Shameless plug: My wife has a great post today…really got me thinking. You can check it out here.
Wanna know what happens to these ‘barely breathin’ churches?
Usually? Almost always?
They dwindle…
120…
80…
50…
25…
Can’t afford the utility bills…
SOLD!
to the first developer who wants to put up a high-rise or to a housing developer or perhaps for shopping center fodder. It doesn’t matter. The point is, a living, vital, once dynamic part of God’s program to reach planet earth ends up being replaced by something, anything, other than what should be there.
What’s that, pastor Rob?
A living, vital, dynamic church!
But surely, with the cost to build today and the fact that new and thriving churches have to meet in schools and theaters and wherever they can afford rent, these dying churches could offer their buildings! The new church could fill the place again with the sounds of children laughing and youth learning about Christ and families restored and marriages saved and lives transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ, and!…
Nope.
Doesn’t happen. Not typically anyway. Sure, it happens once in a blue moon like someone hitting all seven numbers in the 300 million dollar powerball lottery, but those are pretty depressing odds.
So what give?
Religiosity.
Religi—what?!
Religiosity. It’s a religious spirit that often infiltrates the church and spreads like a slow moving cancer. You can function normally for years with this killer present but eventually it’s going to get you. And it’s claimed thousands upon thousands of churches. Where once there was a dynamic community of people living abundant, victorious lives for Christ there remains only a building and a few diehards who won’t let go of “the good ole days.”
But the good ole days have long since let go of them. The Holy Spirit has moved on. The Lord constantly seeks people whose hearts are sold out to the most important mission in the history of the universe.
Reaching others with the good news of Jesus Christ…in schools, theaters, brand new churches, revitalized churches, shopping malls, grass huts. stadiums.
The building doesn’t matter but it sure would be nice to see some of these empty ones used again for their original purpose.
Just a thought.