Back in the first part of the last century, Cumberland College of Kentucky was playing football with a rival, and they were absolutely outclassed. They were losing miserably and the opposing team was bigger, stronger, and more intimidating than they were. One of their players fumbled the ball, and yelled out to one of his teammates to get it, but the reply was, “You get it, you dropped it!”
God is looking for some Christians and even some churches that are willing to pick up the ball that others have dropped and start running with it. Nobody ever won a football game by worrying about being tackled by the opposition, and nobody ever won anyone to God by worrying about what they may encounter, either. God wants to see if we are willing to pick up the ball and do something with it.
Jesus gave us our marching orders in MATTHEW 28:19,20 –
‘Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
However, across this country we will find church after church that is afraid to pick up the ball. They do not look forward, but they look backwards. They are afraid to take a risk, even for God. They are so entrenched in the way things have always been, they cannot, for the life of themselves, understand how somebody else could be touched for Jesus if it is done differently than what they have always been used to.
There are several major areas I feel that are hindering our churches today.
1. UNHEALTHY TRADITIONS HURT US
Most of America’s churches are failing. The numbers of their congregations are going down quite rapidly. And when new people come in, what do they do? They see a church that is steeped in tradition and afraid to change. Most of these visitors will walk out after the service and never come back. And, on top of that, churches are now seeing their own people start to drift away.
In these churches, tradition usually means more to the church people than someone else’s salvation. They get real busy doing things for the church, but do not have time to worship in church. After a period of time, it evolves into nothing more than going through the motions while remaining in a comfort zone – getting further and further away from God.
I think that today’s churches, must quickly realize that to survive, we must be very pro-active. We must actually be willing to pick up the ball and run with it rather than be content to sit here talking about football but afraid to play football.
We need to take a look around at the churches around us that are growing. We need to see what they are doing, and we need to honestly judge to see if what they are doing can be integrated into what we are doing – even if it is different. The only hesitation should be if it goes against our beliefs or goes against the strict truth of the Bible. If it is compatible with those two criteria, than we are wrong if we do not try and include that in our church.
Jesus warned about it, taught about it, modeled it, but so many still don’t get it. Throughout the Bible we see Jesus breaking the traditions for a more important cause. One of the obvious ones was the healing of people on the Sabbath Day. The Religious leaders of the day considered that to be work and thus broke the Sabbath tradition of resting and not working. And almost every time Jesus responded in the same way by saying that people’s hurts were always more important than people’s traditions.
Churches actually need two types of people. The first type of person is the one who deals with the here and now, or the present. The second type of person is the one who deals with the future; what could be, what should be. However, most churches are filled with people who only look at the past when trying to figure out what to do in the future, and leave everything up to the pastor, and then get mad at him if everything he does doesn’t turn out successful.
Most churches let seven words keep them from being a true impact in their communities. Those seven words are: “We have never done it that way!”
What hurts my heart is that I have seen church after church operate under that philosophy while people around them are going to hell.
There was a monastery in Europe perched high on a cliff several hundred feet in the air. The only way to reach the monastery was to be suspended in a basket, which was pulled to the top by the monks. The ride up that steep cliff was terrifying. One tourist noticed that the rope by which they were suspended was old and frayed. With a trembling voice he asked the monk who was riding with him in the basket how often they changed the rope. The monk thought for a moment and answered, "Whenever it breaks."
I want this church to grow for the Lord. I see one generation already gone and another one getting ready to go. I pray that this church does not have to get broken before it gets fixed. I pray that we are led to that growth, as it honors the Lord, not as it honors us.
Dick Alexander wrote the following:
“With the amount of human need touching us today, the church can scarcely afford business as usual. In practice, many traditional churches view their mission as holding Sunday services, satisfying the members and doing a little good here and there. Such churches are on the way out. In a few years they will be dinosaurs. Not because their doctrine is bad, but because they’ve lost their mission. Only churches serious about rescuing the hurting will survive and make a difference.”
There are many churches today that feel the only way to grow their numbers is to water down the Word of God so that it is ‘easier to listen to.’ What we find, however, is that the churches that are growing their numbers and becoming a big impact on their communities are those churches that stand firm on the absolute truth of God, as stated in the Bible.
In the 1950’s and before, churches saw their job as holding services, taking care of their congregations and doing a little bit of good in the community from time to time. The 1950’s are gone. Today, people are hungry, not for tradition, but for the true word of God. They do not want to have a church service that is archaic and stuffy. Today’s people are more relaxed in everything they do, and they want their church to be the same way – or they will go somewhere else.
Everything in existence changes, except for the Word of God. Butterflies change, humans grow up, trees grow taller – and churches must be willing to change the formats of how they reach people for Jesus.
2. OUR WORSHIP HURTS US
PSALM 42:1 says,
“As the deer pants for water so my soul pants for you O God.”
Let me ask you a question. Does that verse describe the way you worship? In other words, when you worship, whether it be through song, prayer or the Word, do you reach out to seek God’s face in you life? Do you yearn to be closer to God, or do you yearn for the end of the service to hurry up?
