What is Happening?

By: Mark Teske

 

When you look out into the world around you, do you see hopelessness?  Do you see people that have a great need for the gospel message and no desire to hear it?  Has the world sunk to such depths that people will no longer hear God's truth?  Are things so different now that we can no longer effectively carry the Great Commission to our neighborhoods?  If you ask some today, their pessimistic answers to these questions would be heard in the phrases like, "We tried that and it doesn't work,"  or "People just aren't going to listen," etc.

 

When you look at the statistics, it appears that the pessimists have won and have spread their influence through many of our congregations.  Statistically, we are not growing like we did throughout the first 2/3rds of the 20th century.  While trying to understand the trends in church growth, I've assembled some statistics regarding the growth rate of New Testament Christianity in the United States throughout various periods of the past century.  The poor performance of the last 20 years is so obvious that it needs no further highlighting.

 

           PERIOD                                                  GROWTH RATE

         1906-1956                                                            96.48%

         1950-1965                                                          135.00%

         1980-2000                                                              0.09%

 

There are three major components in the process of salvation --the one with the need, the solution, and the one who communicates the solution.  With the growing population of the world, there are more lost people today than there have been ever since the birth of Christ.  Therefore, the lack of people with a need for the gospel is not the cause.  The second component--the gospel message--is the same today as it has been for the past 2,000 years.  The gospel has not lost one bit of strength, and it is still "the power of God unto salvation"  (Romans 1:16), so it is not the cause of the decline in numbers.  The third major element--the one who communicates the solution--is all that is left.  It also happens to be the only one of the three components over which you and I have any control.

 

As the church for which Jesus died, we need to stop making excuses and start making converts.  While God clearly gives the increase (I Cor.3:7), we are responsible for planting and watering the Seed in the hearts of the lost.  (Luke 8:11; I Cor. 3:6)  We are just as accountable for the command of the Great Commission today as we have ever been, and judging from the results, we haven't been effective lately.  We will each be held accountable on the Day of Judgment.  The solution starts with each and every one of us seizing available opportunities to spread the gospel.

 

Did you know that 79% of people attend worship simply because someone who attends there asked them to come?  Have you asked anyone to visit with you lately?

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