Forward

Why Do People Go to Church?

Standing on the sidewalk outside a church after its worship, I asked a young, professional-looking woman why she came to church that morning.  Her answer was immediate: “I feel the power of God here.”  She also explained that this church had reached out to her when she was in juvenile detention.

If you were asked that question, how would you answer and how long would you need to think about it?  I suspect many traditional Christians from historic church bodies would struggle, only to come up with some version of, “That’s what we do on Sunday mornings,” or “This is where my friends are.”

When my family and I were members of a large Lutheran congregation that finished an impressive new sanctuary 35 years ago, I noticed that the average attendance reported in the weekly bulletin went down.  Almost always a new sanctuary attracts more people.  I asked the pastor why he thought fewer were attending.  All he could come up with was, “I guess our people are losing the habit.”  Habit is a very weak motivator for participating in anything . . .

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Why So Many Young Adults Went Missing

A seldom-referenced New Testament passage helps explain why so many young adults are not in Christian churches today.  The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians not to associate with sexually immoral people (1 Corinthians 5:9).

Then he clarified that he did not at all mean the people of this world who are immoral and sinners.  “In that case, you would have to leave this world.  What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?  Exercise judgment on those inside.  God will judge those outside.”

In the last several decades a critical balance shifted in the United States.  While the majority of Americans still consider themselves Christian, less than half are churched.  Yet many preachers continue to operate as if the United States is a Christian nation where Judeo-Christian ethics still apply to all.  It is time to teach ourselves to think like Paul and the early Christians living in the pagan Roman Empire.

The current movement toward applying equal rights to homosexuals and marital status to same-sex couples happened quickly in terms of social movements.  Young adults take these rights as self-evident.  Yet what they hear from so many church leaders is, to them, extremely prejudicial, old fashioned and anything but loving.  The result is predictable.

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