I realize that there are some very pressing issues that our country is facing, one in particular which is approaching the level of the Supreme Court. I do plan on tossing in a couple of pennies worth of thoughts on it, but that will most likely be next week or so. It's not that I'm avoiding the subject, but that I just hate interuppting my thoughts when I'm on a roll of sorts.
In my last few posts, I've been thinking out loud about what repels or doesn't repel people from places like our church facilities. As I've been thinking out loud on this, I hope you've seen that I'm slowly working from one side of the coin to the other. I started off simply looking at what we can do that doesn't turn people away. Clean facilities and a warm welcome are things that likely won't turn people away, while trash in the corners and stony silence may cause someone to reconsider ever coming back. Again, as I see it, those are obstacles to hearing the Gospel message that we can do something about, and I firmly believe that we should do something about. I'll even go so far as to call it sinful if we know those things about ourselves and yet refuse to change. It's hardly loving to our neighbor to do things that they find offensive and which serve to drive them away, rather than letting the scandal of what God has done in Jesus being the obstacle to their faith.
So let's say that someone enters our place of worship. Our building and our friendliness don't repel them. But are those things sufficient to bring them back the following week? Are they going to come back just because we have a clean building? I hardly think so. Something else has to be at work to bring them back. (Yes, I believe that God's Spirit is at work to bring them back, but I'm looking at the reasons that they are more likely to recognize before they come to see that it was the Spirit's work in their lives.)
When I first entered the ministry, I assumed that everyone went to a particular church to worship for the best of reasons. I assumed they went because I was teaching the best theology out there. But in the years of ministry I have under my belt now, I realize that people go where they go for a variety of motivations. Some regularly attend because it's where their friends are. Others attend because they like the particular style of worship. Some attend because they like the pastor, or how he preaches. And yes, there are some that choose churches because of the content of what they preach.
I would love to assume that everyone who enters the doors of our church do so because they want to hear a very clear message of the true teachings of God. However, I recognize that most people are here for a variety of reasons. Sure, part of that may be what the church teaches. But I know enough to know that a person who has never entered a Christian church before probably isn't attending because they know the true theology of that church. They probably have far different motivations. So tomorrow, I'll start to think out loud again about how we encourage them to come back so that they come to see that it is God's Spirit who was the driving force behind their presence in our worshiping community the whole time.
In my last few posts, I've been thinking out loud about what repels or doesn't repel people from places like our church facilities. As I've been thinking out loud on this, I hope you've seen that I'm slowly working from one side of the coin to the other. I started off simply looking at what we can do that doesn't turn people away. Clean facilities and a warm welcome are things that likely won't turn people away, while trash in the corners and stony silence may cause someone to reconsider ever coming back. Again, as I see it, those are obstacles to hearing the Gospel message that we can do something about, and I firmly believe that we should do something about. I'll even go so far as to call it sinful if we know those things about ourselves and yet refuse to change. It's hardly loving to our neighbor to do things that they find offensive and which serve to drive them away, rather than letting the scandal of what God has done in Jesus being the obstacle to their faith.
So let's say that someone enters our place of worship. Our building and our friendliness don't repel them. But are those things sufficient to bring them back the following week? Are they going to come back just because we have a clean building? I hardly think so. Something else has to be at work to bring them back. (Yes, I believe that God's Spirit is at work to bring them back, but I'm looking at the reasons that they are more likely to recognize before they come to see that it was the Spirit's work in their lives.)
When I first entered the ministry, I assumed that everyone went to a particular church to worship for the best of reasons. I assumed they went because I was teaching the best theology out there. But in the years of ministry I have under my belt now, I realize that people go where they go for a variety of motivations. Some regularly attend because it's where their friends are. Others attend because they like the particular style of worship. Some attend because they like the pastor, or how he preaches. And yes, there are some that choose churches because of the content of what they preach.
I would love to assume that everyone who enters the doors of our church do so because they want to hear a very clear message of the true teachings of God. However, I recognize that most people are here for a variety of reasons. Sure, part of that may be what the church teaches. But I know enough to know that a person who has never entered a Christian church before probably isn't attending because they know the true theology of that church. They probably have far different motivations. So tomorrow, I'll start to think out loud again about how we encourage them to come back so that they come to see that it is God's Spirit who was the driving force behind their presence in our worshiping community the whole time.
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