Maybe Christianity In America Is Dying Because It’s Boring Everyone To Death

[bonnie]

CONTRIBUTION

Maybe Christianity In America Is Dying Because It’s Boring Everyone To Death

May. 13, 2015 11:47am

Matt Walsh

I recently attended a service that might help solve the riddle of the fantastic decline of American Christianity. It was a different church from the one I normally go to.

Let me set the scene, perhaps it will sound familiar:

 

I walked in and immediately realized that I’d inadvertently stumbled upon a totally relaxed, convenient, comfortable brand of church. The first hint was the choir members dressed in shorts and flip flops. Sweet, bro. So chill.

There were a bunch of acoustic guitars and drums and tambourines and a keyboard. Before the service/concert began, some guy came out to rev up the crowd. Opening acts aren’t usually a part of the liturgical experience, but this is 2015 and we’re, like, so not into solemn silence and prayer anymore.Finally, church started. The choir, or jam band for Jesus, or whatever it was, played a song that sounded like a cross between a 90′s Disney soundtrack and an easy listening favorite you might hear if you skimmed through your aunt’s second generation iPod. It wasn’t really contemporary, or good, or relevant, but at least it wasn’t traditional. Because YUCK! Tradition is old!

The singer was relatively talented, but he carried on like an American Idol contestant. I got the impression that he was fishing for applause, not worshiping the Lord of the Universe. His style and demeanor said “talent show” but the music said “wine and cheese festival” or maybe “my dentist’s waiting room.” It definitely didn’t say “truth,” or “heaven,” or “the Great King sitting upon his throne amidst throngs of mighty angels.”

The pastor began with another round of jokes. They weren’t very funny but they succeeded in being unserious, which I guess is close enough. The sermon was jam packed with youth slang and pop culture. He mentioned a couple of TV shows and Netflix. He made sports metaphors. He didn’t do anything with the references, he just hung them out there like we were supposed to be impressed that he knows about these things.

I think he even said something about Angry Birds. Dated, sure, but it did the job of letting us know that the guy speaking also used a smart phone at some point in the last five years. OMG! He totally gets us!

The word “Gospel” made maybe one appearance in his message. The words “truth,” “sacred,” “reverence,” “sin,” “hell,” “virtue,” “obedience,” and “duty” were conspicuously absent, just as they’re absent from most sermons delivered in most churches, everywhere in the country. Of course he did throw in a friendly helping of “friend” and “helping.” And “tolerance.” Obviously tolerance. It’s important to only preach the sort of principles we can practice from our couches, you know.

Also left out of his spiel: any semblance of an insight, a challenge, a truth, a call to action, or a point.

About halfway in, I turned around to get a look at my fellow congregants. Do you know what I witnessed? Hundreds of captivated churchgoers.

Just kidding.

Actually, a lot of empty seats. A disinterested yawn echoed through the hall. I could see the guy next to me fighting to keep his eyes open. I understood where he was coming from. Maybe this was the plan: stop people from leaving by putting them to sleep.

Effective, yes, but to what end?

Effective at making this whole thing seem rote and shallow, that’s for sure. I guess it’s supposed to entertain us, but our faith isn’t suppose to be merely entertaining. It’s so much more than that. When you reduce it to mere distraction and spectacle, it loses its substance, and without its substance it is, among other things, boring.

I wonder what a secular person might think if he was looking to give Christianity a try and that was the first service he ever attended? Yeah, he wouldn’t leave offended (or impacted, or moved, or energized), but would he even be awake?

Would he have a deeper understanding of the faith, or would he be scratching his head, wondering what all the Jesus fuss is about? If he went in prepared to encounter something deep, holy, and challenging, would he walk out feeling like that goal was accomplished?

Unlikely.

And this is the problem with Christianity in this country. Not just inside our church buildings, but everywhere. It often has no edge, no depth. No sense of its own ancient and epic history. There is no sacredness to it. No pain. No beauty. No reverence. Or I should say Christianity has all of those things, fundamentally and totally, but many modern Christians in every denomination have spent many years trying to blunt them or bury them under a thousand layers of icing and whipped cream and apathy.

