Church Connection!

One of the biggest challenges in Churches worldwide is creating a connection among believers and improving horizontal relationships. Church goers strangely settle themselves to be self-absorbed, self-sufficient, self-centered and move and exist as independent bodies. And when it comes to young people they seem to be even more disconnected from the Churches today. Churches make no meaning to them. No doubt, it is a global problem, but it is important that Church leaders understand the gaps and narrow it down to fix the missing links. Someone beautifully articulated this, "Churches for our forefathers was a commitment, for our fathers, it was an inheritance, for us it is a convenience and to our children it is a nuisance.".

One of the primary reasons which stands as a concern in creating the irrelevance is when the vision and mission of the Church is not clearly articulated and when there are no measurable goals, no milestones as to when they are going to achieve what, then it is nothing more than a mere religious institution functioning to exist like any other entity.  Nobody in that case will be responsible for any task, because in real there may be actually no task and no project except the Sunday services and people leaving satisfied by giving their offerings. All are satisfied except God. A W Tozer comments, ""What has the church gained if it is popular but there is no conviction, no repentance, no power?" 

Today many Church goals is only about raising funds for a project that is confined to erecting a building and it doesn't lead to a sustainable program, which means there are not much requirements for the members involvement towards structured mission work, than to attend Church as a formality and leave with no conviction. Congregations may only be tuned to the needs of the pastor alone and never find the necessity to find the need to relate with the fellow believers and extend any support to build each other. 

Let us not forget what Apostle James said which I am reiterating quite often in my blogs, " Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27 CSB. Many people practice spirituality in isolation and mind, that's not the reason Christ established the church. Church is compared to a body that works in perfect harmony. You are responsible to keep your relationship with God intact and as well as to reach out to those who are suffering.

Ray Ortlund, Pastor of the largest Church in Nashville, Tennessee puts it forthright, which does make a lot of sense in many Churches today. "When our churches succeed because they are really well-run businesses, and the pastor is, in reality, a prop on the stage, then it isn’t ministry anymore; it’s brilliantly packaged crowd control. And judgment is not far off."  The Church when it will be in a position to articulate the vision with all its components meticulously and make available the blueprint where it will involve the members, young people, children to spiritual sustainability and meeting the needs of our community and nation then, it will for sure ignite the spirit of volunteerism and make them support the goals of the Church and create an effective connection and display the early Church pattern..

Blessings