The longer that I am in ministry, the more I see how consumeristic our society really is. For the most part the church has become a place where a person asks, "What can I get out of this experience," instead of, "What can I give God through this experience." People will stay as long as their needs are being met, but if the church down the street can offer more for the dollar they put in the offering plate, by next Sunday they will be attending the church down the street.
Now I know that this is not always the caase and many of our churches have those people who would be the ones to go down with the ship. I thank God for the people who get what church is really about. It is those people who give you support when everyone else has turned their backs on you. It is those people who pray for you until...no, they pray and pray and pray. It is those people who have caught onto the vision that God has for the Church and are willing to see it through until fruition.
Going back to the first group of people - how do we help people to see that church is not really about them? In our attempts to help people heal and have their needs met through programs and services, have we fed that consumeristic mentality? I'm not saying that we don't bring the healing salvation of the gospel to people or even that we don't offer things like nursery and junior church, but how do we re-establish the number one reason for church?
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2 comments:
the least creative answer, and the only answer i know of, is to simply keep repeating that #1 reason over and over and over :)
beat them with a stick.
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