I've been on a slight hiatus for the last couple weeks with my transition to a new ministry. None the less, I'm excited about what getting back on here and here's the 2 on tuesday.
1. Recently my pastor shared some alarming numbers about baptism. There is around 9,169 churches that recorded 0 baptisms.
2. This is scary for many reasons, but here's just one from the survey. "The number of churches baptizing no 12-17 year olds has also been increasing."
This means churches aren't reaching young folks with the Gospel of Jesus. What's broke? I just recently finished a lunch discussion with some pastors about it. What do you think? I'm interested to hear from people in ministry and outsiders of it.
The world has pushed the "drug" of entertainment successfully; not only to our students but to adults, too. We often think the sign of a successful ministry is how well we keep the folks entertained. Unfortunately, entertainment does not help us when life gets hard or busy or a new and better entertainment comes along.
If students have not been taught to love the Word they will leave, seeking something -though they know not what - that will feed them.
Posted by: Debbie Wilson | May 04, 2010 at 12:54 PM
We've filled our lives with busy things...busy people...stuff to do...and people are just too busy to do "the work" that is the most important. Still working on "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan(as you probably know)and something I read really struck a chord with me..."Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." Guilty as charged and working on it.
Posted by: Denise | May 04, 2010 at 04:34 PM