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Why Are Our Churches Not Full? The copyright on this says a brief quotation is permitted. This is brief and does not do the story justice but... This is an incredible story written by an incredible story-teller from; “God Happened To Be In The Neighborhood”, by Ken Jones. A man with AIDS called to get permission to attend Sunday service. He asked if the people would accept the way he looked. He said he would sit in the back and remain anonymous. He told the Pastor he feared rejection and if coming to church meant rejection he thought he would be better off staying away. He had repented and was very sorry for the bad choices he had made in his life. But now as he was dying he wanted to spend his last days in church. This man dying of AIDS asked if it would be ok if he came and sat in the back, he didn’t want to cause any trouble. I have great respect for the people that post here on BC. I have spent hours reading the words that come from the depths of your hearts and souls. So I would like to hear your ideas and opinions as to why people don’t come to church. Recently someone told me that many people don’t go to church because they have been judged and outcast by Christians. It makes you think doesn’t it? Just this past Sunday I spoke to a beautiful young woman and she said a few years ago before she stopped drinking she had started going to Church. And get this! She was asked to leave that Church because of her drinking problem. Is it just me or is the Church where she should have been??!! I don’t want to speculate on how these people got into their current situations or talk about what they deserve. We all know what we deserve. Thank God He forgave us and translated us into His kingdom and we are saved by the blood of Jesus! I also don’t want this to be a Christian bashing or Church bashing. (May be hard, huh?) I am looking for constructive reasons why people think they are not welcome in our Churches. I sincerely want to know how to bridge the gap to make people feel welcome to come to Church. |
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6/6/2006 7:36 am |
I agree with your first paragraph in particular.
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There was a poor smelly bum that went from church to church but no one would let this man in, none would offer him a place to stay or a hot shower,or even clean clothes.. The Bum prayed- Lord, all I wanted was a little help & no one will let me in or help me. God Replied - When these people stand before me I will bring you before them in a clean robe of white & say unto them- As You did unto This the least of these- You did it unto me.
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6/6/2006 7:49 pm |
I was doing some reading this morning and your post is right in line with it. I will share a few excerpts with you; The problem is that the church is weak because we are weak. And God has only sinners to choose from when He fills the pews. "There is no one righteous, not even one." says the Lord (Rom. 3:10). But the very thing that makes the church weak can also make it strong again - if we stay humble and honest about our tendency to blow it. Where else on earth is there a collection of so many misfits who can come together and truly love one another in spite of their differences and failings? If "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Eph 5:25), I'm not about to give up on it simply because I recognize myself in the weakness of its members. Several pages farther ahead; satan has probably done more damage to the churches image by publicizing our infighting than by all of his other strategies combined. Our image should be the opposite. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, "You ought to forgive and comfort.....in order that satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes." (2 Cor. 2  ,11)So be quick to forgive people. The world is dying to be loved by us. From ; "Its time to be bold" by Michael W. Smith
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I agree with your first paragraph in particular.
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There was a poor smelly bum that went from church to church but no one would let this man in, none would offer him a place to stay or a hot shower,or even clean clothes.. The Bum prayed- Lord, all I wanted was a little help & no one will let me in or help me. God Replied - When these people stand before me I will bring you before them in a clean robe of white & say unto them- As You did unto This the least of these- You did it unto me.  l0lyaya - Beautiful post even adheres to the plagarism rules of permission. You are a trooper. (¯`•♥•´¯) ¤`•.♥.•´ ¤ (¯`•♥•´¯)
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Thank you all for sharing your comments. I am going to hold my comments because I want to hear your thoughts. If any read my request and felt like you were one I was talking about but did not feel like you wanted to explain how you got rejected on this open forum please email me. I am not interested in hearing your story for gossip. I want to know what to do different to reach out to the lost who will not come to Church because of how they have been treated. God has called me to minister to a certain group of people and I am doing my homework.
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6/27/2006 10:28 pm |
There was a time in my life when God wanted me "alone." I was going to church to be loved on, to hear God's Word, and to NOT BE LONELY. Mind you hearing God's Word was starting to make sense but it was not my first priority. There is no doubt that the church falls short on just about every "one another" command in the Word; however, sometimes God WANTS US ALONE. He wants us to know Him and the best way to KNOW Him is to have zero distractions. (smile, I know this one personally.) I was very angry at the church for not loving me and i walked away for TEN YEARS. when I came back, seeking God who was sitting next to me mattered a little less, what I was getting mattered a little less, YET as I kept going God brought people to love me, discipline me, and raise me up as a baby Christian. Does that make sense. This doesn't mean the Body of christ does not have the responsibility to love and nuture the new babies. I guess if you wanna see more love in your own church family, cry out to God to give you a heart and the spiritual eyes to see who you are supposed to be loving on.
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