What We're Facing

On Wednesdays, we have started a series called "Church at the Crossroads," to examine our church ministry of the gospel and look at directions we need to go in the future, as well as pitfalls to avoid. We examined Paul's writing in the last three chapters of 2 Corinthians, related to his solutions to the Corinthian church, which was also sitting at a crossroads.

We are looking for ways to connect with people so we can minister the gospel to them, rather than simply finding ways to "attract" people to the church facility. Our church exists 24-7 out there, and only for a few hours a week does it gather in our building so it would seem that the largest share of opportunities for ministry would be "out there" where we live.

For many years, I taught Bible and history at Fort Bend Baptist Academy in Sugar Land. Obviously, most of my former students came from families whose lifestyle included involvement in a local church, and most of my students were involved in their respective youth groups. Some of the larger churches in the suburbs had rather extensive youth ministry programs, including youth worship bands, high tech sound, video and light equipment, and were able to offer their students the best kind of ministry activities. They went to concerts, participated in gatherings where the trendiest and "hottest" Christian youth speakers were present, camps, mission trips, and all kinds of "fun stuff" to promote fellowship and gather a crowd for Bible study. Several of my students had the opportunity to participate in overseas short-term mission trips to places like Mexico, Brazil, Slovakia, Romania, and the Philippines.

Since coming to Garden Oaks, I have discovered that several former students who have graduated from college, married, and landed good jobs in energy, accounting, banking and engineering, have moved into the Heights. In one case, a former student recently bought a home just blocks from our church. Last year, at homecoming, I found three others who live near our church. Of course, I informed them of what I was doing, and issued them an invitation to visit us at our contemporary worship service. I mean, kids raised in church, active in their youth group, participants in overseas mission trips, camps, should be easy prospects for church, right?

Wrong.

They're not involved anywhere else, either. In most cases, they haven't been regular in church attendance since they graduated from high school, and they are not particularly interested in it now. They are not connected, they do not see the need for it, and they have no interest in even coming to see what it is like. So how do you go from being in the middle of your youth group, there every time the door is open, and even serving on a mission trip (most of the ones who live nearby went on World Changers trips with me while they were in high school) to a complete lack of interest in anything spiritual?

I have to think that they missed out on the most important elements of Christian faith when they were involved in the church. I think we got so busy figuring out how to keep them engaged and coming that we forgot to teach them what they really needed to know about their faith, a faith that they professed when they went through the waters of baptism. I think they thought that the church should always entertain them, always serve them, always meet their perceived needs, and that there would never be a time when they would be expected to grow into a mature faith and become the servant rather than the one being served. We separated them out and kept them from mingling with older, more mature believers who could really teach them some substance.

I think, when we had them in the church, that they were never really exposed to the true substance of the faith, or ever had a real encounter with the Holy Spirit. Church was always done well, the music was hip and high quality, the pastor preached sermons designed to meet people's felt needs and help them find self fulfillment, and with somewhat of a dramatic and theatrical flare to keep people from being bored. Everything was planned to perfection. The only thing missing was the one thing that mattered most, a genuine encounter with the Holy Spirit.

So now that they are gone, how do we get them back?