church planter

This past Sunday we had a guy talk to a few of us at church about church planting. Now I know what many of you are already thinking… “Isn’t there enough churches already?” Let me share with you some statistics that he gave us about “church” as we know it today. There are about 350,000 churches in America today. 3, 800 closed their doors last year and they are closing every day. The average size of a church is around 125 people. 50% of churches are less than 100 and have a bi-vocational preacher (he works two jobs because the church can’t support him financially). Get this one…80% of churches are either keeping the ship steady or they are declining and only 5% are growing!

I live in the South where we have a church of some flavor on every corner. I can throw a rock from where I am sitting at hit at least four different churches. I can go 2 or three blocks and see several more. They are everywhere here! So maybe we do have enough churches…at least in the South. But let me share with you another statistic he gave us. 83.3% of people, surveyed in 2005, said they do NOT go to church anywhere and if they go, it is no more than four times a year (holidays)! That leaves 17.7% of the population going to church. Wouldn’t you agree with me the field is ready for a harvest?

I know it seems to us that everybody has already heard the message of Jesus and that everybody goes to church somewhere already so why bother. That’s a lie from the devil! Look at the statistics that I just gave you. 83.3% of the United States population says that they stay home instead of coming to church. That means one of two things, either they don’t care about Jesus or we are not doing our job to reach these folks. Remember these words of Jesus in Matthew 9:37-38 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”? The harvest is plentiful but His laborers have taken an extended lunch break! We are too busy sitting around in our buildings on our padded pews getting fed bunt we ain’t sharing the food! That’s called greed people! Isn’t that a weird thought? We would never say we are greedy people but we truly are! We are greedy with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father. What good does it do to pray, read our Bibles, listen to some sermons, go to small groups, sing some songs to God? What? Did you just say it helps you to keep “in tune” or “in focus” with God? You just proved what I am saying. If we are not taking what God has instilled in us and sharing with the lost, who are desperate for love and acceptance, then we are greedy!

This is exactly why our churches are closing the doors. We have sat around and got fat from the meat of God and we haven’t been exercising. Oh yeah, we pray for the lost, and then we sit back down on our pews. But I’m afraid that it’s just a prayer that sounds good when we stand in front of the congregation. Oh, we say we want to win the lost! You know…the Great Commission. We even have it in our creeds and mission statements. How many people were baptized or gave their lives to Christ in your church last year? The last 5 years? The church today has been filled with greed. Not for money, not for power, although these are prevalent in our churches today, no, the church has been filled with greed for Jesus. We just keep Him bottled up inside so we can have Him all to ourselves. Lord forgive me, forgive us, for our greed. Help us to share Your love, Your grace, Your mercy and compassion, with a lost soul today. Randy