I grew up in the church and my
earliest memories involve the church. I have very vague memories of the first
church that we attended, Black Springs Baptist Church, in rural Baldwin county.
When I was around 5 years old, my mother started playing organ at First
Christian Church, in Milledgeville, and that’s the place I called home for most
of my life. It was there I met my first friends, and spending my life there
made me the person I am today. Besides my family, the people of First
Christian had the most influence on me and helped to form my character. I owe everything
to that church.
I attended Atlanta Christian
College (now Point University) where I delved deeper into the study of the
teachings of my faith and of ministry. Although I’m not now working directly in
that field, I learned from some very great professors and leaders. I met a lot of interesting - and not so
interesting - people who were also preparing for ministry.
That being said, from my life of
growing up in the church and being surrounded by well-meaning people, and
having grown in my faith, I must say that I have grown very disappointed in the
modern church and its focus. Christians will declare that Jesus is the only
hope for this dying world, but when you step back and look at many Christians’
actions, those actions just don’t match the message. So much money is spent on
huge buildings, state of the art technology, church vans, conferences, etc, but
where is the focus on the poor, the hurting, those who have never heard the
Gospel? Go to any town in the USA, no matter what size, and there is almost
literally a church on every corner. The USA is saturated with churches and
Christians who are trying to “reach” others. Just in my home turf of Baldwin
county, population c. 45,000, there are over 100 churches, if not more.
From what I’ve read and learned
around 80-90% of new church members come from other churches. How is this “reaching”
the lost? Where is the effort to go to foreign lands where the need is
greatest? Why aren’t more Christians actually willing to leave their homes and
go into the world to actually make a difference? What I honestly think is
that most Christians don’t TRULY believe that their message is the hope for the
world. If they really believed that and really cared, they would have the desire to
leave everything and go. Most don’t, nor are they at least willing. If you
really believe that your message can save people, wouldn’t you try to go to
places where people know nothing of it? Why would you stay and waste resources and
time in places where that message is repeated over and over? Most missionaries
that I know and have known have had to nearly beg and plead for support for
their work. Many of them just give up and come home, defeated and tired.
Instead of churches with staff members for every little thing and program,
churches should have staff missionaries.
Church has become a club where
people go to socialize, and to feel good. It’s tiresome to attend church after
church, and they are all cookie-cutter, with the same music, the same cliché videos,
and a feel-good message. There’s no substance, and it both angers and saddens
me. You have a land overflowing with people preaching to the choir, while
people are on the outside starving.
