I've been thinking...

I know, it's scary, but I really have been thinking.

What I've been "musing" about is church growth. I am excited about outreach. I endeavor to do my best to see my church grow. I try to be active as a pastor and witness and invite folks to church. I've started a bus ministry and I drive the bus every Sunday morning to reach children and adults in my community. I make well over 1,000 calls a year. And, don't ask me how, but I've even been elected as a board member for the Bus and Outreach Convention.

The reason I tell you this is not to brag but because after what I'm about to say there will probably be some who would think that I'm just making excuses for laziness or something. I have met some pastors who just "pray them in" and I've thought that's just an excuse for laziness, and it probably is.

Okay, on to what I've been thinking about. It seems to me that in the church world at large today and even in some of my fellow holiness churches it has become all about church marketing. I've attended conventions where the emphasis seems to be on having the biggest and slickest church facility around and having all of the extra-church activities to attract people to your church (i.e. sports, martial arts, etc.) (by the way, these are not holiness conventions). Or perhaps the emphasis is on getting your leadership team all on board with you (it doesn't take much to get my "team" on board with me, I just look in the mirror and say "are you ready" and I tell my reflection that I am) :-)

Today I received in the mail advertisement the size of a magazine for a Worship Facilities Conference and Expo. Now, I'm not saying this convention is sinful or not needed, but the opening keynote for this conference is by Ed Young and here's a quote promoting his keynote address. "Hear Ed Young founding and senior pastor, discuss the highly successful strategy that has made Fellowship Church one of the largest and fastest growing churches in America."

Now, my question is: where is God in all of this? Do we just need to follow Ed Young's strategy in order to have large churches? I don't mean to be critical of Ed Young because I know very little about him. But do I need to do his strategy for building a great worship facility? Is this what outreach is all about?

I am not writing this to be sarcastic or critical, my honest question is this: is it me, or are we becoming more and more secular in our attempts to build some kind of religious empire? It seems like to me that church growth is becoming all about having the slickest facilities, the best audio/visual equipment, and the extra-church activities.

While many of these things are not necessarily wrong in and of themselves, are we losing sight of what is really the objective? Not building a big church so every else thinks we're doing great as a pastor, but reaching people because they are lost souls on their way to hell? When we have the mentality that we must make the church attractive by having the right facilities and amminties in the church, and we've got to have the rock band because this is the music that is attractive to them, and we've got to change preaching to talking and to dramas because this is what is attractive to them...before long the Message is lost and the church has become people pleasers rather than people changers.

I look at myself. When I go to Bus Convention, I join the rest of the crowd at the great sessions about how to build your church by doing "such and such" while the session on the necessity of prayer and outreach hardly gets noticed. (Although I think I did go to the prayer session this past year) ;-)

The point of all of this pondering is this, are we, and am I, becoming less dependent on God and His Presence and help to build the church? I'm afraid I am guilty far too often of thinking about this strategy or event to get people to church, or thinking about how we need to fix up the church to make it more attractive, and less dependent on God the Holy Spirit to bring conviction on sinners hearts and to create in their hearts a desire for Him and His house. Yes, I believe the church should be attractive and that we ought to have a clear plan of outreach and that we are commanded to be witnesses for Him, and that there are those who use prayer as an excuse for not doing. However, I'm afraid that the pendulum has probably swung to the other extreme in my life and probably in most of the church world.

Think of this, as far as I know, there has not been any major revivals due to having the "latest and greatest" facility or by having the newest marketing ploy. However, every major revival that has ever taken place has done so because there were those who were not trusting in self and in things, but were on their faces before God and trusting Him for His help while also endeavoring to be a faithful witness.

May God help me!

So, that's what I've been thinking, what do you think??