I stumbled upon a soul searching question in a writing/marketing blog.
"If your church disappeared from the neighborhood, and in essence didn’t exist in your community, who would notice?"
Let that question sink in and grab a tall cup of coffee to plumb its depth. Here's the article by Ryan Imel at Copyblogger. Take a few minutes to read it and then come on back for a few thoughts about disappearing churches.
This post has been on the back burner a long time.
Is my church effectively reaching it's target? If we closed up "shop" would people miss us? Would they find another place to worship God, or would they fall away? That's a test of depth of ministry.
Is my church different that the 2 dozen other evangelical churches in the neighborhood? Am I reaching a culture group effectively, or am I broadcasting and hoping someone is listening?
Is this ministry filling a need of ministry or a need for me to feel important?
Do people really listen. An interesting survey was just released and people are very comfortable being invited to church (especially around Easter) by a friend. Do we invite friends? Do we have friends that don't attend church?
Many are concerned about the political movement away from conservatism and judeo-christian ethics. We've got no one to blame but ourselves.
I had an interesting conversation with an old friend. His kids were so busy playing church, they fell off the boat. They both have children out of wedlock and are not attending or involved in a church. From my generation about 1990 to the present we have lost our focus. We have played church so long, we don't know what the real thing is. Our youth have suffered. They have lost their way and are adrift on the open sea of relativism and moral ambiguity.
Man the rescue boat. We need to venture out on the high seas.
