I have to admit that it’s difficult not to be discouraged as we attempt to build our small church into a powerhouse for God. I want the pews to be full of people each week, and not mostly empty, but it’s an uphill battle to get people there.
Having built several companies from the ground up I shouldn’t be surprised that it takes time, (this was just our 3rd week of conducting services each and every week in addition to the Worldwide service that we hold the second Sunday of each month with featured guests), but I guess in my old age I’m getting impatient.
I told our faithful few that I don’t view our effort to get more members as a competition, whereby we go out and try to convince members from other churches to switch to ours. There are plenty of folks who don’t even go to church that could fill our small church to overflowing each Sunday. The question is how do we reach them?
Unfortunately they don’t go to church for a reason, and usually that means that they’ve had a bad experience somewhere down the line. Most non-churchgoers tell me that the churches they’ve attended were loaded with self-righteous, judgmental, and condemning people. Someone from a church somewhere/sometime hurt them by acting self-righteous, saying something unkind, failing to love them, being uncaring, etc. and now they view all churches in the same light and all churchgoers as hypocrites.
It reminds me of when I owned our software company. Many of our potential clientele had purchased software that was abysmal and customer service that was non-existent from terrible software companies out to make a quick buck. Consequently these clients developed a bad taste in their mouths toward all software development companies in general.
We had to convince them that we weren’t like those other guys. It was an uphill battle, but we eventually became very successful, and the way we did that was by example. We offered outstanding customer service, only the highest quality products, fair prices; we were honest and had integrity, and we treated others like we would like to be treated, (to include not just clients, but employees and vendors as well – everybody!). We built it one customer at a time and time passed quickly and then one day I looked around and we had 18,000 installations . . . Sweet!
A friend of mine and I listened to a CD of Doctor David Jeremiah the other day as we drove to Tampa for a meeting. Dr. Jeremiah mentioned that his original church only had thirty members when he initially founded it, (and many of them were his closest friends and relatives). They tried all sorts of gimmicks to try to get new members, and then one day God revealed to him that he should build his church one person at a time and to build it with those folks who made decisions to be “born again” and follow Jesus.
He and his faithful few got organized and went out into the community and knocked on doors and began winning souls for Christ and today His church can barely contain those who attend and he is known all over the world. (In a couple of weeks I’m going to NYC to hear him speak in Madison Square Garden and attend a private meeting with him – Can’t wait for that one I tell you! I intend to discuss my challenge with building our church with him provided he has time.)
I like his church building idea. The bright side of our situation is that we haven’t had a single service without someone making a decision to follow Jesus. Some came down the aisle, others left a note in the offering plate, called or came by later, but the Kingdom of God is being enlarged through this ministry each and every week. That makes it all worthwhile to me and to those who work so hard to conduct the service each week.
So I suppose I should just “cool my jets” and be a little more patient and focus on those folks who are lacking peace and joy in their lives due to the absence of our Savior. Many are hurting, fearful, disillusioned, and have lost hope. Some are addicted to something they are using in a misguided attempt to quell their pain, or otherwise experiencing trials and tribulations. All desperately need God in their lives, but just haven’t realized it yet.
I feel a huge sense of urgency for lost people. It literally haunts me day and night. I came so close to dying without having made a decision to follow Christ and spending eternity in hell that I often break out at night in a cold sweat just from the thought of it. FOREVER is a long time to be separated from God’s light and love!
God loves each and every last one of us and has a plan for our lives. That plan includes spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s the last command that Jesus gave us in all four Gospels.
I hope you will take up evangelism and obey this command. Jesus told us to preach and make disciples and build His church one member at a time from those who’ve been born again. And the best news is that He has promised that He will be with us every step of the way.
Oh yeah!
Mark 16:15 – And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Matt. 28:18 – Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
November 25, 2013 – Click here to listen