Today's Church pt 6
A songwriter named Andrew Peterson said this about the present day church, “Feels like the church isn’t anything more, than the second coming of the Pharisees.” There is a battle in this world that is being lost. It is a silent fight. Evil is spreading like cancer. People have lost all morality, because society deems it okay. The only cure for this cancerous infection is the Church, the building that is the outcast of this lost world. The Church is the forgotten hope for this sinful earth.
People see the church as an institution; a place a father can see from the road as he passes by to pick up his kids for the weekend from their mom’s because of a disheartened divorce. Society thinks that the Church is just a building taking up valuable space, because they would rather have a Super Wal-Mart so people can shop for groceries and toys at the same time. Our society is on the outside looking in, and we are on the inside looking out. The Church is the hope, the cure, and the assurance that we have for victory over sin. The future depends on the church and their leaders.
Successful evangelism in today’s era will take place through personal relationships and small groups. Barna and Hatch claim that one out of every seven people who accept Christ as their Savior do so at a worship service or other church events.[1] One-on-one evangelism is crucial for today’s culture. 82 percent of the unchurched are at least “somewhat likely” to attend Church if they are invited.[2] The Churches in Acts met in homes.[3] Churches today dwell in ruins because they will not go out into a world where people are hurti
ng and are in need. One Gallup poll reported that four in ten Americans admit to frequent feelings of “intense loneliness” in Newsweek.[4] People long to belong in a community of some kind. That is why bars and nightclubs are successful. The atmosphere calls for acceptance and for people to come as they are. The bar has become the church of the secular society.They tune everything else out and actually listen to the person sitting on the stool. Offering the person a drink as they soak their sorrows on the shoulders of the bartender. They get people to feel connected. Putting people first is not just a program that churches do, it is an attitude, a way of life.[5] There is unity. Their values consist of making people happy and creating a fun environment. There are a lot of things Churches can learn from these environments.
There is community among people behind the walls of a bar. The slogan for the hit television show “Cheers” was, “Go…where everybody knows your name.” People can take off their mask and be themselves. They do not feel like they have to impress anyone else. The function of a tavern is to meet and greet, yet maintaining the contacts people met the last weekend. They have acceptance, understanding, forgiveness, and relationships built upon their purpose to exist. Christians have been so worried that the world is going to influence the Church that the Church has forgotten to influence the world.
Paid in Full
