What concerns you most about God's church today?

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:31 pm

Hi everyone... It's nice to have a section just for believers.

I"m new here, but would love to get to know everyone.

I'm wondering what your feeling & hearing in your prayer life concerning the church. What are you hearing from God concerning what we need to be doing differently in His Church? Are we, His Bride, ready for His return? What concerns you about the church today, specifically, His church here in the USA?

Hammer · Post by **Hammer** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:05 pm

Hi Cindy,

I"m new here, but would love to get to know everyone.

I guess we're in the same boat then.

I'll be honest, it has been awhile since i last had a one on one with God but last time i did chat with Him i felt Him say to "check your heart".

I don't know if this goes for america, but i know it's for every christian in general. We need to be the standard in which non-christians look to if they want to see an example of God. Our actions determine the non-christians choice between eternal life or damnation.

As for the church, they need to start being more active and do what they preach/say. I have personally seen the effects of people taking action on God's promises for their church/youth groups and it is astounding what faith, perserverance and action will accomplish. Too many times have i seen a news report about a priest giving into his pedaephilia and it is just tearing the image of the church apart when non-christians see that.

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:33 pm

Hi Hammer, nice to meet you.

wow, I so agree with what your saying....we need, as God's representatives, to show the world with our behavior and our actions that God lives in us! I think the church also needs that "heart check".

thanks for answering

puddleglum · Post by **puddleglum** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:36 pm

I live in a town which contains several churches that preach the gospel and whose teachings are true to the Bible. But I don't see much evidence that they are having much influence on life here. It seems that the quantity of Christianity is high but the quality is low. This is probably as much my fault as it is of any of the other Christians in this town. I try to live a life that will be obedient to Christ and enable me to lead others to him, but I am not very successful.

One thing that bothers me is that many of the stores are trying to reach Hispanic customers by selling products that they would be interested in and by having their signs in Spanish as well as English, but I have seen no evidence that anyone is making any special effort to share the gospel with Spanish speaking people. Since I don't speak Spanish there is nothing I can personally do about this situation except pray about it.

I guess the best way to improve this situation is for me to try to have a closer relationship with God so that he will be able to use me to help others.

Post by **otseng** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:12 pm

A forum member suggested to read "Organic Church" by Neil Cole. And I've just finished reading it. And I would highly recommend it for anyone that is questioning "Churchianity". There have been few books that have resonated so much with what I've been thinking. It deals with many of the problems of the modern church and why people are disillusioned with it (including myself). And it offers a radical (and very Biblical) view of what church is supposed to be like.

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:31 am

Thanks for the book suggestion!! I will read it!! God Bless..

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:34 am

to samwise.... I hear what your saying, I see the same sort of thing where I live...and I don't have all the answers..but I have to tell you, your response reminded me of something I do want to do as I have more time...that is learn Spanish! My son will be taking Spanish in school starting as a 7th grader and I want to learn alongside of him. I hope to be able to share with others Spanish speaking. I just feel like we all know and understand the needs out there, to share the Word of God, but for some reason, we just let our own pride and/or feelings of inadequacy stop us. I'm working on it too..it's a life-long journey.

ConiectoErgoSum · Post by **ConiectoErgoSum** » Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:52 pm

it seems the non christians on this forum have a lot of misconceptions about Jesus that they are pretty sure about... maybe if more churches preached accurate doctrine we could better show what we're all about.

the biggest doctrine flaw i hear about is this 'Christianity as controlling agent' idea. i think many churches must be too dogmatic or legalist. faith leads to good works - why do we need memorized prayers and meaningless rituals?

another one is fear-mongering. churches should not be trying to scare people, condemning them for their unbelief. if they don't believe in Jesus, then they don't believe in hell, and its kind of a crappy motivator. Jesus did not tell about hell to motivate unbelievers to believe, but to motivate believers to speak up.

one more - getting political. why does it matter if secular laws reflect christian beliefs? a follower will follow them regardless, and a doubter will not be saved by following some law.

d10sfan · Post by **d10sfan** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:36 pm

Sounds like an interesting book, Ill be taking a look at that.

Yea, I agree that there are some deep-seeded beliefs from non-believers that make them feel that Christ or God is not real or that they do not need it.

Alot of churches today, I feel, are more concerned about numbers and money and less concerned about bringing new believers. There are lots of new churches popping up in Lubbock, TX (where I am at at the moment) and they are growing quite a bit but it seems that the number of believers that go to church stays at a similar number. Instead of these new churches bringing many new believers, they move them from one church to the other. I feel we need to outreach and show people that Christ is real and that God cares for each and every one of us.