Perception

In the past, when people were in need they would look to local churches for assistance. They also looked to the church for ways to help them cope and live everyday life. The simple fact is that this is no longer true. The church has lost its value to many people who still seek for reality and truth. One study found that about two thirds of Americans do not value the church for any direction in their life, or feel that the church could possibly offer them any value in directing their personal decisions or life goals.

Most people have a positive attitude about Jesus, but for them church is another matter. As American demographics shift and move, neighborhoods are changing and reforming. At the same time it seems the Church has lost touch with those in the most accessible area–their backyard. Entertainment venues and anti-Christian religions are buying up old church properties and replacing moral and spiritual values with other alternatives in those buildings that once were filled with people changed by the Word of God.

The church has become for many just another organization competing for people’s sense of community. Other community organizations can and do integrate people into their fold easier, allowing people to truly feel like they belong. Once accepted into that fellowship, it becomes even more difficult for the church to reach these folks. In fact, the number of young adults leaving their childhood spiritual roots is now nearly 90 per cent. Their number one reason is that their spiritual needs are not being met by the churches of today.

Most of our churches are seen as judgmental and exclusive by those outside our walls. Yes, it is true that we should discipline those inside the church as the Bible commands, but we forgot that our front door policy should be as large and inclusive as possible. We have to change the perception that the local church is just a special club for the religious elite. The lost, prodigals, and backsliders already think we are all hypocrites based upon what they are told by the media and see with their own eyes every day from the lifestyle of so-called believers. We have to change that perception by being real with ourselves and real with Christ in our everyday lives.

I do believe we can alter this growing perception about the church if we begin to live out the love of God rooted in the commission of Christ-"Go into all the world and preach the gospel". Our mission must include an invitation to all people in our community regardless of their present sin, lifestyle, or their past. God always intended for the church to be a hospital for sinners, never just a haven for saints. The problem is that many have forgotten this fact and our local church leaders are not doing a lot to help the their congregations regain this sense of our calling to reach the world.

J. Lee Grady wrote a few years ago in an article for Charisma magazine that he still believed in the church. I do as well, and pray daily that God will help me to show others we can still be a vibrant part of our community. I'm sure that I'm not the only minister that feels this way. So let's all do our part to help those folks that don't like church anymore to realize there's somebody that cares and wants to help them.