The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 1 Corinthians 16:19-20 NIV
My message today at Grace Community Church is from the book of Acts. It is evident from Paul’s writings that he loved the local church. The local church is a huge part of the New Testament. The Book of Acts alone chronicles the history of its foundation.
Years ago I participated in a one-day medical clinic in a slum near Rio, Brazil that remains nameless, because the government has yet to name it. It is literally built on the side of a steep mountain. Simply walking to the clinic was a huge task. My job was to evangelize the crowd waiting to see the doctors. My translator and I had several decisions to accept Christ, but remarkably we also encountered a good number of professing believers. When I told them that the desire was to eventually start a church in the slum, they were ecstatic. One lady began to jump up and down with excitement. They wanted a local church!
The reaction of these people to the hopes of a local church being established caused me to wonder. How excited do most of us get at the prospect of attending church? In some cities in the United States there are more churches than in some countries in total, yet statistics tell us that 80% of the people are not in church on a given Sunday. Announce that you are going to open an evangelical church in America today and, while it will attract some attention (frankly some positive and some negative), I doubt many will jump up and down with excitement.
What is the difference? Could it be that we take our hundreds of local church options for granted? I do not know the reasons we fail to be as excited about churches as in some places in other countries I have visited, but I do believe God has a plan for the local church. It is still His method for reaching the lost and hurting, building disciples and sending workers out to develop His kingdom.
Do you love the church? Who do you know that needs an invitation to join what God is doing in your church? Could God be expecting you to invite them?
I think we should love our church, if not, then we’re not in the church God wants us to be. Last year at this time, I was attending at a church that I dreaded getting up and going to on Sunday. It felt like a chore, something I had to do, I didn’t even attend on Easter last year. Now, I love my church and Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I love what God is doing through me because of my church. I’m now proud to tell people where I attend church and invite them to join me.
I would guess that there are numerous reasons that so many don’t attend church, but I think one of the main reasons is that many churches are so “old fashioned” and unwilling to change. We live in a very fast paced high-tech era. I think the churches that choose tradition over growth and whose motto is “this is the way it’s always been done” are not going to minister to as many people as those that choose to evolve.