In my last post, I came down pretty hard on church people
who complain that they are not growing in their church and use that as an
excuse for leaving their church. I realize that the growth of many Christians
really does stall. When that happens their church experience and even their
relationship with Christ can become stale. Changing churches is awfully
drastic. It disrupts your life, the church, and often damages the Kingdom of God.
Here are some things
you can do to grow at the church you now attend.
o
Find out whom the pastor is targeting with his
messages and pray with him for those people. Who does he see as the people who
your particular church has the best opportunity to reach? Those folks are the
primary mission of your church. Now that doesn’t mean that others are excluded.
It means that those folks are the center of the target. There is a biblical
precedence for “targeting.” Jesus targeted the “lost house of Israel”, but He
also healed the Syro-Phoenician woman, and told he disciples to go to all
people. Also, Paul targeted Gentiles, but also reached Jews. Conversely, Peter
targeted Jews, but he was the first to baptize a Gentile (Cornelius). Pray that
your pastor’s messages will touch the targeted people at a deep level.
o
Find out whom the songs target and pray for
them. Also pray for the musicians that they will be able to keep the message
and not the applause their priority. While you’re at it, ask God to help you
enjoy the music more. If you don’t like it, or it is too loud, don’t complain
to anyone except, perhaps, the music leader him/herself.
o
Look into the eyes of the people who visit the
church and newer members. Ask God to help you love them even if they are
different in generation, different socio-economic status, or education level. Ask him to use you to be part of winning your
neighborhood and the next generation
o
Find out what needs to be done and offer to help
in anyway you can. Ask a staff leader where you might fit in and how you can
get trained to do it. Tell them you want
to be on the team.
o
Whether not the staff can help you find an “official”
job, you can still be part of accomplishing the mission. You can warmly greet
others, especially visitors. You can invite new people to attend your small
group, Sunday school class, etc. Even if they never come, they will appreciate
a sincere invitation.
o
If you know that you need help to grow in the
Lord, join or start a group or class that will go deeper in the study of the
Bible. Ask the pastor or a staff leader for direction in this.
If you can’t be part
of the team, do your church, the Lord, and your pastor a favor and find
somewhere else to attend. However, before you do that think about how you will
explain your leaving your church to the Lord. That’s a lot harder than
explaining it to your pastor or someone at church, because God knows your
heart. If your reasons are selfish He will know. If your reasons are valid you
will know His approval.
Before you write off the
leadership of your church and/or decide to leave, ask yourself these questions:
1. If the church changed to suit me
would it be more likely or less likely to reach unchurched people?
2. Am I a
customer at my church or am I part of the work force?
People complain about commercialism in the church and say
church leaders work to impress the unchurched. Some of those same folks then
choose to leave the church because the church doesn’t suit them. What they seem
to want is for the church to treat them as customers. For the church to work as it should, church members should be part of
the staff, not the customers. The customers of the church are people who
need Jesus. When they put faith in Jesus, the process of customer becoming
workers begins. The work people in God’s church are supposed to do is the great
commission and the great commandments.
I have actually heard people say that the church should
cater to them, because they give money. Well that’s consumerism. Our gifts to
the church are just that—gifts. Some folks give to the church the way they pay
dues to a country club. They think their offerings buy them the right to be
served by the church and use the facility, and that the church leadership
should put the social and religious needs of its members first. On the contrary
the church must put the spiritual needs
of those who don’t know Christ ahead of the religio-cultural needs of the
members. We should expect, even require, that our gifts to the church be
used to build the Kingdom of God.
On the other hand,
if the reason you don’t feel like your are growing is because the church is not
reaching people, then you do need to find another place where you can be part
of the doing the mission. You need a place where you grow by serving and supporting
the vision to reach your community for Christ. You are not to be a spectator.
You are to be a stakeholder. You are to be a servant. You are to be a minister
and missionary!
