As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Read the series.
We’ve noted that some people resist committing to a local church, and I think we’ve demonstrated that their reasons for doing so are short-sighted. Even in a broken world with broken institutions full of broken people, surrounding yourself with your fellow travelers—and committing to them—is not only worth it, but it’s a mark of personal and social health.
So why get involved? Several reasons.
I’d like to begin a brief series on what our relationship should be with our local church. Like any culture, our culture—early 21st-century American conservative evangelicalism—has its strengths and its weaknesses, its sore spots and its blind spots. I think there are some elements in our church culture that have greatly improved on the way things used to be done—improved in the sense of becoming more in line with biblical teaching—but I think there are also some important elements that we tend to de-emphasize.
So a few posts on some of those.
“This article shares data from Inside the Urban Church—a Barna report created in partnership with World Impact—to further explore what role the church has in the city.” - Barna
“Small churches have always been and will always be the most common, most resilient and most adaptable expression of the body of Christ.” - C.Leaders
“Measuring attendance, giving, staff levels, and several other metrics in 2022, he found that after all the regulations had been lifted …there was little to no discernible difference between churches where there had been lots of restrictions and those where there had been almost none.” - CToday
“They are numerous, and they are located in the heart of places with lots of people…. I wish I could write that these churches will make a comeback, but it’s still an unrealized possibility.” - Sam Rainer
“Over 80% of churchgoers predict a promising future for their churches. Is this figure what you would expect? Until I saw the research, I would not have guessed optimism was so high among churchgoers.” - Sam Rainer
“The church’s biggest problem is the lack of assurance in pursuing God’s glory. Slow giving trends are a symptom of a greater problem. The decline in average worship attendance is a symptom of a greater problem. Poor leadership is a symptom of a greater problem.” - Sam Rainer
“Eighty-four percent of pastors say the local church’s role in community is to ‘tell others about Jesus’” vs. 58% of Christians and 30% of non-Christians. - Barna
What Is a Church? - 9 Marks
Discussion