The Powerless Church

I didn’t grow up in church, but in my neighborhood, churches where plentiful. I grew up in what we like to refer to as “the hood”. You know the story, high crime, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, gun violence etc. I could go on and on, but like I said, you know the story. One would think that with the multitude of churches in my “hood” that they would have the power to affect some sort of change in the neighborhood. I’m not talking about the back to school, school supplies, or the Christmas and Thanksgiving baskets, because the drug dealers did that too! What I’m talking about is changing the environment through the love of Christ.
I’m not talking about taking over the community in Jesus name, or taking back what the devil stole. That is another article in itself. The church should let the people know that they love and care for them, by being there for them. Make them feel comfortable enough to come to the church with their needs. Not judging them, or making them feel guilty because they don’t, or can’t pay tithes, or are not “members” of that congregation. Growing up, the only time we saw the church folks was when they were either coming or going to service, or when they were made to pass out tracts to us during their “witnessing”. But where was the power?

I never paid attention to the sheer number of churches around us until recently, and it got me wondering. Why, with all these churches around in these neighborhoods are the neighborhoods steadily declining? My conclusion is that they have no power. They are impotent at affecting real change because the people don’t live in the areas where they worship.

. People drive in from 15 minutes and even up to an hour or two away. You cannot be an effective witness to someone who you don’t know. Is it possible to lead a stranger to Christ? Yes. But what do they do once they get there. This is why Christ set up his ecclesia, the true church which is a community of believers. They know each other, they trust each other, they go to each other with their joys, successes and failures. People don’t do that with strangers. That is why the church is impotent at affecting change in the neighborhoods they are in. They don’t know the people and the people don’t know them.

That's a lot of churches Part 1




Why we have so many churches?"

Because it is a great way to get a lot of money and power from people for nothing, DUH! Where else in the world do you see people happily give away their hard earned money while not receiving anything for it? Church/Religion always been that way and is a great business opportunity, because your customers (gullible believers) are in the billions, and you don't have to pay tax!
firespinguy 3 weeks ago