Most Churches Don’t

“Many churches try to be attractional – some do it well, most don’t – but the Gospel is not attractional – it’s conversational. Always has been.”

That’s what I tweeted.  Here’s why:  I’ve noticed that as a church, we could have a huge marketing budget, the pristine location or the “cool” factor going to reach lots of people – but sometimes have very low outreach into neighborhoods and communities to target the people who are actually unsaved.  Lots of transfer growth.  Little sowing in the fields with seeds of the Gospel.  Statistics in American churches will back me up here.  We’re barely baptizing our own children in America.

You know what’s wrong with this, right?  You know if you have tons of people in your church, you have a huge responsibility to the Lord to help send them to their neighborhoods, schools and communities equipped to share the Gospel.  Some are – and I commend them.  But if they are not – if they are satisfied with transfer growth – that’s bad stewardship and even disobedience. It doesn’t look anything like the Great Commission or the insistence from Jesus that we go to the fields.

And then there are those churches who try to be LIKE those attractional models, but really can’t compete.  They aren’t sowing many seeds either, just moving about busily trying to be like the big guys.
So, what should we be doing?  We should be doing what most churches don’t do.  We should have leaders who equip their people to share the Gospel in a way that initiates Gospel-centered conversations in their home, their schools and their neighborhoods.  ..Simple, authentic conversations where a person can be led to trust Christ.

If you’re a pastor, let me ask you, “What’s your plan?  What are you doing to help this happen?”  If you don’t have a plan, use ours, but get a plan!