Recently I've ben thinking about what we as pastors are doing in regards to the great commission. I've come to the conclusion that for the most part, we spend too much of our time working on building a local church rather than building His kingdom. Just about every email newsletter I get or conference out there is geared toward how to grow our local church. How to attract people and keep people. It seems like a growing church (in terms of numbers of people) is considered a healthy church. While we all probably know deep down that is not the case, we all still find ourselves doing those things that will attract people. (I know I did). A new building, a foyer or rest room remodel. Moving to a larger space when we get 3/4 full because people don't want to sit too close to one another. Trying to dress or act "hip" even when it isn't who we really are. Changing the music style to be more edgy or hip. These things work great if we want to draw a crowd, raise attendance and income. But what does it do for kingdom growth or believer growth?
Recently I attended a church where the building was nice, but old and nothing special. It was not in the best neighborhood. The music some would say was dated. But the people were on fire for God and totally engaged. The pure gospel message went forth and 20 people gave their lives to Jesus. Oh and the house was packed with people of all generations. A consultant might have come in there and told them they could never attract people with those things. What these people forget is the power of prayer, faithfulness, obedience and the gospel message itself.
So where am I going with all this? Well, while there are many ways to share the gospel message, the message should be the most important thing. The venue, the music, the clothes shouldn't matter. What should matter is that HIS message is preached wherever and to whoever He directs us. In a church or outside it. In a new building, old building or no building. With a new foyer or with old rest rooms.
The fact is the church should be more for discipleship (training believers), rather than evangelizing anyway. We need to spend less time and money on facilities and big outreach or programs and more time training and encouraging believers to go into all the world and preach the gospel. We have just gone through another Easter season. Many churches held egg hunts as an outreach. Many held some outrageous ones. Trying to top the year before or the church down the street in number of eggs or prizes. Thousands came and maybe heard a token gospel message and left and went back to their lives. That money and time could have been better spent. (Trust me, once you do a couple of these you get it).
So this pastor thinks maybe we have gotten it all wrong. In our quest to understand why so many are leaving the church and how we might get them back we have resorted to marketing techniques that perhaps are better suited for business building than Kingdom building. Perhaps it's time top get back to the basics. The word, worship and prayer, and follow what His spirit is saying to you for your Jerusalem.
Until next time,
Pastor Paul
