Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What Does Declining Church Attendance Mean for Our Society?

The church service is not supposed to be a concert or a laser light show. (nor is it for "reaching the lost"!. It is for praising God and the edification of the saints).

I want no part of a congregation that feels no obligation for reaching out to the unchurched, and I want no part of a congregation that feels no obligation for reaching out to the unsaved. The exclusivity of what you describe above is the polar opposite of what Jesus Himself did. The ‘members only’ attitude of what you describe above is the polar opposite of what Jesus Himself did. He was even criticized by the ‘holier than thou’ crowd because of the kind of people He chose to hang out with.

I want no part of a congregation that feels no obligation for reaching out to the unchurched, and I want no part of a congregation that feels no obligation for reaching out to the unsaved. The exclusivity of what you describe above is the polar opposite of what Jesus Himself did. The ‘members only’ attitude of what you describe above is the polar opposite of what Jesus Himself did. He was even criticized by the ‘holier than thou’ crowd because of the kind of people He chose to hang out with.

Once again, isn't freedom of religion great. You have a great outlook, unlike most.

I’ve been to churches that put me to sleep because they were so boring and so legalistic and so formal and so lifeless. They oughta make convicts sit through their services as part of their punishment. I like an appealing setting, engaging communication, and helpful content. And I like really good live music and fog machines and colored lights; and I like warehouse type settings with folding chairs and conversational type sermons, where I can bring coffee or ice tea into the worship area during the service. I don’t care for natural light or stained glass or choirs or pews or robes being worn by the pastor. Informal, non-traditional, and laid-back as described above puts me WAY more in the mood to worship Jesus in a building.

In order to reach people that no one else is reaching, you’ve got to do things that no one else is doing. Leading people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus is more easily done in a warm, friendly, enjoyable, casual environment (with high-energy worship music) than it is in a cold, unfriendly, no-fun, formal environment (with boring worship services).

antlers, it's funny. My idea of what a church should be drives you away.... and your idea of what a church should be drives me away.

Yep. We see things differently regarding this matter. That’s OK with me. People see things differently regarding politics, the economy, certainly religion, and pretty much anything else. To me, the church is most appealing...and ‘Christians’ are most appealing...when grace is most apparent. And Jesus extends grace to all...not just to “the saints”...but also to “the lost.”

The church service is not supposed to be a concert or a laser light show. (nor is it for "reaching the lost"!. It is for praising God and the edification of the saints). The modern pop-culture nonsense is why I LEFT the church I grew up in. It went "modern" (though so far, no fog machines that I know of...yet).

Well, well, well, i stopped by a buds shop on the way back into town yesterday, we were shooting the crap, i looked over on his deep freezer to see to two 1000 count boxes of small pistol primers, both CCI's, one regular and one mag, i hollered good score buddy!!!!! he laughed, you know old Joe, yeah why? his daddy that recently passed was a gunsmith, i told Joe you had loaded a thousand pistol rounds for folk that go to church with your Mama.
He handed me these and said i'll cover the primers, TWO times! i told Mom, she said God Bless Joe and you tell him i said Thank You, pretty cool deal i thought.