I think this might shed some light on the latest study trumpeting how the Christian ranks have shrunk by another eight percentage points in just the last seven years.  Now, about 70 percent of Americans identify as Christians. Still a majority, but the smallest majority we’ve ever had. As atheism and agnosticism surge in popularity, Christianity hemorrhages and fades.

As atheism and agnosticism surge in popularity, Christianity hemorrhages and fades.

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Some have tried to argue that the situation isn’t really as bad as all that, but I disagree. I think it’s worse.

After all, some 70 percent of us might “identify” as Christian, but how many actually subscribe not to Christianity, but to Convenient Christianity? (Convenientanity, if you like.) How many are the type who call themselves Christian but don’t consider the Bible to be a particularly authoritative document? How many are in the group who see Christianity as nothing more demanding or complex than the 30 second life lessons speech Bob Saget gives to one of the Olson twins at the end of each Full House episode? How many believe that morality and faith can be severed from each other? How many believe in a Christianity that doesn’t include the existence of sin or Hell? How many are relativists? How many are prosperity gospel proponents?

How many say they’re Christian but only because they’ve convinced themselves that Jesus loves gay marriage and abortion?

And what happens when you don’t factor these Convenientists — members of the Church of Convenience, proponents of Convenientism — into the equation at all? Are we still at 70 percent? Not hardly. What’s the real number? Forty percent? Thirty? Ten? Less? I don’t know, but it’s depressing, whatever it is.

So while everyone offers their own diagnosis of the cause of this catastrophe, this is mine. The light of the Faith grows dimmer in this culture because of that church service I attended. Not specifically that one, but that kind of service. And not just that kind of service, but that kind of Christianity, generally. The lame and bored kind. The flavorless, tame brand.

Every branch of the Faith has become infected by it, and if we want to understand why Christianity is not out winning souls and conquering the culture, look there.

Yet many of our fearless leaders, pastors, and pundits think this is, rather than the disease, the remedy. It’s the same remedy they’ve tried for half a century. As the problem gets worse, they don’t change the medication, they just keep upping the dosage. They tell us that in order to bring the sheep into the fold — especially the millennial sheep — Christianity must be as un-Christian as possible. It must be stripped it of its truth, of its sacredness, of its sacrifice, of its morality, of its tradition, of its history, of its hardships, of its joy, and whatever is left will be enough to, if not engage and excite people, at least not scare them away.

And that’s been the strategy of the American church for decades: just try not to scare people. They put on this milquetoast, tedious, effeminate charade, feigning hipness and relevance, aping secular culture in a manner about as cool and current as your science teacher retelling a Dane Cook joke from nine years ago, and then furrow their brows and shake their heads in bewilderment when everyone gets bored and walks away.

Christianity is fading because more and more of our leaders want to steal people from the true faith and deliver them to this convenient version. But that isn’t what actual Christians want, and the Christians who do, only want it because it doesn’t much resemble Christianity at all. Those folks eventually figure out that the only thing more secular than Christian secularism is secular secularism, and there’s really no reason to choose the former over the latter. The transition from Convenientism to agnosticism continues unabated.

There are still plenty of Christians who desire the true faith, but they are mostly ignored or scolded by the very people who should be leading them. And the Convenientists, of course, find no happiness in their secular Christianity, nor do they find it in secular secularism. Even if they don’t know it, they yearn in the pit of their souls for the true message of Christ, but they rarely hear it. And when they do hear it, there are a million competing voices, many from inside the church, warning them that if they go down this road it might involve changing their behavior and their lifestyle, which is a total hassle, man.

Often that’s enough to dissuade any further investigation.

And that’s how we ended up here. That’s it. That’s the problem. It’s plain as day, yet every time this conversation comes up,  we’re told that Christianity is declining because Christians are too religious, toobold, too outspoken, too moral, and too firm in their beliefs. That’s the conventional wisdom, but as we’ve seen a thousand times over, the conventional wisdom of an unwise society should never be taken seriously.

