Tim and Naomi

Letters in the mail

Yesterday I received a letter from a local church here in Meridian, ID. Naomi and I had visited them once a few months ago in their new building. The place was nice, comfortable, the people were friendly enough. But it wasn’t the right fit for us as far as what we look for in a local church.

This church is currently experiencing a budget shortfall. The letter talked about how much money they needed to keep operating the way they have been.

The trouble I see is not their budget shortfall. The trouble is that if I received this letter, then surely they sent it out to all of the other visitors that have been there lately. If I can think of the fastest way to shoo away newcomers and potential members, it would be to openly ask for money specifically from them. Many churches have this same issue with money and have done the same thing or similar.

The real deficit in America’s churches

When was the last time your church sent you a letter telling you of a deficit of incomparable magnitude? And when was the last time they told you the deficit was that of souls not just being lost, but specifically not being won by that local church?

The fact is, most local churches in America are more concerned with meeting their own needs than they are the needs of others. Focus is placed on infrastructure and building A church and not THE Church. They take their money and build a fancy place to please themselves and make their tithe payers comfortable.

If we were wise, we would find ways to do with less comfort and more to help the poor and broken-hearted. We would find ways to creatively tell the story and live the message we believe in. We would take a grassroots approach to reaching the lost.

That’s my experience. What’s yours?

Please leave a comment, I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Please Note: for all intents and purposes “church” with a lowercase “c” represents unique, local gatherings of Christians that typically make up what most American’s consider to be “church”. i.e. the local Christian, Presbyterian, Baptist church.