This post is spot on!

I know in international work people often have the idea that the best way to reach the nations is to bypass the church that is already there because it has been ineffective. To me this is like saying to Jesus, "Your wife is fat and ugly and seems unable to reproduce, so I am going to help you find a new one." But our Lord is not a polygamist. We need to find ways to work with the Bride and not around her. As individuals and as a society.

All of that to say--keep those keen insights coming!

Thanks so much for the conviction of this blurb. It's exactly right. Maybe Lifeway could do a study on what keeps students and parents from attending church. It would be very interesting.

Hi,

I work with Christian College Students in England and many of them are embarrassed to invite their friends who don't know Jesus to church they go to. Here are a few reasons.

Singing-who sings when they get together.

Sermons- Who sits in front of anyone telling them stuff unless they have to. Like college classes.

Questions- Where is the group discussion when we ask questions like we do in lectures in college.

Money- Why do you ask me for money? If you invite a stranger in your house you don't ask them for money.

So we get together in a meeting time where we don't sing, invite people to ask questions when we speak (if we speak) or show a video clip.

People are not opposed to the idea of church, its just how we do it sometimes.

Appreciate you writings.

Tim

Tim,
Do you really think the church is for lost people?
I became a Christian at 20. Never really attended church, so when i went for the first time everything was foreign to me...
Why?
Lost people don't understand spiritual things. You make the music cool, the sermon series can be named after a TV Series, the pastor can look like a T-shirt salesman at Hollister but still lost people don't understand spiritual things.

After i came to Christ church made sense to me and i am better for the church.

Ed, we need to quit blaming "the church and parents (i know good Godly parents who are real, that have children that stray between 19 and 28) who are trying for the decline of the NEXT Generation comimg to church.

Next we will say lets give away money maybe they will come.. They may come but still lost people don't understand spiritual things.

Thanks,
Jamie Steele

I agree with you that church is not an option for believers. Also, we do have a very consumer oriented culture. I admit that I have been hoping all over the place myself. I think it is o.k. to try and find a church that fits you best though. I am going to get my needs met. It has just taken me a long time to find a church that fits me well. People believe a lot of different things today. But these are the things that I want in church: people that I love, and true worship. I love people that are filled with the Spirit of God and true worship is done in Spirit and truth. True teaching glorfies the Spirit (which magnifies Christ), because no man knows the "thoughts of God" but the "Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:11). These are things I encourage others to look for when deciding on a church. I think too that it is o.k. to let your "church" come naturally. You do not have to make a binding decision. But it is a good thing to have the body around us and we belong to each other (Romans 12:5). So, if you consider yourself a part of the true church, the bride of Christ, you will want and desire to be around those who love God and you will find, eventually people with the kind of pure devotion that you desire to be arounod- that is your church right there.

Nick,
Your comments are alarmingly self-centered. Do you go to church to get your "needs met?" The qualities you are looking for are "people you love" and "true worship." How does someone qualify as a person that you love? Do you love people you don't like? I know that is hard for anyone to do. Church hopping I believe is exactly what we should not do, and finding the church that meets our needs simply feeds more and more into the consumer mentality which pretty much everyone including yourself seem to understand is harmful. I certainly understand the search for the perfect church but sooner rather than later we need to realize it doesn't exist and therefore we should settle down and get married to a church that WE CAN SERVE and not the one that serves us best.

Well done on this study and I hope and pray that churches use such information to develop strategies to prevent the factors affecting drop out. More of this type of research needs to be done. If not already done, it would be valuable to see how different types of regular youth activities run by churches helps or doesn't help youth. But taking into account conservative type activities are most effective on conservative youth, pentecostal type activities are most effective on pentecostals (or are they? is there no difference? are some pentecostal activities effective for conservatives and some conservative activities effective for pentecostals?) etc. So perhaps within each of these segments (and probably other segments e.g. evangelicals), determining which activities are most effective on things like attendance and spiritual growth.

As usual very insightful comments! We have three grown, unmarried children ranging from 18 to 26. One of the greatest blessings my bride and I have is knowing that even though our children go to three different churches (church plant, contemporary mega-church, traditional church) they of their own free will go to church every week. From their very early childhood we taught them that it is a privilege, honor and blessing that our Lord has given us the opportunity to join Christians and non-Christians at his "brides" house. Children learn their value system from their parents and I thank God often for teaching me to teach my children that His Church is a wonderful and fulfilling place to be. A place that is for reaching up to our Lord Jesus and reaching out to those who are looking for purpose in their lives.

What if Jesus's wife went nuts. What if his wife took to beating her kids. What if Jesus's wife threw me out of her house because I love the "wrong " gender. What if Jesus's wife is wrong? I don't take my kids to church anymore...I don't "go" to church anymore. My kids are learning to love Jesus but I can't say for sure they ever will. But I do know that for them and me, my rejection of the church doesn't make or break that decision. My kids watch people who say they love Jesus and I'm pretty sure they are confused by what they see.