Relztrah said:
But still, our ideas are not attracting the masses who still prefer to have their ears tickled. Why is this? Is it just the nature of the USA and our need to be entertained, or due to our self-absorbed culture that wants to hear about how Jesus came to give their lives meaning and purpose? Or because Reformation churches aren’t aggressively evangelizing new members while they watch their old members leave in favor of mainline evangelical churches where they can get their needs met? What are your ideas?
I too was struck by the lack of reformed churches on the list, but I can't say I was surprised. It is a bit disheartening though. While I was in the US, I attended a PCA church that I felt was a really great church. I think that Scripture was faithfully taught each week and the focus was on God and Christ and not man. I do think the music side of the service could have been a little more reverential than it was. During the five years I attended the church I think the size of the congregation basically doubled. So, there are definitely "Reformation churches" in the US that are growing and evangelizing new members.
Still, we shouldn't fall into the trap of measuring the effectiveness of a church by how fast it is growing or how many new "believers" it baptizes each year. I mean, if there is a church in a small country town of 500 people, the gospel could be faithfully proclaimed each week in a truly God-centered service. The church could be having a dramatic impact on the lives of the members each week, and yet, there would me no hope for it to make this list. Because the town is small, there is also really no chance for it's membership to increase from year to year either.
I think that one reason that Reformation churches may not be growing is not because they aren't aggressively evangelizing new members or meeting members needs, but that when people are presented with the true Gospel, it is just not as attractive as a lot of the self-help gospels wrapped up in biblical language that a lot of the churches on the list teach. Plus, many people, whether they realize it or not, are gowing to church to be entertained, and a truly God-centered reformed type of service is probably not entertaining by the standards of our culture. I don't think this is an area where the churh should try to meet the culture. As for people leaving reformed churches to have their needs met, I wonder what their main purpose in attending church is in the first place. I cannot see our needs being met any better than having the Scriptures explained and taught truthfully each week.
All that being said, there are of course many areas where reformed churches need reforming. Even the best reformed churches are composed of sinful people and have many problems. We can definitely do a better of job of being more sensitive to the needs of the people in the church.
Well, I ran out of time, so I'll end here.
John
