Is the Lack of Attendance at Church Really the Problem?

 October 7, 2024

Monday

Many newspapers have reported that the number of people attending church is shrinking. So, churches are trying to get more people to come to church. If they do, they report the numbers even though those numbers represent people who have left their churches to attend this one that is growing. What we haven't realized is that the problem is not in the numbers.

Each person must have a reason for attending church regularly. If they can miss a few weeks, they can miss even more when they think nothing is missing from their lives because of their own lack of attendance. The "growing" churches are giving people a reason for going to church. If fact, they are giving people a reason for leaving their present church to go to the "growing" church. 

In some cases, the new church has a definite presence of the Spirit of God within it. The people are being changed by the Spirit. They have been made hungry for God and they come to be filled by serving Him as Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish His work." (John 4:34) These churches have learned something that most haven't. The problem isn't in the number of people attending church. The problem is people who have not changed because the Spirit of God is not in them.

Saving faith changes people. It is more than saying a statement of faith. It is opening oneself to the reception of the Holy Spirit. It is not working for salvation to be saved; it is salvation working in the person who is saved. Churches are reaping the harvest of easy believism that left people baptized members of the church but not truly belonging to Christ. 

James spoke of this plainly but the Church today doesn't know what to do with it. They know that no one works for salvation so they believe that no one will need to do anything because of their salvation. That is exactly what James addresses when he says, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." (James 2:26)

What we don't want to admit is that our church rolls are full of lost people. They made a statement that said that Jesus was their Lord and Savior but they had no idea what they were saying. Many of them were children who were trying to please their parents or grandparents. They have no faith today because they never had any. Once they could go their own way, they didn't need to perform like a Christian. They believe that they will go to heaven because they have made their statement and were baptized. What else is there for them to do?

Lost people who represent themselves as saved people cannot live great testimonies of faith. The people outside the church can't tell the difference between the lost and the saved. They see the person who claims to be saved acting exactly like or even worse than their friends who do not claim to be saved. Why should anyone give his or her life to Christ when it makes no difference?  If God will allow this person who claims to be saved and acts sinfully to enter heaven, He must allow them in because they have lived better lives than those who claim to be saved. At least, that is their reasoning.

Yet, we must ask: Why don't people realize that they aren't saved? The reason is that the truly saved aren't allowing the Spirit to do much in their lives either. If someone does "catch on fire" in the church the church is likely to tell him to calm down. After all, we don't really want to any Christian fanatics, do we? After the great evangelist, DL Moody was initially saved, the people in his church went to his uncle to tell his nephew to calm down.

What we need is a group of people who are so moved by the Spirit that they will pray earnestly for Pentecostal power to fall on the church. This group may be small at first but it must grow. It must not give up. It must cry out to God in humility, confession, repentance and commitment. It must not stop even when it sees the first drops of God's Spirit fall on the church. 

Our problem is not getting people to come to church. Our problem is in those who are dead inside the church. Will you be one of those people?