Page 9 - The Church and Education Pro combined

Responsibilities of the Church

Jesus had a purpose and reason in creating the church. He has ordained specific tasks and duties that
His church is to accomplish here on earth. So let’s take a look at what God intends to be the central
focus of His church. But before we do that, let’s look at some things that the church is NOT to focus on…

1. Spending their resources on themselves. Today, some people think of a church as a
building located on the corner of two streets. The closer we get to Christ’s return, the
more the buildings and programs of the church receive special attention. Christianity
Today recently published the results of a survey of 2,200 churches from around the
country (USA). They reported that 47% of the income of the church was spent on
salaries for staff, 22% was spent on the church property, 4% went toward programs,
less than 5% went toward spreading the Gospel in missions spending. Considering
1
that the primary command to the church was to spread the Gospel to the nations, it is a
shame that the church congregations today seems to be focused on themselves rather
than focusing on the needs of the world.

2. Programs that attract people to the church. The emphasis among many churches today in the world
is to create special programs that will meet the “needs of the members” or attract new members to
come. You can look at some church calendars, and they are filled with events that may not have
anything to do with missions or evangelism or discipleship but solely concentrate on entertainment or
fellowship. I had a pastor who called a music director. His top priority was to see if the candidate had
the ability and experience in creating huge performances throughout the year to attract new people to
the church. Churches host sporting events, boy or girl scouts, men’s fellowships, or older folks meetings
and during these events no consideration is given to God’s Word or sharing the Gospel. The focus of
many community events is totally humanitarian: feed the hungry but don’t offend them with the
Gospel. Meeting the physical needs of the poor to the neglect of their spiritual needs is missing the
focus of what the church is called to do.

John Macarthur shared this story in Grace to You from I Corinthians 12. “Some churches uses amazing
gimmicks to fulfill what they assume is their responsibility:

a. Gospel Birds - One ad said to attend a certain church because that coming Sunday they were
featuring the Hanson Gospel Birds. The ad said, "These birds eat with a fork, fly backwards,
open padlocks, ride airplanes, and swallow small swords." Those were the Hanson Gospel
Birds.

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

1 How Churches Spend their Money, PNW News Homepage, by Brant Henshaw

8