"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." John 6:44
Churches are like magnets. Magnets attract ferromagnetic material (i.e. iron) which is material that has the capacity to become a magnet. A magnet's field is invisible and responsible for the force that pulls on these other materials.
Churches have a similar attracting force on their community. The people in the church are like the people in the community whose only difference is that they have become Christians who together serve and worship Jesus regularly. People living and working in the church's community have this same capacity to come to know and serve Jesus.
What I've noticed is that, like magnets, churches tend to attract only those in their community who are near by, either physically or relationally. In other words, most people who will come to a particular church are those who have been drawn to that church by it's members. Churches attract visitors when a church member invites a friend or neighbor or someone they know to attend with them. Like Andrew (see John 1:40-42), who had personally come to know Jesus and then went and found his brother and told him what happened and then brought Peter to Jesus, churches function well by sharing what they know about Jesus with others and then bring these people to Jesus.
A good way to increase the effectiveness of the Church is to increase the "attractive force," the pull we have on our community by taking this force (Christian people) out to where the people are who need to come to know Jesus, like Andrew did. The text in John tells us, "the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah.'"
Most people simply will not come to church on their own, regardless of our signs, flyers, and advertisements. These efforts will increase their awareness of our presence, but they will not exert any of our natural attractive force on them.
2 comments:
so true dad- by being out here in LA by myself, searching for a church/community etc....i find it unrealistic to assume as I did before that the unsaved will gladly and happily run to enter a church based on seeing it/getting an ad about it etc because even I (who's been going to church my whole life) find it incredibly difficult to go to a church without being asked by one of it's members. it's a very vulnerable thing to do- willingly be a minority. i can't imagine why i didn't think of how important it is to an un-churched person or a seeker to be accompanied in to a new situation. it's so human. and i missed it for so long. - ashley
I know -- now that I'm unchurched I'm finding it interesting that the message I keep getting from the church is how great they are and it seems to be all about them. Jesus first connected with people, like the woman at the well, and then helped them to come to a realization about who he was. He didn't promote his greatness. He offered a helping hand, a listening ear, a compassionate look upon those separated from the religious community which made them want to get close to him.
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