The Church at Large:

RE: Church Growth


In response to the issue of the direction the church should go to reach people, I want to make some observations concerning the difficulties churches across the country are having achieving this very same goal. Some of these observations are from personal experience, while at the same time have been corroborated through recent studies and evangelical leaders separate even from our own movement. I wish to elaborate upon some of the most basic.

In the grand scheme of things, I am not old. However, I am old enough to have witnessed the stark changes that have taken place in the Church movement over previous decades to cause alarm.

I was fortunate to have been born into a family that was deeply entrenched in Church teaching, having at various times been taught about some of our truly great preachers and songwriters, and about the struggles and triumphs they endured getting the Gospel out. The Reformation Movement was not only about repenting of sin, accepting Christ as Lord of all, but of changing society. The history of the church was important. After all, if one does not have knowledge of the past, how can one affect the present or future?

Growing up, I always attended the yearly camp meetings. It was a normal part of life and we enjoyed them because we were energized through songs of our faith and “meaty” preaching that gave the listener hard truth but eternal hope. We heard things we may not have liked to hear many times, but it was Truth. Experiences such as these made strong, moral, principled people out of true believers, and drew the non-believer (sinner) to a place of reconciliation with God. It wasn’t only a Sunday display. It was a way of living. It was who we were and how we dealt with others around us apart from our Christian brothers and sisters.

The church from which we came seemed closer to the Walk, taught that there was a Hell to fear, and put out the message to bring conviction and true repentance, and strength for the daily walk in faith with God. There were consequences to our chosen actions. We were admonished as individuals to get into the Word and challenge our faith - in essence, to prove it. Those who approached the altar were broken but lifted up to help them face whatever came their way.

That was then.

Culturally in America, a paradigm shift was well on its way, having been coming since the 1900’s, and even prior to that time. It culminated in the ‘60’s as the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King had taken place. The tumult and uncertainty of the times gave rise to all sorts of change (liberation movements), which has greatly affected this country and the foundations upon which she was built. It has set America and its faith on a progressive path toward destruction.

There are three areas of change (among myriad others) that I wish to discuss here, which are: Family, Schools, and Faith


During a marriage ceremony, one of the things the minister typically recites both to those in attendance and to the couple themselves is “…what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder”. We don’t even grasp what that means today. We are more and more seduced by the things society has to offer, accept and mimic behavior Hollywood continues to flaunt as “o.k.”, opt for easy ways out of tough situations, and fall for the pathetic arguments of homosexuals who love each other and feel it is well within their right to adopt and raise children. The marriage covenant was not meant to be broken so easily, not meant to be mocked or perverted, nor were the reasons for divorce meant to be so diverse.

Divorce has become a thriving business in America. It is supported by various government agencies, attorneys, and psychologists. If there were not such a vested interest in it, social servants, civil attorneys, and psychologists of every flavor would need to find a different line of work. There’s money to be made and salaries to be paid all for the cause of making a clean break from a spouse with whom one has “irreconcilable differences”, counseling children from broken homes, getting child support and alimony cases to the docket, sending DNA off to be tested for paternity, lobbying for Gay / Lesbian rights, etc…. Part of this scenario is not new. To America, it has been a prevalent part of her landscape since the 1960’s. However, divorce had been instituted many years prior to that time as a way of maintaining control of the masses. Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin both used divorce to destroy the family. It’s a matter of historic record.

Forget about the adult individuals caught up in their feelings, wants and vices. Let’s look at the children.

Everyday, we dispense with children like rubbish. There is no stigmatism to divorce anymore because the world tells us one parent is better than both if they can’t get along. For those children who are completely unfortunate enough to have two unfit parents, they’re shuffled between foster homes, relatives, or even worse, have absolutely no one. For the ones we don’t abort, we delude ourselves into thinking children are resilient. They’ll bounce back from it like a rubber band. Statistics don’t bear that out. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to use common sense. Children today are literally our future. They will grow up with the influences the world has seen fit to teach them and they will form public policy. There are, and will be, plenty of them who will grow up with shame and rage because of things they have endured at the hands of adults, and we cannot ourselves comprehend what our lack of voice and action on their behalf has done. We will, however, be called to account for it.

I know of a little girl my mother was tutoring in school who is the product of a broken home. Her mother is in prison for drug abuse and neglect, and her father is an alcoholic. She lives with her father. She likes to sit in her father’s lap behind the wheel of the car so she can steer. The only thing she doesn’t like is the beer can resting in her back.

She asked my mother about our family, and wondered if her grandchildren’s parents were married and lived together. When my mother told her that they are married and do live together, the little girl looked up and sighed as if imagining what it would be like to have a normal home. She finally said, “I wish I had that. They’re lucky.”

How utterly sad.

The severity of abuses to kids is widespread, ranging from simple neglect to sexual and physical abuse, and is not limited to the age of the child.

