If your church building burned to the ground tonight and the members dispersed into other churches, who would miss you? For too long we have measured churches primarily by worshipping correctly on Sunday morning.  But, there is a more important question if you want your church to grow. Would anyone besides those who worship with you on Sunday be distressed about your disappearance?

It is easy for us to be focused on Sunday morning.  We assemble to pray, praise God in song, remember Jesus in the Lord’s Supper, hear a message from the Bible, give some money and go home. But Romans 12:1,2 specifies that worship is not a Sunday morning activity but the offering of the totality of ourselves as a worship of God. What are we doing Monday through Saturday? How has Sunday changed the way we spend our money, time and energy? How does my Christianity change the way I interact with the world around me? Where is my focus?

As I go out into the world, does my life make people want to know more about my Jesus? Have I made life a little better for someone I encounter, whether a stranger or a friend? How does the collective and individual activity of my church make people glad that my church is in existence? Today’s generation will judge us by what we are doing before they listen to what we believe.

Post-modern thinking has brought about a shift in the understanding and determination of truth. Modern thinkers relied on logic and reasoning to establish truth. Post-modern thinkers are more likely to determine truth by observation and results. Having seen the “laws of science” amended and the plethora of mistaken conclusions based on “logic”, they are sceptical of any declaration of absolutes or binding restrictions. As a result, post-modernists are not interested in your version of truth until they have seen its results in your life. (For clarification of “Modern” and “Post-Modern” thinking as I see it, see previous blogs, Do Guns Kill or Do People Kill and Absolutes or Concepts?)

Today’s generation is less likely to be persuaded to adopt a certain body of belief or a commitment to a certain standard of behavior unless they have seen that following that belief and behavior system leads to a better personal life and ultimately a better society. They are not impressed by a Christianity that consists of going to church on Sunday and living like the rest of society Monday through Saturday. However, they are attracted to a church made up of people who live out their faith in a transformed life. They are more likely to attend a church filled with praise rather than one with a primary emphasis on checking off the elements of acceptable worship. (Vibrant praise and worshipping in a biblical way do not have to be competing choices). They also consider that worship is not just offered on Sunday morning, but is an outpouring of the total life.

Reaching today’s generation will demand that churches become such an influence on their community that everyone around them would miss them if they disappeared. Our churches must be made up of a transformed people who follow a Savior who said that he came to serve rather than being served. If Sunday does not change us on Monday, in terms of morality, relationships and using our time to benefit the people around us, our churches will no longer be able to reach people with the gospel. The outcome of that will be a slow but inevitable death.