Thoughts
June 13, 2018
(Continued from 053018) …..
Do we care as much about our neighbor in the church as we do for our neighbor in Haiti, Africa, or China? We promote foreign, home, and state missions. Why not raise the awareness of the mission field “within” our church rolls to challenge our 3,200,000 saved-servers to introduce the 12,800,000 (80% of 16-million) to become friends with Jesus?
The decline in many churches signifies a greater need for the church to develop a clear image. To our members and the public today we must think of the church (the building) as less about a building that people worship in and more about a building that brings people together to develop relationships, study God’s word and be trained, encouraged and motivated to help more people become friends of Jesus.
The second disturbing trend is the continuing decline in religious literacy of the members that make up the Church. Many people do not know the books of the Bible, the people of the Bible, chronology timelines and geographical locations of cities and countries. Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Moabites, and the Hittites are all Greek to many people. I believe that fewer and fewer people can quote scripture, any scripture. They have nothing hidden in their heart to fall back on in time of despair, depression, and loneliness. Many members are untrained, unwilling or afraid to share their faith. Some members have no faith to share.
To the outside community, the church (the members) must be viewed as knowledgeable people who love Jesus and are sharing that love with their communities. Trained, motivated and committed members of the church, with the leadership of The Holy Spirit and guidance from the pastors, can at a minimum slow down the decline of the church.