Hey, Jimmy Dooley Here!
Do you ever wonder why there are so many empty churches today? Or maybe even why when people hear about Christianity they seem so turned off by it? I do, I think about these things all the time. Why is it you can go by a school play or bingo event & see the parking overflowing & then go by a church & see 10 cars?
As I have studied this very much over the last few years, I’m starting to understand it & see more clearly why this is. Isn’t it true that people want to be apart of something exciting, welcoming, rewarding & feeling that they are loved & accepted while they are there? I think so, so my question is, when people who are on the outside looking in at Christians & churches what are they really seeing? I really started trying to think this way, as someone who doesn’t know about the religious jargon, & all the churchy stuff, just someone who’s showing up to church for the first time trying to see what it’s all about. Thinking from that perspective made some things really clear to me, let me share just a few examples with you to prove my point.
Not long ago we sang at a church on a Sunday morning, people came dragging in like it was almost punishment for them to be there. I could hear someone ask how have you been, the answer was followed by all kinds of negativity & complaining, & it seemed as if every conversation was close to being that way by all the people there. No one was friendly or welcoming, they didn’t say hi to my wife or I, just kind of looked at us like, “what are you doing here?” Next Sunday school started where they talked more about politics than the Bible, which they were very passionate about, & got excited, angry & controversial about politics, but at least they seemed into what they were talking about. During the church service it was more than boring, no life in the preacher, the singers, or the church members at all. No one smiled, no one said amen, no one clapped, people staring at their watches the whole time. At the end the pastor asked if anyone was glad to be a Christian would you please stand up, out of about 65 people 1 lady stood up. So he asked again, anyone who is glad to be a Christian today would you please stand up, maybe 2 more people stood up, everyone else looked around like let’s get this over with. The pastor had to practically beg the people to stand up showing they were glad to be a Christian & still several people, who said they were Christians, never stood up. Wow! I couldn’t believe it, well actually I could because I see this stuff all the time, it’s not uncommon, there are more churches like this than unlike it. What if someone was visiting who was thinking about becoming a Christian, they must have thought, being a Christian must be the most miserable thing in the world according to these people.
Let me give you another example, last year the theme of our concerts was “Be The Change” at the end of the concert I would ask a few questions to the people. I was really excited about this them when we first started the tour because I felt like it was really going to inspire people to step out for God & do something to make a difference. So the first concert I asked the question, “how many here can say there has been a change in my life, because I have accepted Christ & He changed me my heart?” Most of the hands there would go up at that part probably over 90%. The I would ask this, “how many of you people today would have a desire to say Lord would you use me to make a change in the lives of others, my family, friends, co-workers? I’m concerned about helping to reach hurting & lost people & God I want you to use me to reach others for you, would you please raise your hand if you want God to use you to reach others for Him?” I was completely floored by the response, I expected most of the people, like at least maybe 70%, to raise their hand saying, “yes I want to do God’s will in my life” but that was definitely not the case it was like maybe 10%, probably less than that of people who first claimed they were Christians, that said they wanted God to use them to reach others. I was stunned, I thought must have just been this church or event, it probably won’t be like that again. To my disappointment that seemed to be the response I got at the majority of the places I asked this question to. I started the tour excited, I ended it discouraged & frustrated. What happened? Why is it you go to a sporting event or concert, people stand on there feet for 3 hours & just can’t get enough, & at churches people get up & leave if you go past one hour? What are we conveying as Christians? Are we showing people that God sets us free, & fills our life with happiness & joy? Or does it look more like we are in bondage, mad all the time, people who don’t enjoy life?
I often watch the passion people have for different organizations or causes they are fighting for, they have fire in their eyes, they are excited about what’s going on, they believe so much in what they are doing, & then I see things like what I have shared here about the “church world” today & my heart breaks. Where has our passion for Jesus went? Have we forgotten where God brought us from? I don’t ever want someone to watch me & say man being a Christian looks like no fun, I don’t want what he’s got. No I want my life to be infectious with God’s goodness so when people see me they say, I want they same joy & happiness in my life that he’s experiencing through Christ! If we ever want to reach the world we’ve got a lot of work to do ourselves first. I challenge you to watch what’s going on from the perspective of an outsider & ask yourself, is this something I would want to be a part of? Unfortunately I can see why some people don’t want to go to some of these churches, we’ve got to create something worth coming to first. Let’s do our best to represent Christ in a better way & I think we’ll be surprised how many more people will want to know more about this Jesus that we‘re living for.
Feel free to leave feedback & comments I love hearing from you all!
God Bless
Jimmy
Jimmy Dooley Ministries