Let’s get dirty again! For so long the church has lost sight of what it is that we need to be focusing our efforts on.
We should be busy about bringing more people into our church and introducing them to Jesus.
For so long now, the church as a whole has been laxidazy, at best, in truly being hyper focused upon bringing new souls into the body.
We’ve been all about this group or that group, who’s who, and who’s not. The church’s of today are starting to resemble a club of sorts.
Who has the nicest cars, who’s the best dressed, who’s hanging out with the “in crowd.”
Each of us, if being totally honest, need to be drug out back behind the wood shed and given a thrashing.
We’ve been so inward focused, that we’ve lost sight of what the true mission is.
Come on now, don’t leave me here on this pathway alone. We’ve all been guilty of this. We get comfortable in our ‘church environment.”
Things seem to be going smooth. People appear to be happy. All the groups are doing just fine. Except there’s a huge problem.
There’s no growth taking place and no new faces seen sitting in the pews of churches across America.
it’s the same old crowds. Shouldn’t that both you just a bit?
Boy, I’m here to tell you, we all better hope that isn’t the way that Jesus feels about us, or we’re all pretty much up a river without a boat to bring us back.
Yet, that’s exactly the way that many people in our churches respond when asked to do something.
Folks, it any church expects to see any kind of growth, it’s going to take the hands and involvement of “EVERYONE,” not just a few here and there.
Oh and before someone throws the excuse out there about “I don’t know how to do this or that,” I can almost assure you there is someone who can help get you the experience and training to fill a position that you are greatly needing to fill.
Okay, now I’m going to tap dance of some toes here. I hear it all the time, “I need this,” “Oh my family is suffering,” “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Yet, I never see those same group of people chipping in to do their part in helping the church grow.
Everyone expects the church to “prop” them up, yet they’ll do nothing in return when it comes time to helping in one are or another within the ministry.
I can almost without hesitation think that nearly 80% of anyone that reads this, thinks it’s the job of the pastor.
Red lights going off and sirens blaring here. WRONG!
It is our job.
The pastor is responsible to teach us how to do so, however, it falls upon our shoulders in actually step up our efforts in bringing more folks to church.
You know, there are times when I find myself asking if people aren’t just a part of a church or hold a position within it, because they think it looks good on a resume.
What? Why don’t you think we are serious? Well, that’s easy enough to answer. Just look around at all the available open seats on any given Sunday morning.
What does that say about our personal beliefs in our own faith and salvation?
Have you ever wondered what any of your friends may think when you tell them “Yes, I go to church?”
They’re probably thinking under their breath, “strange, I wonder how come they’ve never invited me?”
How many people outside of our church do each of us come in contact with on a daily basis?
Now how many of those people have we actually taken the time to invite to come and fellowship with us at church?
Many church’s across America have some of the very best tools when it comes to reaching more pople.
There’s various social networking sites, their very own church or ministry website, streaming media, and a whole host of other entities that I could probably spend an eternity writing about.
But wait, all those shiny tools are sitting there rusting away. Why is that?
Because people don’t want to get their hands dirty and take on a new challenge.
How many times I hear “I don’t wanna do a live stream,” or “that’s not my thing.” Man I’m telling you, we need to re-evaluate our positioning and hope that Jesus isn’t too busy for us or think that we aren’t His thing or we’re all going to end up someplace we would rather not be.
Yet, it’s true. People don’t want to do this or that, yet, they expect to see the amazing growth of their church.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I am almost sure that Rome didn’t build itself, and certainly wasn’t built overnight.
Okay, so you’re not going to get involved and lend a hand. Then how about you start digging in and lifting up the people who are?
A little praise goes a long way, especially when you’ve been doing something for years and the only thing people can find time to do is “criticize” your efforts. It truly does make you feel like throwing in the towell.
Oh, and let’s give a little spanking out for our complainers. If you are not wiling to step up to the plate and lend a hand, than sit down and shut up! I feel the same way about complainers that don’t offer to help, as I do for people who refuse to vote.
My personal belief is, if you choose not to vote, you have given up your right to sit back and complain about this, that, and the other.
Well that pretty much carriers over to the complainers. If you’re not willing to jump in and lend a hand, then sit down and keep quiet. Nobody is interested in listening to your negativity while they are giving it their all in trying to help do something positive.
I fully get a busy life. People have to work in order to make a living to be able to support their families.
Wait for it, but how many people do we know that will skip out on a church event so they can go and watch a sporting event, or a concert?
Look, I’m not saying this is bad. We all need a break from time to time with our families, however, there are those that use this mechanism as a way not to get involved and help out with the church.
I guess it gets down to priorities.
Better hope Jesus still finds us as a priority to Him.
God’s not looking for people that are Gucci. God is looking for people who are willing to get their hands dirty and get busy about building His kingdom.
So, what are your plans to dig in and get dirty? How do you intend to step up your game in being busy about brining souls into the Kingdom of Heaven?
I guess for the meantime, I’m going to sit back and watch for now. But it will be interesting to see what people across every church and denomination does to increase the level of how they are reaching out to the un-churched and un-believers to start filling up their pews across America.