Why We Can't Get It Right!

In the day and hour in which we live, it seems that we have a growing number of Churches that struggle in the area of Church growth. If there is one question that I hear from fellow Pastors that supersedes all other questions, it is "Why isn't the Church, as a whole, seeing growth?" It seems that amidst all our efforts and concern, somehow we just can't seem to get it right.

We can attribute this to many reasons, but I will only be able to scratch the surface of a few of them within the content of this blog. I am convinced that the primary reason that we can't seem to get it right is that for the most part, the efforts that were mentioned in the first paragraph, are without the aid and direction of the Holy Spirit of God. We have grown so accustomed to our idea of what a worship service should consist of, that many times we are not following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Somehow we have instilled in our brain housing groups that if we don't sing a certain number of songs and if the Preacher doesn't preach for a certain amount of time, that we have missed the mark. May I kindly submit to you that we have missed the mark when we adapt to this way of thinking. The leadership of the Holy Spirit is a must.

Yesterday afternoon I listened to a sermon by my Father-In-Law Rev. Ray Luffman who is the Pastor Emeritus of our Church. During that sermon, he touched on what I believe to be another reason that we can't get it right. He dealt with the fact that the Church today is not a praying church. The fact of the matter is that we are failing in the area of prayer. We run about with so many priorities in our lives and many times we are very neglectful in the area of communing with our Heavenly Father. How long has it been since you petitioned the throne of God on behalf of your Church. So many people want to place this responsibility sqarely on the shoulders of the Pastor. While it is his duty to pray for his congregation, him and him alone praying will not get the job done. God's people must pray for God's forgiveness and God's blessings in that order (2nd Chron. 7:14)

Finally, for lack of time, if we do not get back to being students of the Word of God, we will ultimately fall flat on our faces. God speaks to us through His Holy Word. When we study the word of God for the wrong reasons (i.e. super spirituality, debates, etc.) than we are failing not only God, but ourselves. We should study to prove ourselves, not to others, but to God. (2nd Tim. 2:15) We are seeing a time right now where Pastors spend more time on their outlines, than they do a steady diet of reading and studying God's Word.

May God help us to take the proper measures to experience the type of growth that He would have us to experience. If we do these things, regardless of the number of people in the seats, then we WILL get it right!