Isn't that what we do?.....Ok, maybe not.

     I am continuing my thought from yesterday. God will not let go of me on this subject. In his book entitled, Radical Together, David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, tells a story about a pastor coming to him and talking to him about how their church operates. The pastor said they tell their people to invite as many people as possible to church. When the people come, leave the rest to the staff to create an environment that they will find appealing and want to come back. As I read this, I speculated that many of our churches operate under this pretense. This is the basis of the seeker sensitive movement that many churches have bought into.
     When the pastor asked David if that was the way his church did things. He was honest with him and told him no. The church where he pastors does the exact opposite. He told him that church was for the believers, it was not geared toward the lost. Salvation is extended to the lost through the week as our people encounter them at work or in the market. As they accept Christ as Savior then we plug them into small groups to learn how to reach other for Christ. Would you have a clue as to what the pastor's response was to what David said? The pastor said, " Man that's a new idea"
     Oh it is??? I don't think so. Christ commanded His church to go into all the world and make disciples. He did not tell us to come up with just the right church service with the most awesome music and super relevant speaker and then sit back and wait on people to come in for salvation. Don't get me wrong, there are times when people get saved during a church service, but the church is compelled to go after the lost not wait on them.
     There is a church near my hometown that is experiencing growth, but one of the things they do that puzzles me is they have a baptism service planned without anyone necessarily scheduled to be baptized. They ask people to come to the church and get saved. I don't know about you but this seems a little backward to the way we are taught to go after the lost in the Bible.
     Will we sit back and wait on the lost come to church on our terms? Maybe we will keep changing our church services until it is finally just the way the world wants it? Jesus commanded us to take the Church into the world, but we have allowed the world into the church........

I am John Sowders and I am Second...!!!!