Howard Hendrix in his book “Exit Interviews” asked people who had left churches why they left, and many of them said, “I just didn’t find God there.”
God is a God of incredible love, and a God of unfettered emotion. In all honesty, that does not describe worship in most churches today. What most churches tend to show is a ‘pattern of sameness’ in all that they do. I encourage you to open your heart and let the wonderful emotion of Jesus flood your soul. Be free in the lifting of holy hands as you worship; the saying of “AMEN’ as you agree with God’s word, and the coming up front for prayer as the Holy Spirit tells you to.
PSALM 122:1 says,
“I rejoiced with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Our worship must include everything that has the possibility of touching others for Christ. We need hymns for those who see the wonderful messages in the lyrics. We need choruses for those who feel the renewing of their spirit when they hear them. And, we need some contemporary songs for those who see the praises to God in the music.
We need a variety of music, just as we need a variety of messages. We need to be able to see God from all sides and to seek Him in our lives through all ways.
3. HAVING NO FORWARD VISION HURTS US
Sometimes, the biggest plans a church has are to make sure the doors are open next Sunday. Where are the dreamers, the visionaries, those willing to try something new or big?
There’s a great story in LUKE 24. It concerns the two men on the road to Emmaus. It takes place after the death of Jesus. And Jesus appears alongside these two guys but keeps himself hidden in the sense that they don’t recognize who he is. And they’re down and discouraged and Jesus says to them, “What’s wrong?” And they say, “Well, it’s about Jesus. He died and we hoped that He would be the one to restore Israel to power.”
Now I want you to think about that. Jesus came to redeem spiritually all mankind that will turn to him, to restore our relationship to God the father, to deliver the defeating blow to Satan, to ensure that all who follow him, will never have to really die. What an awesome Mission that he had. And yet the hope these men had was limited only to what they could see. “We had hoped he would be the one to bring us to political power.”
They weren’t lacking faith, they were lacking vision. And so many Christians and churches walk their daily lives afraid of ever seeing what better things could await them in the future – if only they were not afraid to see them.
PROVERBS 29:18 says,
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Walt Disney died before the completion of Disney World in Florida. At the dedication of the theme park, someone said to his wife, "I wish Walt could have seen this." She replied, "He did." It was his vision.
Healthy churches have a vision, they try something new, they try something different, and they take risks. Dying churches are content to do it the same way they always have.
4. NOT HAVING THE YOUTH AS A PRIORITY HURTS US
Statistics have held fast for generations that about 80% of all decisions to accept Jesus come before the age of 18. The church must have a very high priority of the youth to survive and to see impact in the community.
Isn’t it wonderful how children always see things through brighter eyes than we do? We can all see children and marvel at how they view life. Yet, too many times, when it comes to church, we demand that they do things just the way we do things. Well, folks that just will not work today, no matter what. When we try to make the kids invisible so they won’t bother us, they leave.
Dying churches are very quiet places. Crying babies aren’t heard. Yelling kids aren’t heard, and a future cannot be seen.
IN CONCLUSION
We need to make a decision and then make a total commitment on that decision. The decision is very simple. Do we want this church to grow enough to do whatever it takes to reach new people for Christ, or do we want to reach people, but only in ways we are comfortable with?
Let me say that if we put any kind of limitations on what God wants from us, God will watch us disappear as a church.
God is looking for a church that is willing to pickup the ball and run with it for His glory. God is looking for churches that are willing to step out in faith and run away from hiding in tradition.
God is looking for churches that exalt his name in wondrous worship, not go through the emotionless worship of times past, just because it has always been done.
For instance, when we get power point in this church, we will have all the lyrics to our songs on the screen. That way, rather than have our heads downcast as we read the hymnal, we can raise our heads towards heaven and worship in song as we read the same lyrics on the screen.
God is looking for churches that have the vision to carry His Word to the world. He wants us to be able to go forth in boldness, not fear, so that we can accomplish the growing of His kingdom.
God is looking for churches that have the salvation of the youth as one of its highest priorities. And He wants those churches to be flexible enough to encourage the youth in ways the youth can understand instead of trying to make the youth abide by the rule of quietness within the house of the Lord so they don’t get on our nerves.
In JOSHUA 24:15 Joshua calls on the people to make a decision. For God or not for God, but don’t live in the middle. Decide once and for all. Dying churches don’t make bold decisions because they are stuck in their comfort zones and must be secure before the fact.
God wants churches that can show their faith by making bold decisions for Him before the fact, and have the knowledge that because they move first, He will move last, and He will reward them according to their faith.
Can you become a part of this church’s future? You can if you turn your back on the fear that keeps us all tangled to the past. You can if you have the faith to be bold as Paul told Timothy. You can if you want to see it grow. But you must be willing to do new things and to even do old things new ways.
Let me ask you again: Can you become a part of this church’s future?
INVITATION
