Today there are more people finding spirituality apart from the community of the church. They are seeking God and finding him, and following him and are not a part of a community of the church.
God is found not in the confines of the church building we have known this for a long time, but more and more people are turning to different things and ways. The internet offers communities that we would call unorthodox, and not “real” communities.
The problem arises in the understanding of who the pharisees are and what the “Christian Church” has come to be. The pharisees were the gate keepers. They kept all that was unholy and unworthy to be in God’s presence away from God. They kept the lepers at bay, and those who are ill and sick away from the holy things of God. Is this not who the “church” is in the eyes of most of society?
The question this leads us to is how many people actually attend church? I found the below quote at http://theologica.blogspot.com/2005/06/how-many-americans-really-attend.html:
How many Americans go to church regularly?
If you listen to the answers provided by major opinion research firms, the answer usually hovers around 40%. (National Opinion Research Center: 38%; Institute for Social Research’s World Values: 44%; Barna: 41%; National Election Studies: 40%; Gallup: 41%.)
But in recent years this consensus has been challenged. It seems that it’s more accurate to say that 40% of Americans claim to attend church regularly.
If only 40% say they attend, how many people think we are hypocrites and keeping more people from God than we are bringing to him…
What if we actually did what Jesus asked us to do, and followed him, and loved everyone as Christ loved us?
What would be the outcome, how would God move through his church and cause a radical revolution?
aSacredRebel 