What Good is Church These Days?

I love the church.  Fellowship, discipleship, community worship, mission activities—almost everything about church appeals to me. 

God obviously loves church, too.  Sometimes the Bible refers to the church as the bride of Christ.  Sometimes it is likened to the earthly embodiment of Christ.  Regardless of the metaphor, Christ loves His church.

If you love something, you want what’s best for it.  You cherish it, you study it, you spend time with it.  And if something is wrong with it, you take notice.  Maybe you’ve noticed—maybe you haven’t—but it sure seems like there are a lot of problems with modern church in America.  Let’s take a quick gander:

• Only about 18% of Americans regularly attend church.
• While more Americans are seeking God, a growing number do so away from a local church.
• The US population is growing significantly, but church attendance is declining.
• Most of the decline is seen in churches established prior to the 1970s.  
• Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant denomination, saw baptisms decline 5.5% last year, membership decline by 105,000, and Sunday worshipers decline by 188,000.  
• The Millennial generation (born between 1985 and 2004) is even less likely than older generations to attend church, a disturbing trend for the future.

I could go on, but you get the point. 

Even scarier is knowing that this isn’t just a very recent trend and isn’t something that should have surprised anyone.  I have shelves of books that acknowledge the problem and offer suggestions: You Lost Me, Essential Church, Organic Church, The Forgotten Ways, Comeback Churches, Transformational Church, Contagious Church, etc, etc. 

Based on all the books out there by some very smart and experienced folks, we can tell that there are quite a few problems and even more solutions.  I sure can’t summarize all those in this little blog, and I definitely don’t have the answer.  But what I’d like to do over the next few posts is take a look at some of the basic challenges and consider some biblical guidance.  I’d love for you to join me as we explore these issues, and I’d REALLY love to hear your observations and ideas.

More to come soon…..!

When A Loved One Dies

Some of the toughest times in our lives are when close friends or family members pass away.  The death of a loved one hurts, because that person who was so special in our lives is now absent.  We can no longer turn to them for advice, companionship, or the simple joy of just being together. 

What doesn’t help during these times is when some people say things that—even if well-intentioned—only make the situation worse.  One of the most awful: “God wanted another angel in heaven.”  In addition to being of no comfort, this kind of statement (and others like it) completely misses the point of God’s truth revealed in the Bible.

• Yes, God desires all kinds of people to come to Him (see 1Tim 2:3-4).  But He doesn’t do that by killing them.  Instead, He opened the door for us to enter heaven through the suffering of Jesus Christ.
• Humans do not become angels.  Angelic beings and humans are different categories of God’s creation.  When we die, our spirits are separated from our bodies and we remain that way until God reunites us with our resurrected (glorified) bodies.
• Sadly, not everyone goes to heaven at death.  The Bible makes that clear over and over again.  It is most vivid in Jesus’ account of Lazarus and the rich man.  To tell someone that their dead friend is now in heaven—absent any indication at all that they ever followed Christ—is spreading false hope.  No, I don’t like to think of my loved ones suffering eternally.  That is exactly why I want them to know and follow Christ here and now.  It is too late after they draw their last breath.  On the other hand, for those who followed Christ in this life, we are assured that they are with the Lord and await us to one day join them.

If we want to comfort those who grieve, then let’s simply be there for them and extend our love to them, rather than say things that may actually be hurtful.  We embody Christ best by showing compassion, especially in times of hurt and loss.