I find church attendance and growth fascinating and intriguing.
One(church) gets very big(as per Congregation/membership count) and later it breaks down due to internal strife of money control, immorality, infidelity, etc and divides and another is created from it and that too gets big and breaks down for similar reasons and another is created again and the circle is endless.
The break out group claim that in addition to being led by the Holy Spirit to start a church, that as their former church grew physically and financially, they lost their intimate relationship with God and fell into realm of mere religion.
Unfortunately, the same circle is repeated too in the new church but Hebrews 10:22-25 mentions the phrase “…not avoiding worshiping together…
So why do we really attend church?
See Hebrews: 22-25;
“So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.”
Are you doing these things in your church?
Pursuit of titles, popularity, nice clothes, good looking cars, display of intellectual superiority and tradition passed down from parents is not church attendance and church growth is about YOUR personal work with Jesus and how it imparts the people around you.
Permit me with these quotes;
“One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.” ~
Aiden Wilson Tozer
“Many people get what they need from church attendance because the Word is preached, and the rituals are carried on, and God works, but it’s drift more than anything else. And that’s why the churches keep reaching for some programmatic formula that will make people come and give money. It’s just really very sad.” ~
Dallas Willard
