What brings people to Church on a Sunday morning?
The more I study the book of Deuteronomy the more convinced I am that it is to be US (you and me) that brings people to a Sunday morning service. I am to live my life in such a compelling way that people watching me want what I have. The world around us should ask – what makes you different? Why do you live that way? How can I have what you have?
We are to be the testimony and our lives are to be what draw people in to this circle.
But look at churches all over America and you realize many are in decline. It’s getting harder and harder to get people in a church building for a Sunday morning.
So we ask ourselves what can we do to draw people in? Why aren’t they coming? What are we doing wrong? And these are appropriate questions.
But … instead of pointing the finger at our lives and our relationship with God, we point it at our Sunday morning service. Aha! This must be the problem…
So … we change the Sunday morning service to make it fit with what “people” want.
We watch movies and explain how they fit the Bible.
We play songs non-believers know and like.
We use music that attracts them.
We try to talk more “cool” and less “religious.”
We water down our sermons so no one will feel bad and try to keep things up so it looks like we’re actually having fun in here.
But the problem is…
The Sunday morning service is NOT to be what attracts the non-believer.
Your LIFE is to be attractive!
Your relationship with God is to be compelling to the world! They’re suppose to look at us and say “wow, I am missing something and I want what they have bc they are different!”
Will it repel some – definitely. There are many in this world that want nothing to do with God and when you look like Him you will repel. But, for those who are seeking Him you will be like water to a parched soul. Tell me what makes you different! Tell how how you can have such peace? How can you have such joy? Who is this God you serve?
Believer, it’s time we owned up to the real problem. The problem isn’t the Sunday morning worship services. The problem is with us and our relationship with God. We are not compelling to the world around us. Our hearts are so full of idols it’s hard to fit God in there.
I recently read about a woman in Vietnam who is persecuted bc she’s a believer. But the problem is that her relationship with the Lord is so compelling that if she talks to a person long enough they end up becoming a Christian. So every time she’s arrested and interrogated they have to use a different soldier. Otherwise they end up getting saved!
My relationship with the Lord is not that attractive.
May God in His mercy take us deeper. May our relationship with God be attractive to those who are seeking Him. May we truly do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.