BARNA STUDY ON CHURCH ATTENDANCE

“Nearly Half of Churchgoing Americans Say Church Doesn’t Have an Effect on Their Lives”

Years ago Huey Lewis, I know I’m dating myself, did a song titled “I Want a New Drug.” It was all about what he needed to feel better. He had a pretty long list of what he needed from this new drug. I read this article about recent research that says nearly half of all people get nothing out of church. I couldn’t help but think of the song.

It made me think about the book of Revelation. That may seem like a leap but I assure you it isn’t. No it took me to my Bible and the first few chapters. It made me want to look at the churches listed there. I couldn’t help but wonder what those seven churches would have said if they were polled. It reminded me of just how backwards we have become in the church today.

The comments after the article were just as telling. How many said that the reason these people feel this way is because they go to churches that don’t have it. Many responders weren’t surprise and seemed certain that if the show was better these numbers wouldn’t be this way.

Then I thought about the churches in Revelation. Take some time and read them for yourself and try to put this study and the article in the same context as the words written to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Tell me if the solutions we think and offer sound anything like the solutions offered to those churches.

It just shows you how backwards we are. How much we don’t understand who the church is and what the church is for. Some of those who responded to the article understand this. How backwards we are.

Does the American church have a lampstand? An angel? What would the letter read if written to us?

And to the angel of the church in the United States write: “I have seen your attitude and your works and……….

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