Have you ever wondered why so many people these in your neighborhood are not attending your church or anyone else’s church? It could be as a pastor friend of mine in Texas would say, “It doesn’t make sense to them to attend your church.”
People do what makes sense to them. We all do. We make decisions all day long about what we do, where we go, what we eat, and multiple other choices based on our desires sifted through our understanding of this world and our top priorities. Both wise and foolish choices are made every minute based on what we want, what we think we can get away with, and the top priorities in a given situation. If you want more people in your community to consider Jesus and your church, then it is crucial to assess why it currently makes no sense for them to be at your church. They may not be against church. They just haven’t thought much about it lately.
Lifestyle changes (like starting to attend church) do not occur in our lives everyday. In fact, big lifestyle changes that last are mighty rare. Quitting smoking, losing and keeping weight off, getting married, retiring, or moving to a new country/culture are all examples of big lifestyle changes that require some major shake-up in a person’s priorities and perspective on the world. Even if someone has a desire to loose weight or start excercising, he will rarely start and really change to a new lifestyle unless something happens to shake-up his priorities or perspective. A really traumatic event such as a health crisis or death of a close friend or family member has been known to be such a catalyst. The birth of a child may begin a season of reevaluation of values and lifestyle.
The lifestyle change of beginning a relatioship with God through faith in Jesus and beginning to participate in the life of your church, however, is a change that may not be a logical step for people as choosing to loose a few pounds for better health.More common these days is if someone outside of the church has a spiritual crisis, it may be diagnosed as depression which a few counseling sessions and a prescription can improve. Financial woes rarely assessed to be spritual or faith problems. Relational problems, health crises, political and societal ills are problems that people face, but going to church or the Bible for help with these matters does not cross their minds.
Besides, we all have our “friends” in the media to help us with these problems. Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, Dave Ramsey, Rush Limbaugh, and Anderson Cooper give us direction and cues for finding solutions. These public figures in the media are not to blame. They are filling a void for answers that people have about major questions and concerning in life. But sadly, they do not hear the church in the community addressing. Even if your church addresses these felt needs and issues, is your community aware that you are? And when people in your community are not thinking about felt needs and questions in their lives, they are filling their time playing Angry Birds, checking Facebook for the fourteenth time for the day, or tweeting about going to the bathroom. What if searching the Bible was a quick as response for people as Google in dealing with daily questions and help?
Why are they doing it? It makes sense to them.
What would make sense to people about your church? Perhaps God’s message, gospel, might gain a hearing if it took them by complete surprise and captivated their imagination enough to put down their smartphones for a few minutes. Maybe a common person talking about God in everyday language that people understand while addressing current social ills and injustices would get people’s attention. Perhaps a few public healings would do it. What about an exocism or two? What if your church agreed with the masses that something about religion has broken down when people who need God the most cannot find Him due to the all rules and purity hurdles that stand in their way? Could church be this bold and public with its message and agenda? Jesus and the early church seemed some big results by such bold commnity based approaches. Persecution and misunderstanding came with the territory, however. But the community took notice and responded. The sick found healing. The poor discovered help. The possessed were set free. The religious establishment was indignant. The people did what made sense to them.
A few implications on how you can make sense to your community could include felt need ministries that grab the attention such as financial counseling services, teaching English to immagrants, healthly lifetyle training via personal traininers, nutritionists, and health care professionals, and healing and prayer ministry that works through a local hospital. Recovery mininstries for everything from addictions, grief care, divorce care, anger management classes can all offer value shaping ministry to hurting people.
The church can creatively champion the cause of people who are suffering injustice and perecution gobally and locally. It is a Jesus like activity that grabs the eye of the community when the church publically advocates for the rights of women for equal pay, lobbies for ending human traffiking, and seeking to stamp out nutrition deprivation locally and world hunger. By addressing these social issues, the church makes sense to people.
What could cause your church to make sense to people? Like Jesus, we can be a place of healing, hope, and empowerment to powerless people. An important question to consider is how you would react if 80% of your commmunity showed up at your church this Sunday. How would you address them and meet their needs? What would you invite them to do? They would do what makes sense to them. Make the right things (gospel) make sense. More to come…
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