If the faith is to regain lost ground in this country, it will only happen when Christianity is presented and understood as what it is: a warrior’s religion. A faith for fighters and soldiers. CS Lewis said it best (as usual):

Enemy-occupied territory–that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.

There. There it is, explained more compellingly in two sentences than many pastors can muster in a lifetime of sermons. This is frightening, militant language, but it’s exciting, it’s exhilarating, and it is, most importantly, accurate. As Christians, we are fighting a war against the Devil himself. We are advancing against the darkest forces of the universe, and we march with God by our side. And all the while, all around us, on a dimension invisible to mortal eyes, angels and demons and supernatural forces, both good and evil, work to defend or destroy us.

The stakes are infinite. Our souls hang in the balance. We are standing on a battlefield where the hope of eternal life awaits the loyal soldiers. The Psalms say “praise be the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war.” This is the feeling and the attitude that our leaders and churches should be stirring in us. This is the truth of this life and of this faith that we claim. It’s a ferocious, formidable, terrifying, joyful truth. It’s the truth that Scripture spends over 1,000 pages trying to explain. It’s the truth that should be shouted from the rooftops of every church and proclaimed from the mouths of every Christian.

That’s how you stop the “decline” of Christianity in America. Tell people the truth. The truth, that’s all. Move them. Love them. Make them feel anger, and fear, and longing, and sadness, and happiness, and hope, and determination. All of these things. These are all a part of our Faith, because our Faith is everything. As Chesterton said, “there is more in it; it finds more in existence to think about; it gets more out of life.”

Yes, Christianity gets more out of life. And whatever it gets might not be comfortable, convenient, or relaxing, but at least it isn’t boring.

And best of all, it’s true.

–

 

m

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Edited May 13, 2015 by bonnie

[bonnie]

Opinions

Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’

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(John Jay Cubuay/for The Washington Post)

By Rachel Held Evans April 30

Rachel Held Evans is a blogger and the author of “Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church.”

Bass reverberates through the auditorium floor as a heavily bearded worship leader pauses to invite the congregation, bathed in the light of two giant screens, to tweet using #JesusLives. The scent of freshly brewed coffee wafts in from the lobby, where you can order macchiatos and purchase mugs boasting a sleek church logo. The chairs are comfortable, and the music sounds like something from the top of the charts. At the end of the service, someone will win an iPad.

This, in the view of many churches, is what millennials like me want. And no wonder pastors think so. Church attendance has plummeted among young adults. In the United States, 59 percent of people ages 18 to 29 with a Christian background have, at some point, dropped out. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, among those of us who came of age around the year 2000, a solid quarter claim no religious affiliation at all, making my generation significantly more disconnected from faith than members of Generation X were at a comparable point in their lives and twice as detached as baby boomers were as young adults.

In response, many churches have sought to lure millennials back by focusing on style points: cooler bands, hipper worship, edgier programming, impressive technology. Yet while these aren’t inherently bad ideas and might in some cases be effective, they are not the key to drawing millennials back to God in a lasting and meaningful way. Young people don’t simply want a better show. And trying to be cool might be making things worse.

 

 

You’re just as likely to hear the words “market share” and “branding” in church staff meetings these days as you are in any corporate office. Megachurches such as Saddleback in Lake Forest, Calif., and Lakewood in Houston have entire marketing departments devoted to enticing new members. Kent Shaffer of ChurchRelevance.com routinely ranks the bestlogos and Web sites and offers strategic counsel to organizations like Saddleback and LifeChurch.tv.

Increasingly, churches offer sermon series on iTunes and concert-style worship services with names like “Vine” or “Gather.” The young-adult group at Ed Young’s Dallas-based Fellowship Church is called Prime, and one of the singles groups at his father’s congregation in Houston is called Vertical. Churches have made news in recent years for giving away tablet computers , TVs and even cars at Easter. Still, attendance among young people remains flat.

