these are the considerations of many. Some of these “many” will never attend our churches and some might come when their grandchildren are participating in a program or a special friends child has invited them to come and what them at church. Either way, you can see there is a clear disconnect between the church and church members from those that drive by looking at the buildings and from those that could never be involved in church life of any sort because of what they perceive. Church members and those who attend church have a lot of decisions to make in 2011 and the leadership and membership of churches have tough decisions to make about what they really believe is true about church, especially theirs.
The size of your church has a huge determining factor in what you hold to be true about the practice of church. For large attended churches the perception if often held that the bigger the number of folks who attend worship, the larger the number of teenagers and children participating in church and even the number of programs, special events, and concerts will determine the value and effectiveness of church. Truth is, that large numbers have no bearing on reality of an impact a church is having in a community nor more than saying, if you eat chicken you will become a chicken. Chicken is good and I love chicken but there is a lot more to being a chicken then just the name. Small congregations consider themselves to be handicapped because of their size. They don’t even attempt some programs, events or worship because they don’t believe it will be possible based on their size. It is funny to me, a bigger church should be making it happen and a small church is forgiven for not leading simply because they are small in number and group.
The church is disconnected from most in society, but that doesn’t mean that Jesus is disconnected. He is alive and well and the time for churches to decide what they will stand for and what they will do is now. People are dying everyday because of starvation.. They are also dying because they have shut God off from their heart line and position of influence. The time is now to make a difference for Him and the church is so perfect for a demonstration of all He has to offer. I pray you will decide to allow Him to change you and make a difference if you will only believe and act.

Until then