We have more churches today than in any time period past, yet our churches are at all time lows in attendance, depth, leadership and overall Biblical knowledge. Why is that? I firmly believe the issues lies with God’s people more than any other area. Now, while the title of this blog is negative, my goal is for this to be a positive reinforcement to our people. What are God’s people doing that is causing the house of God to be made of none effect?

  1. Not coming to church regularly…
  2. Show up on time or late…
  3. Be a fair weather-attender…
  4. Your walk with God is limited to church attendance…
  5. Avoid church ownership and responsibility…
  6. Never speak to others…
  7. Only attend when church benefits you…
  8. Do nothing more than necessary…
  9. Tip the church in the offering plate
  10. Forget about others.

These characteristics are prevalent in many, if not all churches.  Growing churches are not those with the most people in attendance, a growing church is a church who has a group of people who work against this list. Every pastor fights against these natural traits in order to advanced Christ’s church in the midst of their communities. So how can we see growth in our life and church?

Our desire ought to be in the things of God. Those who have prolonged exposure to worship, the word and God’s people have more of a desire for God.

There is nothing worst than a church that shows up when the service is supposed to start or most often late. It makes it nearly impossible for people to fellowship with each other and more importantly prepare their hearts for what God has for them in the service.

Rain or shine, Hot or cold, tired or energetic, want or rather not, we ought to be faithful to our church. Now that doesn’t mean that you cannot have a vacation or be sick, but it means we choose the spiritual over the earthly or the eternal over the temporal.

Those who are thankful leave no room to be critical. The church isn’t always going to do everything the way we want it, but being grateful for our local church overshadows those times.

Someone who is mindful of their position within the Body of Christ and takes the initiative to lead the way in their area, is a valuable member. These are the types of people that churches grow with.

The church is not confined to a building, we are the church. If the church is fake, carnal, non-committal, and to themselves then so will be the church. We need a group of people who know what they believe and practice it.

The people within our churches can become forgetful that the church is a place where young and elder believers get together to help sharpen themselves as we live in this world. Being wise in what we say will ensure that those who need encouragement are encouraged, those that need admonishment receive it and those that need biblical counsel gain it.

Most churches don’t have a full-time paid staff member to serve in each area of ministry, nor should they. This requires God’s people to dedicate step out and find purpose within their church. When people get involved regularly in the church it becomes more than just a group of people who believe the same as I do, but a family of like-minded servants of God.

We complain that the church is always after my money, but so is Target your children and the government! Tithing is founded on the principal that we must be givers, however if we only give to meet a demand we are not being a giver but a law-abiding Christian; which is at BEST, robotic. We must be mindful that it’s the heart that counts.

If we are attending our church, and are thankful for what God has given us to grow in and have taken ownership of our church, naturally we will want to invite others to join us. We will seek out for others to share the same experiences that we GET to participate in. We will look to the world and understand their need for something like this in their area.

Let’s not cause our church to be stagnant, but lets be participants in its growth.

 

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