Did you know that nowadays more and more people are quitting the church? They still believe in God and are good Christians but are disillusioned with a lot of the stuff that goes on in churches today. I find it appalling that in a recent study shows that out of 300 million Christian in this country 129 million have stopped going to church because of various issues.
Some are disillusioned that the church appears to not care about people's issues. Some others feel their church is insensitive to their needs while demanding more and more. A lot of people are suspicious of their pastors and ministers, citing the recent scandals and bad deeds of other ministers, pastors and leaders.
Time magazine published the following statement recently: "More evangelicals are abandoning mega churches for mini churches based in their own living rooms". That is outrageous, in other words, more people find it OK to worship at home rather than come to church! Most say that church services have become boring, banal, and even painful to go to.
Recently a Pastor issued the following 9 challenges to the church, hoping that some change might come of it:
1. Worship is stale; 'same old same old"
2. Preachers are watering down their theological beliefs
3. Congregations are still split into all black, all white, or all Hispanic groups...in other words, there is no diversity.
4. Many young Christians don't take the Bible seriously especially on issues like divorce and premarital sex.
5. Christianity in America has essentially no built-in cost.
6. Any expression of the supernatural has been taken out of worship
7. No one is ready for the fact that the next generation of youth are going to reinvent the church.
8. Churches in the U.S tend to compete rather than cooperate
9. There is a lack of leaders with a vision.
