You might have noticed something.
Over the past few years, church leaders have “Getting people back into the building..”
that completely This is understandable, especially considering how difficult it has been to rebuild the church after COVID-19. No one likes preaching to an empty room or watching a mission falter and falter.
Now, what is it? a little What you can understand is that the buzzwords that come from this are: Discipleship.
You can't talk to a church leader for more than five minutes without someone talking about discipleship. More precisely, it looks like the crisis of discipleship we are experiencing. In the end, it sparked a kind of ‘craziness’ among radical Christians. It's something we've never seen in our lives.
Of course, healthy discipleship is critical to a healthy future.
But what goes unnoticed is that so few people talk about it. evangelism Anymore. It has almost disappeared from every leader’s vocabulary. Of course, evangelicalism has faced difficult times. However, evangelicalism should not be an issue when talking about the mission of the local church.
If churches stop trying to reach new people with the hope and love of Christ, they will begin to function more like clubs than churches. Share to
The whole room is one thing. A mission accomplished is another.
I am concerned that over the past few years the church has begun to suffer from another internal church – a church that gathers and disciples already convinced people and makes this their day, rather than reaching out to communities in desperate need of the Holy Spirit. Gospel.
So what are the warning signs that your church may be part of the rise of the inner church? Here are 7:
1. You cannot win in evangelism. So we grow by uniting Christians.
If you look at the growth of many churches today, it's more about consolidation than growth. Share to
Integration simply means moving existing Christians from diverse churches to growing churches.
Although not always intentional, data shows that church numbers are shrinking every year, and people who used to attend dying or stagnant churches often switch churches to join the one growing church in their town.
In recent years, integration has occurred in many fields, and it is also occurring in the church today.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the main street fell into disrepair as Wal-Mart and other large retailers opened stores on the edges of town.
Likewise, the book market consolidated in the 1990s and early 2000s with the advent of Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Many small, independent bookstores have closed down, unable to survive in the face of fierce competition from multinational companies.
Walmart, big box retailers Barnes and Noble, and Amazon have experienced tremendous growth, but the number of shoppers hasn't doubled or tripled overnight. People shifted their loyalty from small stores to giant corporations. This is what market integration does.
If we take a quick look at what is happening in the church today, we see a similar phenomenon.
More and more church leaders are experiencing rapid growth, but the real question is how.
Is it because they are truly reaching unreached people groups, or is it because other churches in the city are not doing as well or are closing their doors?
Church growth is not always the result of evangelism. Often this is the result of market consolidation. Watch your growth carefully. What does it say? Share to
When you look closely at your growth, what story does it tell you?
2. There is collateral damage to the church’s stance on the culture wars… The cost lies with non-Christians.
There is no doubt a culture war going on in the West these days.
There are at least three ways to tell if your church is participating in the culture wars.
- Ideology is almost more important than theology.
- Local headlines of unawakened cries are indistinguishable from your theology.
- Anyone who disagrees with your position on issue ‘X’ is no longer welcome.
The culture wars are causing some growth in the church. In fact, some (but not all) of the fastest growing churches in America today are unwoke churches.
But here's the problem. If God has the same opinions as your political party, you probably don't worship Him.
If God has the same opinions as your political party, you probably don't worship Him. Share to
Unfortunately, the collateral damage of many churches engaged in culture wars are spiritually open, unchurched people.
3. The church’s actual definition of Christian maturity centers around knowledge.
When studying the functional definition of 'spiritual maturity' in North American churches, it usually focuses on how much people know about the Christian faith.
If you know the Bible inside out, you are a mature Christian. That pretty much sums it all up. Yes?
Well, there are two challenges there.
First, Jesus said that was a false definition. he set love Not as knowledge, but as a sign of true followership. Ultimately, the most knowledgeable religious figures of Jesus' day crucified him.
Second, the Apostle Paul pointed out that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
The problem for many Christians these days is that we pretend to know everything and yet love no one except those who believe exactly what we do and act just like us. That is a far cry from the love for enemies that Jesus taught.
The problem for many Christians these days is that we pretend to know everything and yet love no one except those who believe exactly what we do and act just like us. Share to
If so, what will happen to the church? love Has it become the standard for our maturity?
Of course it would be a love deeply embedded in truth, but it would certainly be the love of 1 Corinthians 13. (1 Corinthians 13 is by no means a marriage text, but a path. It was a message to the church that had forgotten how to love.)
