Page 16 - Ecclesiology revised short_Neat

b. Gospel Bottles - Another ad advertised a service on a Sunday night where a
converted alcoholic was going to play gospel music on converted booze bottles to
illustrate the transformation in his life. Instead of drinking out of the bottles, he was
going to blow gospel music back into them.

You say, "That is ridiculous!" Of course, it is, but it does illustrate the fact that the
church has lost the concept of what it is supposed to be. The church is not a place to go
to watch gospel birds. It is not a place to go to hear a man play the converted booze
bottles. The church was never designed to be a gimmick to attract people.”
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3. Focus on Church Growth and not Evangelism. If people are coming to Christ as a result to the
activities of the believers in a church, the church obviously will grow in numbers. Church growth as a
result of evangelism and discipleship is healthy. But today, churches emphasize church growth and the
methods to achieve it are for the most part man-centered efforts. According to the Barna Group, 73% of
born-again Christians believe that they have the personal responsibility to share their faith with lost
people they know, but in reality, only about half of those do. Only 52% of Christians in the US actually
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shared their faith with someone else ONCE in a year. So since the majority of Christian are NOT
sharing their faith, church growth has to come from “attracting the lost” to the church. As mentioned in
point #2 above, churches tend to focus on what they can do to appeal to the world to bring them in, just
to say that their church is growing, and to provide funding for further growth.

To illustrate, in a recent article on steps to grow your church by a renowned pastor and leader in the
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church-growth movement suggested the following ways to grow your church. Among the 8 steps, here
are five suggested:

1. The pastor must lead, not minister to his congregation.
2. Have multiple services appealing to people who have various music preferences and
choices of worship styles.
3. Hire specialized staff that can help grow your ministries.
4. Plan big days and big events around Easter, Christmas, etc.
5. Expand your facility to meet the needs.

Though Charles Spurgeon pre-dated the church growth movement, he was well aware of the temptation
to allow the world to influence the church. He said, “I believe that one reason why the church of God at
this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence
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over the church.” And again, “The very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God
abhors.”
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Here is a cartoon that is somewhat funny, but the problem is it is also rather truthful of the attitudes of
church goers today.

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