It is impossible for a church, in the body of Christ, to die. When a fellowship of believers begins to wither up and die it is because they are no longer a single unit, a team, with a common mission in the Body of Christ. If a fellowship of Christians continues to function as a united team, which is motivated by a common biblical vision for their fellowship, they cannot fail. If a church is dieing it is because they are committing suicide.
A fellowship of believers needs a common vision, with clearly defined goals, which are attainable through well thought out objectives. Remember, the church exists to display the manifold wisdom of God and to fulfill the great commission. One excellent goal that a church can use, to unit its people in a common mission, is to reach out to the un-churched. The following info, about the un-churched, came from a very recent Barna survey as well as other sources. Perhaps this data can be used to help build a vision for service to Christ.
Who Are The Un-Churched
People not going to any church service in the past 6 - months (un-churched)
* 28% of the adult population
* That translates to nearly 65 million adults
* Add their kids under 18, now it is more than 100 million
Un-Churched Are Mostly Self-Identified Christians
* 61% of un-churched call themselves a Christian
* 39% of un-churched do not call themselves a Christian
Un-Churched Statistics
Fifty Three percent of the Un-Churched broke away from a church affiliation.
* Protestant 30%
* Catholic 17%
* Other 10%
In general the Un-Churched who:
* Can be considered to be "born again;" they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior 18%
* Have a scriptural view of God: 68%
* Believe the Bible is totally accurate: 35%
* Religious faith is very important in their life: 15%
* Ultimate purpose of life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul: 22%
* Have a clear sense of the meaning and purpose in their life 14%
Only 25 – 30 percent of the un-churched believe:
* salvation is by grace alone
* Jesus Christ lived a holy and sinless life on earth
* Satan still exists today
Reasons For Not Going to Church:
* Barna survey revealed that 37% said they avoid churches because of negative past experiences in churches or with church people.
* Other survey sources listed a number of reasons for people not going to church. You can sort these into three basic groups:
o Church worship services are boring
o Church service are just not relevant to my needs
o Church is just too out of date
o Don’t think that church is all that important
o Worldly interests take first priority
o Lack of Church experience
o Disagree with the churches beliefs
o Disagree with churches moral views
o Disagree with church leadership
Conclusion:
Statistics reveal that 53% of the people not going to church used to go to church. That is one massive mission field: right here in the United States. We also know that 37% of the un-churched have experienced an emotional or mental hurt by the church. A second group of un-churched feels that churches are out of step with technology and society today. Then there is the third group who find the world offering too many alternatives for them to take time to go to church. The last group is those who profess to be believers but they are in a constant dispute with others. This is a massive and diverse harvest field, made up of people whom at one-time used to go to church.
It would seem most logical that some of these folks would probably return to church: if they could find a loving and trustworthy fellowship. This does not mean that we translate loving and trustworthy into ‘generate a new message.’ As Christians we know that the gospel message itself can never change; but we should also be intelligent enough to realize that the delivery of the gospel message should not become outdated and stagnated. While we will probably never reach all of the un-churched folks; that does not mean we do not try … true Christian love works many wonders.
BTW: A church that is dying is probably killing itself … the Holy Spirit will never turn His back on a people united in doing the Lord’s work.