FIND GOD'S CHURCH FOR YOU AND STICK WITH IT

FIND GOD’S CHURCH FOR YOU AND STICK WITH IT

A man had been shipwrecked on a remote island in the Pacific, and was alone for 20 years.  When a ship finally arrived, his rescuers were very impressed with the three buildings he had built and asked about them.

“Well,” the man replied, “this one is my house, and that building over there is my church.  It's a wonderful church and I hate to leave it.”

“And what is that third building over yonder?” one rescuer asked.

“Oh…that’s the church I used to go to,” the man replied with a frown.

It’s an amusing story, but therein resides a deep reservoir of hidden truth.  In a book by Bob Franquiz entitled, Zero to Sixty, there is a chapter on church hoppers.  According to this author, there are definite ways to identify church hoppers, based solely on their words.  You have heard many of these complaints:

1.          “But my old church…”

[This usually means they want their new church to be something like their old church].

2.        “I just need time to be fed.”

[Translation: “I don’t want to do anything. I’m here just to sit and see what I can get out of this church, so don’t expect me to serve in any way, shape, or form.”]

3.        “I’m looking for a church that teaches the Word.”

[Translation: “I’m looking for a church that dispenses lots of information without challenging me to personally do anything.”]

4.       “We came here because we are looking for deeper teaching.”

[This usually means their last church focused too much on actually obeying the Word. They want a church
that just talks about the Rapture, the Second Coming, who the Hittites were and the true identity of Theophilus].

5.        “I should know my pastor.”

[Translation: “In my last church, I did get to know the pastor, but when the church grew, and the pastor couldn’t have dinner with us every Tuesday night, I left and came here.”]

6.       “We want a church that’s focused on discipling people.”

[Translation: “I want a church that’s focused on me, not people who are lost.”]

7.        “I wish you wouldn’t focus so much on what people need to do.”

[This means they don’t like commitment, they don’t like to be told what the Bible actually tells them how to live and how to follow Jesus. They want to come to church, live in their sins and have no one tell them they are wrong].

8.       “I wish you wouldn’t talk about money.”

[Translation: “I don’t give very much.”]

9.       “My old church/pastor was…”

[The way people come to your church is usually how they will leave your church.  If your first conversation with them is all about the negatives of their last church and pastor, that is exactly how they will leave your church and how they will go to their next church].

10.     “Pastor, I’ve been talking to a lot of people and they all say…”

[Translation: “Me, my spouse and my mother think…”  If they start a conversation this way, 99.9% of the time they have no one else who thinks that way, it is just the best way they can think of to complain. If someone has a complaint and uses this line with me, they need to list all of the names or my best assumption is they talked to the same person 10 times].

Being a consistent participant in a Christ-centered, Bible-based fellowship of believers is vitally important.  Worship cannot be fully actualized alone or via Internet, television and radio media.  Worship is a powerful togetherness.  That’s why the Word instructs us to avoid “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” (Hebrews 10:25)  In truth, “iron sharpens iron.” (Proverbs 27:17)  Believers are edified by one another.  All of us need to be active participants in an assembly of believers where the full gospel is presented, where prayer, praise, worship, fasting, Bible study, holy living, Spirit fruit, and Spirit gifts are emphasized, and where the shepherd of the flock has a true heart for the things of GOD and the total health of HIS people.

Instead of being a chronic critic or a church hopper, ask God for divine wisdom on how you can become part of the solution…not part of the problem.  Be continually blessed!