why churches don't see visitors return
Posted by Bryan
here's a few reasons, based on *real* experiences we've recently had, why we either won't visit or return to a few different churches in our immediate vicinity:
- pastor never opens the Bible from which to preach.
- pastor preaches a topical sermon rather than exegetical sermon
- pastor says in prayer, "Father, please forgive us for being a bunch of peckerheads..." (leading Kaylyn to inevitably ask, "Daddy, what did the preacher mean when he said we were a bunch of....")
- pastor acting like my family was "professional-grade Christians" because i'm on staff at NAMB
- church members acting "put out" as we hunted for preschool sunday school classrooms for our children (without assistance)
- pastor attempting to impress us by naming several NAMB executives with whom he rubs elbows
- pastor saying "when you are discouraged, you cannot honor God
- church does not offer sunday school ministry
- church does not attempt a follow-up contact
- pastor sends an impersonal, mass-produced note/invitation to return
- church does not give at least 10 percent of tithes and offerings to the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program
- church is ashamed to have the word "Baptist" in its name
- church brags about what it did 20,50,100 years ago because its not doing anything today
- membership is homogeneous -- culturally, ethnically, socio-economically
disclaimer: this is not to suggest that there are no good churches surrounding us. even churches that are guilty of these things are probably, for the most part, decent churches. and it's also not to imply that we are smugly superior and do everything right. i know that's not the case. i just more than ever before have tired of "playing church." I want my worship to be genuine and my service to be an ongoing, prioritized outgrowth of that worship. I want my church to be servant-hearted and ministering. i want my church to be about what we can give the lost, not what we have to offer to the saved. if the church's heart beats for the advance of God's Kingdom through the love for one another and others, no human nor hades can hold it back.
that's all i'm looking for. and if we are so blessed to be a part of *that* congregation, my prayer will be that i do nothing to quench God's Holy Spirit.
September 29, 2003 1:18 AM