[How to take Christ out of Christianity]

Recent research from Barna Group and the Cornerstone Knowledge Network found that 67 percent of millennials prefer a “classic” church over a “trendy” one, and 77 percent would choose a “sanctuary” over an “auditorium.” While we have yet to warm to the word “traditional” (only 40 percent favor it over “modern”), millennials exhibit an increasing aversion to exclusive, closed-minded religious communities masquerading as the hip new places in town. For a generation bombarded with advertising and sales pitches, and for whom the charge of “inauthentic” is as cutting an insult as any, church rebranding efforts can actually backfire, especially when young people sense that there is more emphasis on marketing Jesus than actually following Him. Millennials “are not disillusioned with tradition; they are frustrated with slick or shallow expressions of religion,” argues David Kinnaman, who interviewed hundreds of them for Barna Group and compiled his research in “You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church . . . and Rethinking Faith.”

My friend and blogger Amy Peterson put it this way: “I want a service that is not sensational, flashy, or particularly ‘relevant.’ I can be entertained anywhere. At church, I do not want to be entertained. I do not want to be the target of anyone’s marketing. I want to be asked to participate in the life of an ancient-future community.”

Millennial blogger Ben Irwin wrote: “When a church tells me how I should feel (‘Clap if you’re excited about Jesus!’), it smacks of inauthenticity. Sometimes I don’t feel like clapping. Sometimes I need to worship in the midst of my brokenness and confusion — not in spite of it and certainly not in denial of it.”

When I left church at age 29, full of doubt and disillusionment, I wasn’t looking for a better-produced Christianity. I was looking for a truer Christianity, a more authentic Christianity: I didn’t like how gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people were being treated by my evangelical faith community. I had questions about science and faith, biblical interpretation and theology. I felt lonely in my doubts. And, contrary to popular belief, the fog machines and light shows at those slick evangelical conferences didn’t make things better for me. They made the whole endeavor feel shallow, forced and fake.

 

While no two faith stories are exactly the same, I’m not the only millennial whose faith couldn’t be saved by lacquering on a hipper veneer. According to Barna Group, among young people who don’t go to church, 87 percent say they see Christians as judgmental, and 85 percent see them as hypocritical. A similar study found that “only 8% say they don’t attend because church is ‘out of date,’ undercutting the notion that all churches need to do for Millennials is to make worship ‘cooler.’ ”

In other words, a church can have a sleek logo and Web site, but if it’s judgmental and exclusive, if it fails to show the love of Jesus to all, millennials will sniff it out. Our reasons for leaving have less to do with style and image and more to do with substantive questions about life, faith and community. We’re not as shallow as you might think.

 

If young people are looking for congregations that authentically practice the teachings of Jesus in an open and inclusive way, then the good news is the church already knows how to do that. The trick isn’t to make church cool; it’s to keep worship weird.

You can get a cup of coffee with your friends anywhere, but church is the only place you can get ashes smudged on your forehead as a reminder of your mortality. You can be dazzled by a light show at a concert on any given weekend, but church is the only place that fills a sanctuary with candlelight and hymns on Christmas Eve. You can snag all sorts of free swag for brand loyalty online, but church is the only place where you are named a beloved child of God with a cold plunge into the water. You can share food with the hungry at any homeless shelter, but only the church teaches that a shared meal brings us into the very presence of God.

What finally brought me back, after years of running away, wasn’t lattes or skinny jeans; it was the sacraments. Baptism, confession, Communion, preaching the Word, anointing the sick — you know, those strange rituals and traditions Christians have been practicing for the past 2,000 years. The sacraments are what make the church relevant, no matter the culture or era. They don’t need to be repackaged or rebranded; they just need to be practiced, offered and explained in the context of a loving, authentic and inclusive community.

My search has led me to the Episcopal Church, where every week I find myself, at age 33, kneeling next to a gray-haired lady to my left and a gay couple to my right as I confess my sins and recite the Lord’s Prayer. No one’s trying to sell me anything. No one’s desperately trying to make the Gospel hip or relevant or cool. They’re just joining me in proclaiming the great mystery of the faith — that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again — which, in spite of my persistent doubts and knee-jerk cynicism, I still believe most days.

One need not be an Episcopalian to practice sacramental Christianity. Even in Christian communities that don’t use sacramental language to describe their activities, you see people baptizing sinners, sharing meals, confessing sins and helping one another through difficult times. Those services with big screens and professional bands can offer the sacraments, too.

