Yesterday I missed church because ironically I was flying to a conference that tackles the difficult task of trying to get people to come back to church. As you may or may not know, church attendance overall is in decline in America; however not all churches are suffering this fate. In fact some of them are growing so fast it is breathtaking.
So in preparation for this event I’ve spoken with some of the pastors of the largest, fastest growing churches in America and their answers were entirely logical. They talked about their particular approach to conducting a worship service, vitally important children’s programs, and so forth, but not surprisingly the one factor that they all agreed upon was that what was needed was to make people feel welcome.
In business I was successful because I insisted upon outstanding customer service. My mission statement came from imagining that if Jesus were to establish a business what His statement might look like.
Well He came to earth to serve, even to give His life for us. Ok bullet one in my mission: Provide outstanding customer service. I imagined that His products would be second to none. Okay bullet two: Provide only the highest quality products. Three was fair prices, fair to the company and fair to the consumer, and finally that we work together in a spirit of honesty, integrity, and pride (in a job well done). By far the most important was OUTSTANDING customer service.
So the successful pastors I polled all told me that their success begins in the parking lot with their friendly–friendly greeters, and intensifies from there. In fact their entire program consists upon making people feel welcome regardless of ANY burden that they might bear. Jesus didn’t try to make people feel bad about themselves even when trapped in ugly black sin; He welcomed them and gave them hope by telling them He did not come to condemn or judge the world, but to save the world. We should do the same.
The Bible is clear that every believer needs to fellowship with other believers; otherwise satan has easy access to tempting us to stray. At church we can worship and praise our Father, learn how to lead a more blessed life, and gain valuable strength by joining with other brothers and sisters facing the same problems that we face and encouraging one another. But . . . to enjoy all those benefits, we must first go to church.
A Lifeway Research survey indicated that only 2 percent of church members have invited a person to church in the last year and yet something like 82% of the unchurched would come if invited by a friend.
Are you in part of the 2% or the 98%? It’s easy to invite others to church and most are just waiting for an invitation. Ask someone to join you this Sunday; in fact ask several folks. Make no mistake YOU are the solution!
Hebrews 10;25
. . . and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
April 11, 2016 – Click here to listen