“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
Romans 1:16 NKJV
I have noticed several ads by churches to appeal to the unbeliever. I have seen churches host yoga events, offer Christian Zen, coffee hours, comedy clubs, even wine tasting events, and serving beer during service. These ideas are to get more people to come to church by appealing to the things their flesh likes to do. Why? Because who wants to sit through a boring church service.
These ideas may get people into the door but they will not usher them into the Kingdom. Personally, I believe we are better to leave from inside our churches and meet people where they are located. However, this is not the point of my message. What really attracts people to church?
Many people who go to church go for one reason – they believe in God. Most people who do not attend church do not believe in God. There are those in between the two groups that may go to church for some reason and not believe in God; or they may believe in God but have stopped attending church. So the key to getting people to come to church is the gospel. You don’t need a gimmick or some worldly plan to draw people to church. They just need to hear the gospel.
Jesus commissioned us to go into the nations and make disciples. He did not tell us to fill our churches with people but to make disciples. Disciples of Christ are far more effective in advancing the gospel and the kingdom than church attendees. We cannot measure the success of our church by the size of our members. Take a look at Jesus’ own ministry. Jesus invested in 12 men. He disciples them but there were thousands of others that followed Him. However, when His teachings were hard and when he was arrested those followers were no where to be found. Even Jesus lost His church. It was the 12 that remained. Then one betrayed him and handed him over to the Jews as it was prophesied.
It is estimated that about 500 people witnessed Jesus’ ascension. However, only about 120 were found in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. However, on that day Peter preached and 3000 were saved. How was this possible? The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is the Gospel that has the power to save men. The truth of the gospel is what sets people free from their sin, and born again as a new creation in Christ. Your church events will not keep people in church. They may come to see what is happening but your event is not a reason enough to stay. We need to get back to the basics of training up disciples and sending them out into the world. It is what the early church did.
If we make the gospel the central tool of evangelism we will attract people to Jesus. That is just how powerful the gospel is, even today. We do not need to be ashamed to preach the gospel to those who do not know Jesus. It isn’t enough to get them to believe but we have to make disciples so the gospel will advance. Imagine the church full of disciples of Jesus? Think about the impact we could make on the World. Look at the disciples of Jesus and the Apostle Paul and how they transformed the world and still their acts are impacting the world today and drawing people to Christ.
The gospel is all we need. We do not need to sell t-shirts or come up with other gimmicks to get people to come to church. We just need to disciple them and help cultivate a culture where we are intimate with Christ. That way no matter what happens in a person’s life they will always turn to their rock of salvation – Jesus Christ.
Reflections 