Friday, February 28, 2020

Feel the Chill Yet? (Originally posted on Tuesday, September 27, 2011)

Hey church people, here's a chilling reality:

We are failing.

When it comes to the primary mission of the church, Jesus, who's supposed to know these things, says there are two certainties: A) the harvest is plentiful and  B) it's ripe and ready to go. So where are all the people? We should be cramming our churches full of people evidencing a contagious life changing experience we couldn't help sharing with them. This thing is so good it's supposed to go viral.

For all of our tricks we can't seem to compel them to join us in any significant numbers. Take all the folks in all the church  buildings on the best Easter Sunday you've ever had and it's a fraction of those who will show up at all the shopping venues on the same day. Either Jesus is mistaken about a plentiful, ready harvest or we are floundering badly.

Let's stop being consoled by that phony statistic that reports 40% of Americans attend weekly worship on a regular basis. Take a peek past the steering wheel this Sunday and you won't see 4 in 10 of your neighbors headed to church. 

They aren't travelling with us. We are failing at our primary task of reaching a lost world. That makes us failures. 

Deep surgery is called for. Something has to change. Reformation, anyone?

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