The church, which should be on the front lines of the fight and take the lead in making holy, righteous stands, has been less than ardently vocal on many things, including protection of marriage and family. It’s easy to keep silent, especially since many of the people who attend service have marriage and family difficulties themselves. The church has bought into the same worldview because it’s easier to go along with societal consensus than to take a stand. Taking a stand means there’s a cost associated with it and we don’t want that. We’re perfectly content to be Silent Christians.

We rarely hear from the pulpit that abortion, divorce, child abuse, pedophilia, homosexuality, extramarital, and premarital sex are wrong. We rarely hear under what circumstances recognized in the Bible are grounds for divorce. We rarely hear “not to provoke your children to wrath”. We rarely hear that homosexuality is a sin, not a condition or an “orientation”. We have no examples of how things should be – no mentors from whom to learn. We don’t hear it, preach it, or teach it because we’re as much affected by peer pressure and fear of offending people as anyone else. So, we take our cues from society. But that’s not what God calls us to do. We are to do everything (after we’ve been with God in prayer for guidance and wisdom) in love, and we are called to be soldiers of the Cross.

Some think love is a mushy, dreamy word or state of being, but it can be stern and rigid, and it has to be if we are to fulfill the Great Commission. People need to be chastised and told what is right and wrong, and it initially needs to come from the pulpit. People also need to have a sounding board, someone within whom they can confide, and seek advice to help them become accountable. The Church is to be the example for the rest of the world. Until we get it right, we cannot be the example, and time isn’t going to wait for us.

Given the right conditions, children can learn anything. Let them keep their imagination and natural tendency for competition, and their potential seems endless. It begins with a good, solid home foundation. Sounds reasonable and noble, doesn’t it? Especially in America.

Unfortunately, children are no longer permitted to be children. Our modern schools work very hard and diligently to put children in a generic box. Encouragement of individual thinking and creativity has no real place in education, and any mention of God or religion sends shock waves through the system.

America’s schools were originally established to give children a biblical foundation and to protect them from worldly influences. The foundations upon which this very country was established were on biblical principles, and our own Bill of Rights and Constitution have been framed with references to God, yet how is it that education has been turned on its ear? The authority of the one true God has been removed, and the church has let it happen. We have abrogated our responsibilities as it were. The church, up until this time, stood against cultural breakdown.

Some people may not even recognize the drastic changes taking place in the education system because, in their view, the prime directive of the school system is to place the best interests of children first. We eagerly and routinely turn our children over to complete strangers for their education without checking into the nature of what is being taught. Many, I dare say, don’t voice concerns even if they do disagree with it. Besides, among the other issues of the day, the developments taking place in our nation’s schools are innocuous at best. The developments can best be summed up into one word – Socialism – and it is not innocuous. The government has become so intertwined with our daily lives and society that it has become the replacement of God Himself, and that puts it in the position of being a “false god”.

Since the late 1800’s, there has been a general movement devoted to establish an orderly management of children, and to rationalize just about everything. This is why we now find that the basic curriculum holds Marxism, Darwinism and The Big Bang Theory out as fact, and Intelligent Design and Creationism as complete fallacies – if not altogether left out of textbooks. This management, or indoctrination, has been accomplished in increments so as not to trip the collective alarm bells. The result is what we have today: children who have been stripped of individuality; children who are not allowed to be competitive; children who have no relative concept of right and wrong, good and evil; children who can’t read; children who have no opportunity, other than perhaps in a good Bible-believing church, to consider that there may be something more to life than just a collection of random cells that evolve by happenstance from some lower form of existence, and children who are, for all practical purposes, ill-prepared for life. It doesn’t end there.

Many of our young people cannot count back change correctly without help. They are unable to identify states on a map, or even give the general direction of their geographic location. They can’t recite The Pledge of Allegiance or sing The Star Spangled Banner. When asked a direct question, many return a blank stare as if trying to figure out if the question is a trick question.
In many cases, they are unable to name the nation’s more prominent figures, let alone the governors of their own home states. However, most can identify President Bush and Vice President Cheney because of all the negative media coverage leveled at them.

In addition to the ideologies being taught (or lack thereof) in the elementary grades, multiculturalism is now an essential part of our high school and university curricula. It is to provide for that well-rounded education. However, multicultural studies aren’t what one would reasonably perceive them to be. They do not consist of studying the cultures, customs, and languages of other countries. In fact, it’s far from it. Multiculturalism, in part, is an umbrella for a host of groups claiming atrocities committed against them by Western culture - namely the traditional Judeo-Christian culture. Multiculturalism is a term used for special interest groups that lobby for “tolerance” of individuals whose way of life is counter to the more traditional culture and social mores, and that alone places the safety and security of our country at risk. Multiculturalism is a pretense, but it is a success because it plays to our sense of fairness and acceptance, and gains a prominent foothold through rulings by our court systems. Finally, multiculturalism attempts to portray all cultures and religions as equals.

