In case you have not noticed, the church is very different today from a few decades ago. So much of what we once called the church that sacred place has disappeared in plain sight. I am not an expert on this subject, but it is hard not to notice the differences between yesterday and today’s gathering. Let’s just start with the belief system. Parishioners don’t know who to believe in or trust. Church goers have raped the church and left her to heal by herself.
Christians have taken advantage of the one place where wounded persons could resort to for healing and restoration. The church was a symbol of strength and security for all people. We, however, have snatched money from baskets, pans and bank accounts leaving the church bleeding. Selfish leaders made themselves pimps over the church through charismatic manipulations. This of course is not the first time the church has found itself in this kind of predicament. Christ visited the temple in hopes of witnessing the restoration of wounded people but instead he saw gambling, selling, arguing, but not one person being healed (Matt 21:12-14).
Here we are again, in the same if not worse than what Jesus witnessed in countless visits to the established church.
We are plagued with perverted priests, lying pastors, manipulating bishops, and gangster style officers who have stain the word “church” to the point of shame.
We cannot blame COVID-19 on the lack of church attendance, it is time to look within. Allow me to identify a few key things that are missing within the church.
The first thing that is missing is power. I’m not talking about political, financial, or influential power, I am referring to Holy Ghost Power. This is power that operates in a developed environment. A developed environment is established through commitment, expectation, and quality time spent with the Lord in prayer, fasting and meditation. This type of environment yields healing, miracles, and breakthroughs.
We do, however, have a developed environment in place. This environment is no longer based on the needs of the people, it is based on what the people want.
What the people want is not always a bad thing but too often it results in a weakened church. According to Robinson, The Faith of the Unbeliever, “Christian faith and its values no longer dominate the public life of the West. Politics, business, education, and the communication industry all operate on the basis that they need pay no attention at all to Christian ideas and teaching.” This is a strong statement but it’s where we now find ourselves as believers of the faith. The church has lost its POWER! Popeye lost power when he ran out of spinach, the Black Panther lost power in the absence of Vibranium, and the church lost power in the absence of the Holy Ghost. The good news is that we still have time to regain that power, but don’t wait too late.
The Body of Christ, the church is realizing that too many of us are wearing 1940’s football equipment. The helmet is no longer leather, padding has been added everywhere, and the rules have changed a lot. The church must make the necessary changes to participate within this present age. People are not impressed with the amount of food we serve, or the size of our buildings, they want genuinely honest loving people they can grow with spiritually. Pastors must lead the charge by communicating change.
We live in a very dynamic society, one where consumers are expecting a new and improvement above the existing. This places a demand on the pastor to communicate reality, but it is not enough to just define reality through facts.
Wilson asserts, “Facts are not enough, people do not change just because they know something to be true. For instance, 90 percent of heart patients do not change there poor lifestyle habits, even when a doctor tells them that if they do not change, they will die a premature death.” (Pastoral Ministry in the Real World). A sense of urgency must be accompanied by the changes presented.
The church was once a place where people went for restoration but now the church is dying, and it needs to be revived.