4. You judge people who are different from you
Guess what? People who don't go to church must be different. Their life and lifestyle will not reflect your principles or preferences as a follower of Jesus.
Inside the church, there is a uniform cultural code, ranging from dress code, hairstyles, no tattoos, jewelry, smell, to the skin color of who is and is not allowed.
Of course, Jesus is nothing like a white male living in the suburbs. However, there are many cases in our church where we are completely unaware of this fact. Share to
Judging someone usually involves feeling superior to that person.
I meditated on Tim Keller's Proverbs for a year. Throughout the year, Keller continued to highlight how Proverbs warns us not to think of ourselves as superior to others.
It enlightened me deeply, and I still struggle not to judge people who dress differently than me, who have more emotional 'issues' than me, who don't have the knack I think they should have. there is. It's ugly to admit it publicly, but I'm a work in progress on it.
And it seems to me that churches often don't have categories for people who are on the wrong side of the tracks or on a different spectrum of choices.
Remember that you can't judge someone and love them at the same time. And Jesus also spoke about judging others.
You can't judge someone and love them at the same time. Share to
If you judge people who are different from you, you will forever struggle to reach new people.
5. You keep singing the insider song.
great. Let’s move on to a more peripheral but still important sign that your church may be an internal church. music.
Worship music evolves every decade, but some of this decade's most popular worship songs are nearly incomprehensible to newcomers.
Without criticizing any particular artist, the first three songs you sing require a degree in Biblical Hebrew to understand the 17 names of God or theological concepts you cover in three verses, it's actually a welcoming environment for people who don't go to church. Are you making a ? Graduates ask:what?”
Let's face it, pastors, thanks to certain music choices, oftentimes even most believers have no idea what they are singing. Share to
Likewise, emotional language is back in vogue, with numerous lyrics about the emotional experiences singers theoretically have with God. Again, that might be fine for a night of worship, but what happens when half the church is new to the faith?
In fact, when you reach out to the post-Christian, the unchurched, you think differently.
6. For those new to the faith, there is no real first step.
There is a huge difference between taking that first step for someone new to the church and taking that first step for someone new to the faith. Share to
new your church This means you just need to integrate people into your community or invite them to volunteer and donate. All of that is great.
But someone's new faithWhere do they go?
If your steps refer to a group of people with old leather Bibles who have no idea how to converse with someone who doesn't even have a Bible, that's not a good enough answer.
Judgments and conversations that block spiritual openness are the best way to ensure they never come back. This applies to any church, not just yours.
Probably the best forum these days to help non-Christians interact with the Christian faith is Alpha (not a paid endorsement).
The dialogue fostered through Alpha not only helps bring non-believers to faith, but it also opens believers' eyes on how to communicate with those who are just beginning to communicate. Everyone wins.
7. You don’t care about your city
It's so easy to turn your church into a club. Even a fast-growing church that unites Christians from other churches can easily become a ‘club’ of sorts.
The church should be the only organization that exists for non-members. Share to
One of the best ways to express this is to show compassion, love, and support for your community. And it's best to express it without any strings attached.
Fortunately, we love those who are homeless, support schools and children in needy neighborhoods, care for women in crisis, work to end human trafficking, and support causes in our communities that have been neglected and underfunded. There are thousands of churches that support.
One of the main ways in which the early church developed so rapidly was its special consideration for those who were considered unworthy, unwelcome, and unacceptable in society.
If your church doesn't have it, that's another sign that you've succumbed to the insider church.
The best way to determine if your church is an insider church is to ________.
The good news is that churches that resist the gravity of becoming internal churches have an incredible future, not only in terms of potential growth, but also in terms of potential influence and ability to truly fulfill their mission.
Want to know if you are truly reaching unbelievers or just recycling believers?
Ask one simple question on your welcome card.
I attend church:
- never
- once a year
- Once a month
- most states
Consider people who answer “never” or “once a year” as non-churchgoers. People who answered “once a month” or “most of the week” were considered churchgoers.
My rule for churches reaching out to non-believers in practice is that 50% of first-time attendees should self-describe as unchurched, as defined above.
Below that is some work to do. But the good news is that we live in a spiritually open generation. Church leaders who are prepared to understand and embrace those who are far from God have a bright future.