Featured How To Improve Baptist Church Attendance

Amen! I totally agree. I believe that either style...traditional or contemporary...can lift up the Lord Jesus.

 

How about Rap?

 

This is the key right here: relationships, showing people in the church that the believers love one another and actively help each other and lost people--"Love your neighbor as yourself." What kind of music the church has is secondary. You can have modern music or traditional hymns, it doesn't impact the attendance.

We just finished a one year furlough in the States. During that time I preached at or visited many churches. Along the way some of our supporting churches have gone to modern music. It didn't make a bit of difference in those churches which were already struggling. Others which were struggling stuck with their old time hymns. That didn't make a lick of difference either.

I asked one pastor of an independent Baptist church which had grown quite a bit since we were last there what the key to their growth was. Their music had not changed, so that was not it. He said, "John, several years ago I realized that our church people didn't know any lost people. We have our Christian school and church activities, so they never had to meet a lost person! I started encouraging them to get out into the community and help, and with that we started seeing people saved, and we grew.

Amen!

 

The Japanese word for Baptist is transliterated, Baputesuto. The word "test" is also transliterated as tesuto. So one day when I invited a little boy to our Baptist church, he said with a confused look, "What kind of test is a Bapu?? :laugh:

 

Adornments of the Gospel

"no one comes to the Father unless The Spirit draws him." This is not an anti-missionary statement but rather an evangelistic fact. ​

We have succombed to "repeat after me this prayer evangelism".
We have allowed worship to become entertainment.
We have allowed social and prosperity gospel to take over.​

Jesus is still at the door--knocking at the doors of the churches. Some have had their candlesticks removed. Read about the Seven Churches of Asia--Rev. 2-3.​

Remedy: Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.​

Repent, and do the first works.

Church attendance will probably not improve. It is time for 666.​

Even so, come Lord,Jesus.​

Happy Christ-Mass.:sleeping_2:​

Peace,​

Bro. James​

 

If I'm not mistaken, the NT describes the church as an assembly of those "called out," specifically because they've been reconciled to God in Jesus. What I observe happening around me is that bigger churches with lots of resources put money into their worship music, and worship service, build a large sanctuary where a big crowd can sit and listen to the up front people, and they attract people from smaller churches that don't have the resources to have a rock concert worship service, or a Disneyworld nursery and children's playland. Church becomes a once-a-week religious entertainment enterprise. And people leave their smaller churches, where they can be involved in work that fits their spiritual gifts to go be entertained once a week. So there is no evangelism and no discipleship.

That can't compete with what kids are getting five days a week, six hours a day in their public school.

 

I agree with John of Japan. It is all about relationships. I once attended a church where I loved the preaching and the music, but I made no connections with anyone. I found somewhere else to go.

In my opinion, this is what small Baptist churches do best. Build relationships within the community of believers. Church "family" is a real thing at these churches.

That said, many of these churches don't do a good job of making connections with those that are lost. In fact some churches actively discourage it.

A church I attended started a support group for families with "special needs" children and it was amazing the number of people who flocked to the church. I think the same could be done for military families or even support for those going through divorce.

The best chance for making an impact on someone is when they are hurting and there is no better remedy than Christ.

 

I agree with the two Johns! To many churches are built off of proselytes from other churches as Jack Matthews ( Jack if I'm wrong on what you said please correct me) brought up on a lot of the mega churches.
Get out of our safety network and get out to the lost and a church will grow. Most of us work with or know many lost.
I use to enjoy Carl Hatch coming in to have meetings, I would see people who I didn't even know lived in town, he went out to where the lost were and witness to them any invited them to church, ever type from the banker to the drunk and many came to saving knowledge and accepted Christ as their saviour. Most of the time attendees went up between 5 and 20 and it held for the year, in other words they stayed and would bring their friends.