So one thing that has really put me over the edge sometimes is this disconnect people have with there "church life" and what I would like to call there "real life". I have seen it time and time again that the church in peoples life seems to be just tolerated and not really engaged. Things, stuff, people, family, activities all take precedent over the local body of Christ. And as a result, the body is suffering and there is a glut of apathetic Christians on our hands.
In our state that we find ourselves we see that the church in a lot of cases does not get fifth place in a lot of peoples heart let alone first place. We seem to have a ton of "once a month er, dollar givers filling the roles of our churches. Which when we really look at it, we see the trickle down effect this has on our Youth and Children ministries. How in the world can you program for apathetic people.
The people are not involved in church like they use to be. Is is the people or is the Church? When this question was asked "when do you read your bible?" the answer was, "I read my bible in church." This clearly points to the "real world" vs. "Church world" problem I have faced and battled for what seems to be a long time now. I do "churchy" things when I am at church.....the one Sunday I go.
Now I have stated the problem, I can see only one real solution. It has to be Discipleship. Just saying the word makes me cringe. I know what that means. It means long-term investment into someones life. It does not always work, it is not pretty or showy, but I truly believe it is the answer. This is whole Jesus did it, this is how Paul did it...why have we changed? True Discipleship takes a long time, it is a slow process. Churches don't want to hear "not pretty", "slow process", they want big and bad and numbers. Discipleship is behind the scenes, it is not glossy on stage, forefront type of stuff. This has only been made new and fresh in my life just recently. I had the opportunity to fill in preach while the Senior Minister was gone. After my time was finished a man came up to me and said lets do lunch. We did and he confessed to a problem, we prayed and we have touched base consistently every week for about 6 months now. We have shared common interests, music, books, family events. And only after this block of time, I have seen the guy explode in the church. He is serving, he is hungry, he had transformed right before my eyes from disconnected to engaged.
Discipleship will not attract numbers, it might even push the ones you have to fall away. Maybe smaller is better?
Lets talk,
R
3 comments:
You're right. It takes time and we are busy people, but it can make a REAL difference.
Dude,
Once again, you've nailed it. Here in the west, we've compartmentalized life--work time, family time, entertainment time, church time, etc. We must make the jump (and it must start with dudes like you and me) to where Jesus isn't just a part of life, but he is life. And taking the time to mentor, coach, whatever you want to call it, is a big part of discipleship.
People need to stop playing church and just be the Church. It isn't a one time a week thing. The sooner people see that ..the better.
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