But I believe that the sacraments are most powerful when they are extended not simply to the religious and the privileged, but to the poor, the marginalized, the lonely and the left out. This is the inclusivity so many millennials long for in their churches, and it’s the inclusivity that eventually drew me to the Episcopal Church, whose big red doors are open to all — conservatives, liberals, rich, poor, gay, straight and even perpetual doubters like me.

Church attendance may be dipping, but God can survive the Internet age. After all, He knows a thing or two about resurrection.

 

 

 

• 
   

Edited May 13, 2015 by bonnie

[ChildofChrist]

The popular churches are attempting to compete with modern day 'entertainment' and they are failing to bring God into the equation. The people go home feeling emptier than when they arrived. People need to be brought to the foot of the cross and left there to focus on what a marvelous God we serve. He died that we might live...if we accept and serve Him. Anything that happens to us, is cheap enough. We can not do nor give our way to Him though. We need only to really KNOW Him.

[LifeHiscost]

The popular churches are attempting to compete with modern day 'entertainment' and they are failing to bring God into the equation. The people go home feeling emptier than when they arrived. People need to be brought to the foot of the cross and left there to focus on what a marvelous God we serve. He died that we might live...if we accept and serve Him. Anything that happens to us, is cheap enough. We can not do nor give our way to Him though. We need only to really KNOW Him.

​

God is Love!  Jesus saves! 

[Sojourner]

Personally I have always been in favour of structuring church meetings to return to the original model in the book of Acts. I think some of the traditions that kill churches are ones that people have created that do not come from the Bible.

Sharing the gospel should be first and foremost in any SDA church setting as its the first angels message that we are charged to deliver until God tells us otherwise. I think our Sabbath School model works pretty well in terms of having discussion and Bible Study. Where we fall down in my opinion is the limits that we place on ourselves. Friday night evangelism gospel services seems to be out of the question in many SDA churches simply for the reason that it is not the accepted tradition.

Personally I would like to see a lot more of people getting up behind the microphone and sharing with people how they came to be born again and what Jesus is doing in their life, backed up with a stronger focus on personal prayer and friendship towards one another. A simple change like this could work wonders for a "boring" church.

[LifeHiscost]

Personally I have always been in favour of structuring church meetings to return to the original model in the book of Acts. I think some of the traditions that kill churches are ones that people have created that do not come from the Bible.

Sharing the gospel should be first and foremost in any SDA church setting as its the first angels message that we are charged to deliver until God tells us otherwise. I think our Sabbath School model works pretty well in terms of having discussion and Bible Study. Where we fall down in my opinion is the limits that we place on ourselves. Friday night evangelism gospel services seems to be out of the question in many SDA churches simply for the reason that it is not the accepted tradition.

Personally I would like to see a lot more of people getting up behind the microphone and sharing with people how they came to be born again and what Jesus is doing in their life, backed up with a stronger focus on personal prayer and friendship towards one another. A simple change like this could work wonders for a "boring" church.

​

I'm somewhat mystified after seeing your opinion, what your logo is, knowing that the ultimate goal at the highest level of black belt is to be considered married such as one is considered to be married to the body of Christ. IOW accepting a sacred position of a god other than the Creator.

  critics urge practitioners to embrace the assertion that "[Ueshiba's] transcendence to the spiritual and universal reality were the fundamentals [

sic

] of the paradigm that he demonstrated."

^[51]

 

 

The word "aikido" is formed of three kanji:

• 合 – ai – joining, unifying, combining, fit
• 気 – ki – spirit, energy, mood, morale
• 道 – dō – way, path

  

6Jesus said to him, " I am the Way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me....John 14

God is Love!  Jesus saves! 

[Sojourner]

Hello LHS, it is news to me that the "highest level of a black belt is to be considered married such as one is considered to the body of Christ". It sounds to me more like Chinese Whispers than anything else. The highest level in Martial Arts is 10th dan black belt and it is generally only ever awarded to the founder of the martial art system. All the syllabuses for gradings in each level are available online, there is no hidden spiritual information in martial arts systems...  Neither do you have to say shibboleth and give the correct knock and handshake to enter the dojo and take a place on the mat..

