Great Article about Young People and Church

Read it here.

Should you join a Church?

Last night when the core group of Advent Mission Church was meeting someone asked a very important question, "Why join a church? Can't you just go?"


There was a number of good answers given. One great point is made in
the short article below that I kept in my files for such a time as
this! Read it and let me know what you think!



I sent this an a e-mail this morning to the group and thought my blogger friends would like it too!

John Stott on Church Membership

by Thabiti Anyabwile

Last night I began reading through John Stott's The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor.  A dear member of the church gave me an autographed copy after a visit to London and All Souls where Stott served for so many years.

After reading the preface and the first chapter, I'm a little saddened that I've left this book unread for so long.  It's vintage Stott-- relentlessly clear and biblically centered.  In the opening chapter, he spelled out a couple assumptions undergirding the book, assumptions pertinent for recent discussions here on the blog.

Stott writes:

First, I am assuming that we are all committed to the church.  We are not only Christian people; we are also church people.  We are not only committed to Christ, we are also committed to the body of Christ.  At least I hope so.  I trust that none of my readers is that grotesque anomaly, an unchurched Christian.  The New Testament knows nothing of such a person.  For the church lies at the very centre of the eternal purpose of God.  It is not a divine afterthought.  It is not an accident of history.  On the contrary, the church is God's new community.  For his purpose, conceived in a past eternity, being worked out in history, and to be perfected in a future eternity, is not just to save isolated individuals and so perpetuate our loneliness, but rather to build his church, that is, to call out of the world a people for his own glory. ... So then, the reason we are committed to the church is that God is so committed.

A little later, Stott meditates on Acts 2:47 and the hints there of the early church's commitment to evangelism.  Acts 2:47 reads, "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."  One of the truths Stott directs us to is:

The Lord did two things together.  He 'added to their number... those who were being saved.'  He didn't add them to the church without saving them, and he didn't save them without adding them to the church.  Salvation and church membership went together; they still do.

In our day, we unfortunately have broken apart what the early church seemed to view as a natural, necessary, and seamless chain of events: gospel preaching and evangelism, leading to conversion and baptism, leading to church membership and communion.  It's difficult to imagine that Paul or Peter or John could conceive of something called a 'Christian' that was not a baptized, communing member of the church.
I think Stott is absolute correct when he refers to such creatures as a "grotesque anomaly."  Part of what is critical to healthy community in the church is the conceptual and temporal tightening of the events
in this chain.  The clearer these things are (the gospel, conversion, the practice and meaning of baptism, church membership and the privilege of communion) and the more joined together they are in practice the stronger will be the ties that bind the church.  Loosen these and you unravel the church.

How is this for a Quote about the Church?

Sam Storms, p 17 To the One Who Conquers

“The only thing that ultimately matters is the degree to which a church corporately and the lives of its members individually are shaped and fashioned according to the likeness of him who is Lord indeed.

In the final analysis, Jesus cares comparatively little about numerical size, cultural relevance, social influence, or financial prosperity. What matters most to him and must therefore matter most to us is whether a church holds forth his name, proclaims the gospel of which he is the center, and heeds his words as guidance to govern its life and loves. Is your church Jesus-driven? Are the ministries and programs of your corporate existence energized and given shape by what pleases him? Is he prized above all earthly treasures? Is faithfulness unto death an easy choice to you and those of your congregation?”

UnChristian or Unchurched?

I get a "church report" via e-mail and there are a lot of facts and figures. The one below finally says what I have been sensing a long time, and in fact, it marks the way I approach people who say they believe. In my mind I do not want to lose an opportunity to share the gospel with someone who thinks they are saved but does not understand the gospel. Like me, in my early years I thought I was a Christian because I went to church when I was a boy with my Mom. It had nothing to do with who Jesus was or if he really was alive today.

Those who are not living out the gospel - need compassion and evangelism. They are unchurched - in the Biblical sense.

By the way, I disagree with the last sentence below. If you are unchurch - there ought to be big doubt is you are a Christian at all!

Post-Denominational?

Church historian Rodney Stark reports between 1960 and 2000, the Episcopal Church declined 55% in terms of members per 1,000 U.S. population. The United Methodist Church declined 49%, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) declined 49%. Megachurches have doubled in number and size in the past five years. This leaves the churched population among Christians at about 40% attending regularly. It also says, with about 85% nominally Christian in the U.S., only about half of them regularly attend church. They are not unChristian; they are unchurched.

Is the Church pushing the young people away?

Below is an article that must cause some reaction in us - what is your reaction? Do you agree? Is this true in your experience? To those of you, like me, who have young adult children - it this their experience? I don't often ask for comments, but your comment here will help me as I am in the process of starting a church from scratch.

Christian Post 2/25/09

Why Young People Leave the Church

At the current pace, only 4% of America's teens will end up as Bible-believers, a sharp contrast to 35% of Boomers and 65% of Builders. Why? The Washington Times religion editor, Julia Duin, says "Many regard their church teachings as 'irrelevant' to their daily lives. Going to church is perceived as a 'time-waster.' Sermons are 'bland' and uninspiring," says Duin, "especially to the highly educated, and they do not address the most pressing concerns of congregants. Issues such as chastity, pornography, pre-marital sex, marital struggles, divorce and workplace challenges aren't discussed in detail. In seeking to be inoffensive or entertaining, church leaders do not provide enough spiritual nourishment to sustain their most ardent believers. Many contemporary churches fail to foster deep communities of believers. Disconnected congregants are turning to more intimate house churches. Others, tired of poor Bible teachers, seek in-depth faith explorations by their own efforts or with kindred spirits. Congregants yearn for the miraculous but are only fed the pedantic and innocuous. An increasing number of believers are unmarried, yet many churches are so family-centric they fail to address concerns of those from different walks of life."

WHAT DO YOU THINK?