THE ONE YEAR CLUB: NOVEMBER 30 "IS ALL REVELATION FOR SHARING?"

THE ONE YEAR CLUB: NOVEMBER 30 "IS ALL REVELATION FOR SHARING?":        28 “This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to...

A CHURCH THAT GROWS IS A CHURCH THAT CARES

AND LAST IN THIS SERIES IS THE OBVIOUSLY STATED…A church that grows would be a church that cares.

Asking a Christian if they care is as insulting as asking a Catholic if they believe in the Virgin Mary.

Asking a Christian if they would like to be “fruitful Christian” is as silly as asking a Biker if he thinks he should ride a Harley Davidson.

The average church in America runs 90 to 110 people and never really grows outside of that box.  Survey most  churches you know and you will find there has been no significant growth in 10 + years.  Sure there has been movement, lots may come in, but then people leave and there’s allot of shuffling around of people and numbers, but at the end of the day, the average numbers do not significantly change.

And to make matters worse, this is after event after event, revival after revival, and outreach after outreach. This is not a church sitting on its behind doing nothing by any means.  Not all stagnant churches are doing nothing, some are very busy, but with no lasting fruit.

If God has ordained that we “go out and bear much fruit and have fruit that would remain”  if “ the harvest is ripe and plentiful”, then why are most churches not growing?  Why after 10 – 20 years are churches stagnant in their growth, these are deep, probing questions we don’t dare to ask, lest we are struck with reality, as we face the answers.

Who is “the good Samaritan”?  Well, he’s the one that cares…and he is rare.

The Priest and the Rabbi, “men of the cloth” that you would expect to help, avoid getting involved. These are men that are involved, supposedly in the work of God; but yet, do not care for this poor man in his time of need. How can that be?

“This is a parable”, you can say.  Yes it is, but do you think Jesus just pulled random, abstract thoughts out of his head when it came to parables or was their reason to them.  Were his parables based on what he had seen and perceived in his Spirit?

Does Jesus (The Word of God) not prophecy through Ezekiel about Shepherds who don’t care for their flock?  Was this also a parable…I think not!

I know, we are now in the 21^st Century  and that self absorbed spirit does not exist in God’s people anymore.  Never would there be a Christian that would be self-absorbed today.

The problem is not that God does not bring people in to the church, it is that we don’t keep those that He brings in.

Who will have the new convert over for dinner?  Who will adopt this new person in to their family?  Who will allow this shady character in to their lives, around their children and at their dinner table?

Recently we had an event that drew quit a few visitors through with many giving their life to Jesus for the first time.  An announcement was made as to who was interested in following up on these precious souls and nobody volunteered, not one person.

This is an epidemic in the church today all across America. We are so self absorbed in our own lives and problems we don’t care to get involved in the messy and time consuming work of follow up.

Most churches have reduced their follow up to obtaining an address and simply putting the visitor or new convert on a mailing list.

The danger is that this is so subtle.  If we were to look in the mirror in the morning and see someone that looked something like a werewolf we might ask ourselves, “What has become of me?”  However, this is not the case, we still are nice, loving Christians, it’s just that it centers around our circle of friends and family and does not often, extend much further than that.

We love to socialize and enjoy each other’s company, but when it is mentioned that the new, rough around the edges, convert be invited, we get frowns or maybe “next time, it just wouldn’t go well this time with this crowd.”

The basic issue is that we don’t want our fun, light hearted, social event to turn in to something where we are now having to answer a bunch of bothersome questions and having to minister to some new Christian’s problems all night. “I want to have fun, I want to enjoy myself tonight, let’s invite him/her another time”.  However, that “other time” never comes and eventually they leave the church.

There are allot of issue in life we might say we care about, but to what degree?  I care about abortion, but if someone asked me if I wanted to picket an abortion clinic and pass out flyers for a week or even a day, I might politely decline and so would you.  It’s not that you don’t care that babies are being aborted, it’s just that…..that …..

If we could say a simple prayer and have abortion abolished we would, if we could say a simple prayer and the destitute, homeless drug addicts delivered and helped, we would, but if asked to give up Monday Night Football to go minister to a bunch of  homeless people at the Mission, we might politely decline, “I would , but I have plans already”.

The dilemma of the Church is we have become self absorbed. We are enjoying all the benefits of Christianity without embracing the costs or the “self denial” part.

We watched a young Marine visitor come out to our church 3 times in a row and I watched him leave alone each time with no invitations for lunch or anything.  I told my wife he probably would never come back, but if he did, by some miracle, we were gonna have him over for lunch.

We were so busy and we were so broke, we just were hoping somebody else would reach out to him, but nobody would.  We didn’t have the time or money to add somebody else in to our lives, but don’t’ you know,  he showed up next Sunday.

I went up to him, introduced myself and invited him over for lunch; he quickly and excitedly accepted.

Long story short, he became part of our family and locked in to the church.

The fact is, most don’t care, everyone is too busy, everyone has an excuse, but at the end of it all, God sorts through all the excuses and he sees and knows, “we simply don’t care”.

In proverbs God says, “do not say we did not know…..He knows our motives, He knows we do know”

How many of us today would cry out to God, “Give me souls or I die”.

Somewhere along the way we must realize we’re doing it for Jesus.  Jesus said to Peter, “do you love me?”  Then feed and care for my sheep.

Notice he didn’t ask Peter if he loved them (the sheep, ie: the bothersome people)  Jesus asked do you love me? Then I am asking you for this favor, would you do it for me?  Please, for me, care for them, feed them.

A church that is growing truly has to be a church that cares.

The million dollar question to ask then, is “how do you get a congregation to care?”

People say that if you have a Pastor that cares, it will trickle on downward, but yet I have seen churches with Pastors with a great burden for people, but yet a congregation that is self absorbed, spiritually apathetic and lethargic to the needs of the lost and new Christians.

This is a complex issue for one I don’t claim to have the answer too; if I did I would be famous by now, for sure.

This chapter is not to expound on how to get a church that cares to care, but rather to point out that a key element to a growing church is that it has to be a caring church.

Many Churches are trying to build from the outside in, not realizing, that for all their intensive labor, they don’t have the Spiritual Infrastructure to support what they are trying to build or bring in.  For all their hard work and efforts they will always see that there is no lasting fruit, it all just evaporates every time.

What needs to be done is that the church needs to be built from the inside out.  As people begin to care, they begin to reach out and draw people to themselves, people that they will care for and have reached out to themselves.

In the current order, big events are scheduled, in spite of the people, a bunch of convert cards are collected and then we find there is no one that cares to follow up on these people, a quick shout out for volunteers often gets you a ZERO, NADA response and the fruit falls to the waste side.

A Church has to be grown from within.  First the people have to care, the people have to get the vision, the people have to have that love for Christ that compels them to reach out; that revelation that they are reaching out for Christ.

Programs, events, evangelism, nothing will substitute this one essential characteristic that is fundamental and that is

A GROWING CHURCH IS A CHURCH THAT CARES, TRULY….CARES!