[LifeHiscost]

Hello LHS, it is news to me that the "highest level of a black belt is to be considered married such as one is considered to the body of Christ". It sounds to me more like Chinese Whispers than anything else. The highest level in Martial Arts is 10th dan black belt and it is generally only ever awarded to the founder of the martial art system. All the syllabuses for gradings in each level are available online, there is no hidden spiritual information in martial arts systems...  Neither do you have to say shibboleth and give the correct knock and handshake to enter the dojo and take a place on the mat..

​I watched an hour program on Amazing Discoveries in which a person who was converted to Seventh Day Adventist Christianity, spent an hour giving personal testimony about a period of 30 years, practicing the art of Aikido and changed directions as a direct result of having been convicted he realized his success in the art was based on the necessity of excluding anything that would have greater precedence over his life, including discipleship to Jesus Christ. IOW setting his discipline of the art as an idol.

In America there are many different normal occupations that can develop to be idols. I found that wealth was one of the idols that I found difficult to turn away from and can only give God credit for breaking me of the habit of bowing down to it.

God is Love!  Jesus saves! 

 

[B/W Photodude]

Maybe this worship will liven things up a bit!:

http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/news/2013/09/does-church-really-need-all-this-glitter-showmanship-and-gimmickry.php

[Gerr]

Or is it just white people who are being bored to death?  The non-white churches seem to be thriving in NA & Europe?

[LifeHiscost]

Opinions

Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’

Share on Faceboo

 

 

(John Jay Cubuay/for The Washington Post)

By Rachel Held Evans April 30

Rachel Held Evans is a blogger and the author of “Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church.”

 

 

 

• 
   

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2011-03-18-Adventists_17_ST_N.htm

Adventists' back-to-basics faith is fastest growing U.S. church

G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Religion News Service

Updated 3/17/2011 5:36:48 PM |

  |  

More Sharing ServicesShare

 

Rest on the Sabbath. Heed Old Testament dietary codes. And be ready for Jesus to return at any moment.

Since we all fall short of the glory of God, I still find the Word the best place to find what He wants of me.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;^[a] and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will^[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.....John 15

15“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.....John 14

God is Love!  Jesus saves! 

 

[Gerr]

So what do we need to make church exciting - circus?

[LifeHiscost]

So what do we need to make church exciting - circus?

When even the secular news is getting excited about the days we're living in, this would seem to be enough to get excited about.

12Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel....Amos 4

 

God is Love!   Jesus saves! 

[Deaconess]

My favorite part of our church service is the testimony time.    Someone passes around a microphone to those who raise their hand and they tell of what has happened in their lives or the lives surrounding them that showed how God was working in their lives.    I am disappointed every time they try to limit the time of it....     One was about the shooting at a college.   One of our members had a young relative (or a friend's relative) who the shooter walked right past (like he wasn't even visible while he should have been the first to be seen) before the shooting began.   People have such remarkable experiences showing how God is active and in time, just in time, all the time.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Deaconess

[LifeHiscost]

 One was about the shooting at a college.   One of our members had a young relative (or a friend's relative) who the shooter walked right past (like he wasn't even visible while he should have been the first to be seen) before the shooting began.   People have such remarkable experiences showing how God is active and in time, just in time, all the time.

3  And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.....John 17
 

28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.....Jeremiah 31:
 

God is Love!  Jesus saves!

[Gerr]

I was in church in another state 2 weeks ago, and at the beginning of the SS program which started with the SS lesson study, there was less than a dozen people in a church that I was told has a membership

of around 350.  Is the church boring?  Or is it  people who are bored with Jesus Christ?

[Aliensanctuary]

What is the purpose of attending church? Socialization, entertainment, listening to sermons, class discussions, something to do...?

I think that the churches of today do not properly represent the Kingdom of God to the people, which results in the loss of the sense of individual mission. I don't think that church attendees should expect to park in the pews for an hour or two while listening to sermon after sermon after sermon and special music entertainment. Members of churches should attend in order to receive training and encouragement to meet and help people, and share the gospel experience of hope with those who are looking for something better than what they have.

