"For Surely I know the plans I have for you, says he Lord...to give you a future with hope" - (Jer. 29:11)
Barna reports that the Church in America is on a rapid road to the archives of history. That most of the old-line denominations have seen a serious reduction in their enrollments and an even greater deterioration in attendance. An old-salt pastor recently remarked, if you want to find some real peace and quiet, step into just about any church in town most of the time. In North America, the majority of churches don't have as many members as they did ten, twenty and fifty years ago. There is growing skepticism among many that the church is no longer relevant and will soon pass into oblivion.
But, let me share another study that was recently completed in a Canada where a follow up question was added to the primary question: “Are you an active part of a church?”. The question ask, “Are you involved in a church? And if so, what church? Those who listed no affiliation were referred to as the “nones”.
But there was a second question added that showed the questioners the “nones” looked more like ‘somes’. The bottom line discovered by the questioner was Canadians are still hungry, even when they deny it. In my experience of working with young bucks, who had no contact with the religious world, I agree with that assessment. Most had an itch they could not scratch and really had no idea what was causing that itch.
Let me take you down a side road for a moment before getting to the main point of what I want to share with you, there is a concerted movement on the part of our President and those he has appointed as the guru’s of our military; they are going to great lengths to remove Christ from the military. But how many know, they removed God from our schools years ago and every time there is a test He shows up invited. In times of conflict there are no such things as Godless fox holes or Godless cockpits of fighter aircraft.
My bride, who is an avid reader and supplies me with many interesting goodies shared the following goodie: A pastor of one of those small, and getting smalle,r churches in the Midwest, who never allowed reality to discourage him. One day I, his friend, asked him, " Pastor Bill, how do you stay so positive when your membership keeps shrinking? Aren't you afraid you'll close?”
Bill smiled, “I don't know what you are talking about! "We're not shrinking. We're growing - up ten percent from last year." "Can't be, "His friend said, "I've seen your membership numbers. Down every year for the last ten."
"You count members,” Bill said, "but we count touches. Anytime anyone in our church does something for someone else in the name of Jesus, that's a touch; a card sent, a phone call made, a meal delivered, a donation to the food pantry. And our goal is to increase touches. In the five years that we've counted this way, we've grown every year."
Soooo, Getting back to the ‘nones’ who were ‘somes’, let me share a personal opinion based on more than fifty years of experience of coming along side young folks and older folks and all types of folks who have need of someone to “reach out and touch them” I believe that is what Jesus meant when He said “there is no greater love than for someone to be willing to lay down their lives for someone who is hurting”. He also said “for those who did this for the last of these my brethren I will bless. (Hillbilly rendition).
You see when you reach out the touch that person behind the checkout counter at Walmart it releases a muscle in their face and a smile breaks out and you have planted a wee touch of heaven into their heart. Do you have a quota of how many touches you will share today? I have a theory: the discipline of setting a number for it does two things, it focuses your attention of the needs of people you come in contract with and God sends those who have needs across your path for “His touch through you”.
Blessings,
Gramps
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