When it comes to God
and faith, today increasing numbers of people find a disconnect. An example of this is the marked decline in church attendance and baptisms. News outlets recently reported that Southern Baptists, one of the largest denominations, “had the fewest baptisms since the 1950’s and are losing members”.
The sad reality is that for many, the church is no longer a “go to” place, for help and hope. One poll showed that if given an invitation to attend church, 82% decline.
Now the downsides of this are many, with one being the lack of a faith voice in our neighborhoods and communities. Often there is no one to speak into the needs and challenges of life; building strong marriages and families, providing mentors for school children, caring for the elderly and lonely, or just how to be a good neighbor.
And it’s into this vacuum, that God has called us to be a voice – to be a force of good – to be a good neighbor. Our new venture led us to walk away from our familiar environment – being a pastor in a particular church – and now we serve a church without walls, our community – a single zip code of 13 square miles and 61K people. I now jokingly say our church has 61K people – I just haven’t met them all yet!
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” And these were not empty words. He too left the familiar as John’s Gospel tells us, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood…” And it this neighborhood model, originating with Jesus, which we believe God is calling us.
We have BIG dreams and hopes! And our prayer is that others will join with us – by being good neighbors themselves – by praying – and by volunteering – and by donating financially to this worthy cause.
I’d welcome the opportunity to share with you more about what we’re calling Loving Community – reaching out to the 82%, and ways that you might join with us.