Sorry, but I no longer attend church because, for me, it's a waste of time, especially the canned Sabbath School lessons and the DVD sermons. I could never invite anyone to visit our church with that kind of stuff going on. Of course, I could be part of the solution rather than a disinterested party...

If we want to interest someone in Spiritual things, we first need to live our lives in such a way that others will be interested in what we might have. If we have something really important that we want to share with others, we might give them some interesting literature or invite them to our homes or go to their homes or have a camp fire or bar-b-q during the week or weekend.

We shouldn't lock ourselves into thinking that attending church wearing our finest and parking in our pew is the ultimate thing to do, unless we can create change, and action.

 

[Aliensanctuary]

Even though there might be dozens or hundreds of people in attendance, church can be so impersonal.

[pierrepaul]

... especially the canned Sabbath School lessons

 

I'm disappointed to read this. Sabbath School is the one interactive part of the service, and should (IMO) be the most interesting and stimulating. Is your criticism directed at the content (the topics presented in the quarterly) or at the way the teachers present it?

We try to make Sabbath school the place where our members and visitors receive the "training and encouragement" you refer to. We don't always succeed but we do our best.

[LifeHiscost]

I'm disappointed to read this. Sabbath School is the one interactive part of the service, and should (IMO) be the most interesting and stimulating. Is your criticism directed at the content (the topics presented in the quarterly) or at the way the teachers present it?

We try to make Sabbath school the place where our members and visitors receive the "training and encouragement" you refer to. We don't always succeed but we do our best.

I'm satisfied to believe that when we fail to listen to the instruction of the Lord as expressed through His Holy Spirit and delivered by His servant Paul, we become our own worst enemy, not to mention yielding to the god of this world in a group where God hopes to use the individual child of God grow and contribute to the growth of God's grace to needy souls.

…24and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.....Hebrews 10

However there are some of the beloved who have genuine debilitating, perhaps physical  problems that make it more reasonable to choose to absent themselves habitually.

Gods Love!  Jesus saves!   

[Aliensanctuary]

I'm disappointed to read this. Sabbath School is the one interactive part of the service, and should (IMO) be the most interesting and stimulating. Is your criticism directed at the content (the topics presented in the quarterly) or at the way the teachers present it?

Maybe those lessons appeal to some, but not for my wife or myself. We prefer a small, more personal group where things closer to our hearts can be discussed without having to use a microphone. Often in the SS classes there are a few who dominate the conversation, often leaving the quieter attendees, like my wife and myself, on the sidelines.

[pierrepaul]

I like to keep my class size under 10. The other classes vary between 15 and 30 attendees. We try to offer a variety of classes (size, teaching style) so that most people can find a place they like. I use the quarterly, but only to reference the texts which form the basis of our discussion. I try to vary the style from week to week - some weeks we'll go through a verse-by-verse analysis of the text, other weeks we'll have a free-flowing discussion about the topic at hand. I also like to have a guest teach the class at least once per month so that people don't get bored of my style. There's likely a better approach, but we do our best.

[stinsonmarri]

What so many people problem is worrying about the church instead of your soul. THE FATHER does not care if you come in jeans or dress, shorts or long pants. Who cares!!!! What HE cares that you waste all this time and energy on this instead of studying because a storm is coming and you are not prepared. The body is the church and we are to assemble to studying not to out dress or under dress. My goodness, who is the whore and the beast, what is the Book of Life are you in. Why should we believe that there will be no Sabbath persecution which is an Adventist myth! Is the Time of Trouble close, explain the true meaning of the horsemen. What does it mean to be sealed and is the Sabbath the only sealing process. Who is Babylon do you really know, who is the lamblike beast? Is this country changing have we become like the days of Noah and Sodom. Is Adventist the remnant because I have not read it in the Bible, if so show me. Is Islam in the Bible like we have been taught or is totally different. Instead of worrying about how the church sings her music see if she has a group who are studying to get ready because we do not have much time folks!!!!!

Blessings!