Struggling to Keep Up
October 2006 has been a landmark month so far. My oldest daughter is now driving on her own. I just recently turned forty-two years old. And the United States population has just surpassed the 300 million mark. Only China and India have a larger population. Each of those two countries have a population of 1 billion plus.
It took the United States nearly 150 years (1915) to reach the 100 million mark. And we have rapidly grown more than 200 million residents in the last 91 years. Statistics tell us that we will reach the 400 million mark by the year 2043. No doubt our country has been growing rapidly and there is not sign of this population boom slowing down.
Here is a question that we may want to ask "How has church attendance been affected by our countries population boom?" Listening to the news one would think that American evangelicals are strong and healthy. After all, we are given credit for deciding elections and influencing policy. But if you take a close look at the numbers you will discover that is not the case.
The truth is that church attendance in the United States remains unchanged from 15 years ago despite the population boom. Even in the Bible belt church attendance is not keeping up with the population growth. It certainly appears that the church in America is struggling to keep up!
Many researchers today say that the church is starting to decline. They tell us that we are failing to reach our young people and to add insult to injury we are not effective in reaching beyond our walls to the unchurched in our communities. No doubt there are many people who are skeptical about the future of the church in America.
How should we respond to this news? Do we just join in with the skeptics? I think not. I think we need to hear the concerns, be honest with ourselves, take a deep breath and press on! The truth is the church today needs to fall in love with it's mission. We need to become passionate again about telling others about Jesus. We need to embrace our purpose and stay focused on the only message that can change a persons life.
Are the church's best days behind us? It depends on our response today. Will we become more motivated to stay focused on our message and press on? Or will we become discouraged and loose heart in our mission? I personally think that God is capable of bringing a great revival, even in our day! Let's trust God and represent Him zealously to men and woman who need a life changing experience.
Will
It took the United States nearly 150 years (1915) to reach the 100 million mark. And we have rapidly grown more than 200 million residents in the last 91 years. Statistics tell us that we will reach the 400 million mark by the year 2043. No doubt our country has been growing rapidly and there is not sign of this population boom slowing down.
Here is a question that we may want to ask "How has church attendance been affected by our countries population boom?" Listening to the news one would think that American evangelicals are strong and healthy. After all, we are given credit for deciding elections and influencing policy. But if you take a close look at the numbers you will discover that is not the case.
The truth is that church attendance in the United States remains unchanged from 15 years ago despite the population boom. Even in the Bible belt church attendance is not keeping up with the population growth. It certainly appears that the church in America is struggling to keep up!
Many researchers today say that the church is starting to decline. They tell us that we are failing to reach our young people and to add insult to injury we are not effective in reaching beyond our walls to the unchurched in our communities. No doubt there are many people who are skeptical about the future of the church in America.
How should we respond to this news? Do we just join in with the skeptics? I think not. I think we need to hear the concerns, be honest with ourselves, take a deep breath and press on! The truth is the church today needs to fall in love with it's mission. We need to become passionate again about telling others about Jesus. We need to embrace our purpose and stay focused on the only message that can change a persons life.
Are the church's best days behind us? It depends on our response today. Will we become more motivated to stay focused on our message and press on? Or will we become discouraged and loose heart in our mission? I personally think that God is capable of bringing a great revival, even in our day! Let's trust God and represent Him zealously to men and woman who need a life changing experience.
Will
1 Comments:
The church is not dead, but truly must adjust to a changing US Population. For one, for the first time it appears many of us will need translators for some of our services. English as a Second Language will be a much needed ministry in reaching out to people in order to give them a greater opportunity to succeed in our nation.
Second, Churches also need to reevaluate the "seeker friendly" drive that swept over the Church over the last decade or so. Demographics are changing so quickly that if such a mentality continues many will be left behind in Church evangelistic efforts because they simply aren't part of the "desireable" demographic. Too much diversity surrounding us these days for overly-targeted evangelism.
Jesus said that if He would be lifted up He would draw all men to Himself. Of course, He was first and foremost speaking of His death on the cross. However, becoming more Christocentric in our services and less seekercentric is what the Church needs in order to stay relevant.
The truth of Scripture never changes. It never becomes irrelevant. It doesn't need adjusting. Its message, and not gimics will help keep the church relevant and thriving even as we face this "strange new world."
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