There seems to be a number of reasons that the Church is not working, I would like to share some avenues of concern from my own view point. To begin with the ministers, some seem to have the wrong motivation, there are people that approach ministry as a vocation to make a comfortable living. Some have used the ministry as a spring board to get into politics, a means of getting ahead. Elders and Deacons become part of the disfunctional picture when they are selected by popularity, instead of God's calling them.Some Elders and Deacons feel their place is to keep the minister straight, instead of serving the tables this will also cause the Church to be disfunctional.
There seems to be a lot of stuggles for control between Elders and Deacons and the Minister.Teachers become a part in causing the Church to be disfunctional making Sunday School attendance a chore instead of a time of learning. Another area where the Church can become disfunctional is in the Music ministry. The music seems to be selected for funerals instead of worshipping the Most High God. This is not a one Church problem, nor is it a personal attack on certain individuals. I feel that the totality of Christian Church have become disfunctional in that we are allowing things to become more important than doing what Jesus did.
Most people want to be part of the fastest growing Church, instead of being a part in the Church the Holy Ghost is moving in. God has given a five fold ministry of Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers and Evangelist for the perfecting of the Saints. The Bible says that we are to be one in Christ Jesus, being divided causes the Church to be disfunctional. This mind that was in Christ Jesus was not headed up by some group of men head-quartered in Cleveland, Tennessee or Springfield, Missouri of anywhere else in the United States. Being lead by the Spirit does not mean that you're in good standing with everybody you attend Church with there could be some backslidders in your Church.
The Church becomes disfunctional when everybody tries to please the Pastor, instead of pleasing God. The Church becomes disfunctional when we use all the Church growing seminars and programs from the Church headquarters, instead of allowing God to give the increase.I believe that we can trace back to why the Christian Church is disfunctional that being we've stopped following God and started following man lead denominations.
The setting of this article is in the middle of the Bible-Belt. There was a time, in my life time that the Church had an influence on the communities. There were no beer joints and night clubs in this area, there were no whore houses legally operating, shacking up was not acceptable. The time was when Movie theaters were told what could and could not be shown in this area, mostly family rated movies. Homosexuals were closet bound, men and women didn't dress like the opposite (transvestites).A standard of holiness was expected from members of all faiths across the denominational lines. Please note that I am Pro-Church, yet something has happened the Church has lost it's influence.
Now in this area there is liqueur by the drink, voted in by the majority who claim to be Christians. Topless bars that use to be zoned out of this county are a major part of down town. Whore's work the main highways with little or no resistance until some Christian politician needs to be re-elected. The crime rated has risen over 300 per cent,the courts are full, jails are over populated. Adult rated movies can be rented at any movie video store, there's almost one on every other corner. Now people teach being Homosexual or a Transvestite is an alternate lifestyle. Now some liberal Churches ordain into the ministry active Homosexual's and some allow them to marry within the Church.The Church of yester-year has become a house divided, now every man does that which is right in their own eyes.
We've living in a time when people want to equate Church membership to salvation. Just from my observation, I wonder about Church membership, especially from Churches I've joined. "Assemblies of God, Independent Holiness Churches, Church of God". Consider this on Sunday morning over a hundred, on Sunday nights about fifty, on Wedneday night about thirty. I've noticed that people attend real well until they become members, then I'm not sure what happens. Maybe we're going about this all wrong in desiring people to join our Church. Could it be that the honor of being a member of the Church of God is not enough to keep them coming back?
What if we had more suppers or even give away a special prize after the Sunday night service? What if the general headquarters were to send in a top notch Evangelist to teach us to love one another again? Maybe the use of reverse psychology by not promoting our Church would work letting them desire joining instead of being recuited. Is our Pastor so boring, one sermon per- week is all that most members can take? Are the members semi-friendly or just plain moody, is this the cause of poor attendance? Could it be a family oriented problem being that our Church has several families that are members, is there a family feud?
Maybe the problem is the loudness of the Pastor's voice when he's preaching under the anointing? Maybe the problem's in the special singing department, how much amateur and unprofessional singing should members be subjected to? Maybe the problems in the color of the carpet or the lighting in the Church's sanctury, I wonder if the problem could be the location of the Church in the middle of town? Maybe the size of the Church is the problem, members being afraid of being cramped in a small area? I wonder if all the emotionalism that we sometimes display could be causing members a problem? To be totally honest the problems not the Pastor or the singing or the size or the location of the Church.I believe the real problem is that Church members don't love Jesus the way we should or else we would attend his House more often. There should be more thought given to joining a Church than just the thing to do. What is missing in this CH--CH? Answer UR.