I listened to a discussion on the radio recently, which pitted Jerry Falwell against the talk radio host. Rev. Falwell was asked about the sovereignty of the God of the Bible as opposed to any other religion’s gods. He succinctly proclaimed that there is only one God and no one gets to Heaven or has a true relationship with God unless one recognizes and repents of sin, and accepts what Jesus did for mankind through His crucifixion. The Bible clearly states that “no man comes to the Father but by Me”– “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”. A priest, Mary, Allah, Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha, or anyone else has no part in salvation, and it has nothing to do with how good and moral man can be.

The host was stunned to hear that Heaven is so exclusive and discriminatory. He refused to believe that “our” God would send good people to Hell. He refused to believe that God would reject us even though we fall short of His conditions. He refused to believe that there is only one God – that there are no equals.

Unfortunately, countless thousands choose to believe the same way the radio host does. Indeed, some in our own congregations believe it as well. It is because the message and teaching from our churches have softened and become so shallow as to accommodate the way people wish to live and behave. Our society has become a permissive society, and our churches and doctrine have become a mirror reflection of our surroundings. We have so many versions of the Bible that we can now choose which one to follow. Religion made easy. Whatever we want to believe, or justify, there’s a Bible just for it.

We are not taught in church that any sin can send us to an eternity in Hell. Something as simple as what we euphemistically refer to as white lies can doom our own souls, but it’s not preached. Instead, we hear the chants that God loves us, accepts us in any condition, and wants the best for us; that He will walk with us and protect us. It goes no further. We have to meet certain conditions. We have to lay down ourselves daily in self-sacrifice and endure to the end. For many, enduring to the end means the end of Sunday service.

Do we really, truly believe that the wages of sin is death? Do we truly believe that the only thing of lasting value is what we do for God? If we do, then we need to change the way we live and what we teach our children. The simple truth is that God has laid out exactly what it takes to get to Heaven. Although the plan is straightforward, it was never intended to be easy. The passage that says “…it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven” can be applied to many situations. However, unless one knows the context from which the passage came, he’ll never be able to comprehend its true meaning. That is the reason it is so important to know history, both from a Biblical perspective as well as from the perspective of world civilization, in order to know how to move forward, and to be on guard for the pitfalls that can occur so as to avoid them.

It has become difficult to differentiate between the world’s standards and the church. The faith as demonstrated by the early Christians and even the pioneers of the Reformation Movement is vastly different than what we term faith to be today. Our faith is wishful thinking and considers Truth to be subjective. Their faith changed people and promoted a society that lived closer to God. Their faith revered Truth as truth. Their faith proclaimed the Bible as the be-all / end-all regardless of any impending persecution. We’re worried today that if we teach and preach anything more than “Jesus loves me”, people will leave the church, our numbers will drop, and wonder about how we’ll be perceived by others.

The church, instead of becoming more Christ-like, holding to His commandments and living out a testimony to the world, is becoming more like “Christian atheists”. We believe everything that is said and heard on Sunday morning, nodding our heads in agreement with how we should behave as Christians, but don’t dare take that with us the rest of the week. We act as if nothing is required of us. We don’t trust God for the things we need, or in the daily decisions we must make. We don’t strive to please Him, nor do we honor Him in our daily language and dealings with the world. We go about doing what we want and come back Sunday morning to get another shot of high emotionalism, and collect our “Get-Out-of-Hell-Free” pass. We look the same as everyone else, and act no differently.

There was a time when people entered the sanctuary with reverence. They were quiet and prayerful. After all, they were in the presence of the Almighty God. Their dress was modest and respectful. Men wore suits and ties, and women wore dresses.

What do we find today? Flip-flops, halter-tops, cut off jeans, pants that barely hang on to the waist or hips, outfits that leave nothing to the imagination, t-shirts with all sorts of slogans, advertisements, and pictures screen-printed on them, nose, tongue, and belly-button studs, and best of all, cell phones that interrupt God’s time. Wow! Our dress and actions have become far too casual and is reflective of the way we view our religion - sloppy.

In Old Testament times, the priest about to enter the Holy of Holies had to prepare himself first. A rope was even tied to him so if he was found to be unworthy and struck dead by God Almighty, he could be pulled out. It was a very serious thing to come before the presence of God. Granted, we don’t live under Old Testament law any longer, but shouldn’t we show a little more decorum and consideration to God than we do?
The atmosphere won’t be changed unless there is an expectation put in place by the church leadership in this area.

