What is the greatest issue facing the church today? Is it abortion? Is it the rapid spread of Islam in our Western culture? Is it apathy, self-centeredness, or lax morality? While all of these are important, and some may even be critical, I believe the greatest issue facing the church today, is STAGNATION.
In his book, Comeback Churches, Ed Stetzer estimates that 70% to 80% of all churches in the US have either stopped growing or are in decline! This is a crisis that should not only capture our attention - it should drive us to our knees. Imagine how outraged we would be if 70% to 80% of all the ministers in America had a terminal disease. It would be on the front page of every newspaper and the lead story on every television broadcast. The headline might read, "The Church is in Danger of Extinction!" Our church are is in an equally serious predicament because the outcomes are as potentially devastating. We continue to come into our comfortable churches, praying our comfortable prayer, singing our comfortable songs, giving our comfortable offerings, preaching our comfortable sermons, giving our comfortable invitations, comfortable hugs, comfortable words, getting back into our comfortable car, heading to our comfortable homes.
Here are 7 things that we much refresh to keep our church from becoming extinct.
Our Salvation
Our Servanthood
Our Structure
Our Strategies
Our Strengths
In his book, Comeback Churches, Ed Stetzer estimates that 70% to 80% of all churches in the US have either stopped growing or are in decline! This is a crisis that should not only capture our attention - it should drive us to our knees. Imagine how outraged we would be if 70% to 80% of all the ministers in America had a terminal disease. It would be on the front page of every newspaper and the lead story on every television broadcast. The headline might read, "The Church is in Danger of Extinction!" Our church are is in an equally serious predicament because the outcomes are as potentially devastating. We continue to come into our comfortable churches, praying our comfortable prayer, singing our comfortable songs, giving our comfortable offerings, preaching our comfortable sermons, giving our comfortable invitations, comfortable hugs, comfortable words, getting back into our comfortable car, heading to our comfortable homes.
Here are 7 things that we much refresh to keep our church from becoming extinct.
Our Salvation
Our Servanthood
Our Structure
Our Strategies
Our Strengths
Our Services
Our Singing
Our Sermons
Our Singing
Our Sermons
No comments:
Post a Comment