The plight of the local church
in America can be a little depressing. Thousands are
closing. Millions of people are staying home…Even
people who claim to be "born again."
The church is under a lot of
criticism these days. A recent Newsweek magazine
cover on April 9, 2012 read, “Forget the
church…follow Jesus.”
A rant by a young man on
youtube titled, “Why I hate religion, but love
Jesus” has now been viewed nearly 22 million times.
More and more people are abandoning the regular
attendance of church for what they have concluded is
their only need…the need for just Jesus. Just give
me Jesus.
Why? For the most part they
have lost faith in the church. They fail to see all
the good the church can be and has been. They only
focus on the problems, failures, and a few troubled
people within the church. Do you know why churches
have troubled people? Answer: “Where ever there is
light, there are bugs!”
It’s too easy to be critical regarding the church:
-She’s too boring
-She doesn't deal
with real issues of life
-She’s intolerant
-She’s full of hypocrites
-She’s too focused on money
-She gets in the way of “My
Time”
It is not uncommon today to
hear people disparage the church. Well, we would
like to answer those charges.
During September, several area
churches, including Lincoln Christian Church, will
join together to present a series of sermons titled,
“Why Church?”
We are using this theme to
invite our community to give the church a test drive
for a month. We know that although we have thousands
of people who are in attendance at one of the local
churches every Sunday, there are many more thousands
who do not. So, the pastors from these local
ministries will be joining together, meeting weekly,
and sharing in writing of four sermons to answer the
question: Why the church is important!