We don’t have to look and act like the world to reach them. The fallacy of the premise that we must envelope ourselves in the world’s cloak is that we can easily become the very lost people to whom we’re trying to minister. Yes, our purpose is to fulfill the Great Commission by reaching the lost for Christ. We must reach out to them but we must not be drawn in by their worldly lifestyles and influences. The Word instructs us “…be ye in the world but not of it.” Pop culture has entered the church; we’re afraid to go out into the world. We’re not gaining any trust from the world or proving our devotion to God by accommodating the worldview.

Our youth groups are in the same sad condition. It’s become difficult to distinguish the youth ministers from the youth. They strive to be buddies and not role models, and yet they are in a position of authority. Their appearance reflects that of kids 5, 10, or 20 years their junior. Activities many times revolve around juvenile and ungodly behavior. Young people are not effectively being taught that sexual experimentation, living together, and having children out of wedlock are wrong; that being put, or placing themselves in compromising positions is dangerous, and they are not being given the tools to help them resist peer pressure. They’re not being taught because these things are occurring and being smiled-upon in our own church youth groups. The importance of boundaries is absent and there are no wholesome models from which to draw.

My husband and I are currently struggling with our son over what he gets to wear to church. He sees jeans, t-shirts and sandals and thinks it’s alright to present himself at church with his shirt tail out. Minor details though they be, there’s a certain respect one should show when going to church. There should likewise be an expectation for the leadership to dress respectfully as well.

The music we hear and sing is effective in it’s goal to evoke high emotion and get us jumping up and down to a drum beat, but does it say anything more than God loves us? Are we getting any more than milk with worship songs? There’s nothing inherently wrong with worship songs, but they fail to tell how to truly walk with God, they fail to provide examples of how to overcome struggles, they fail to prove the power of God in our lives or show us our sin.

Hymns are able to teach us quite a lot if we would only stop to consider them. The meanings in them can be quite profound and they can humble us. Hymns were written for a specific purpose and were written by “amateurs” – non-professionals in the music industry. Worship songs are characterized by surface messages, monotonous repetition of scant few lines, and are written by many who now make fortunes producing Christian music. I know something of this because I have personal knowledge of it. Again, knowing a bit of history is key.

The platform has become a stage for entertainment purposes and the participants are the spectacle. We must entertain and keep the drum beating or we will lose our audience. I’ve seen the enthusiastic responses to hymns as opposed to that of worship music. Purely by the reaction alone it is evident that people are hungry for the old songs. There is not an equitable mixture of the two.

Sunday school and Children’s Church have both become a day care providing for little more than to keep children busy. Sunday school should provide a foundation of stories, object lessons, and scriptures. We used to teach memory verses, know the books of the Bible, the Lord’s Prayer, and the 23rd Psalm. Fundamental things such as these were to provide for the Word being “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”. Instead, our kids come back to us having done no more than to present a picture they’ve colored. Here again, as happens in public schools, our children are ill-prepared for things that come their way. If they knew scripture, they could call upon it to help them make right choices.

As far as knowing or finding out what direction our movement should go depends on only one thing: turn to God for all the answers and He will show us great things. Sadly, the church seems to gravitate toward looking to the world for help instead of calling on God first. The church teaches “with God all things are possible, only believe”. Yet we go out and hire professional consultants to tell us what we need to do, whether or not they agree with the Church of God doctrine. This conflicts directly with God’s teaching when he said “if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, and forgive their sins, and will heal their land”. It takes a deep abiding faith, which we do not have. Perhaps we should pray for faith rather than pay for advice.

If it’s numbers we’re looking for, we should hang a sign over the church entrance telling the world that membership is the only requirement for Salvation. If it’s true, blood-washed believers we want, we must first tend to those inside the building. We can spend all kinds of money and receive all sorts of accolades on sums we’ve sent to the mission field or to charitable organizations, but until our people realize what’s at stake, the church will never be as influential as it once was. Until we teach the Gospel in total and equip our people to win souls, not just to increase in number, we’ve missed the boat. Our universities are not effectively teaching what the Church of God believes, but we’re placing graduates in churches ill-equipped and with a worldly point of view. We must get serious about the issues in society and get involved, not only in the fight to save marriage and family, not only to safeguard our children, but in virtually every aspect of society. We must provoke social change. We must be as aggressive in turning the tide as all the activist groups pushing their agendas have been.

We truly have a spiritual battle going on, and our inaction, in everything from our home and family lives to the political arena, has caused great harm.

I’m a patriot and I’m a Christian. I don’t think one can be the former without the latter. America, with her great freedoms and blessings from God, is in a battle for her very existence. So too should we be considering our souls are even more important.

I have great respect for the framers of this country. I respect them enough to know what the Constitution says and what the Bill of Rights afford. I profoundly admire those who have fought and died for this country, and who do so now. I think the American Flag is the most beautiful, most stately flag in existence, and I can get a little emotional seeing it wave.

I am also a Christian and I enjoy books of the faith and studying the Word. I can likewise get emotional when I think of Christ on Golgotha’s Hill suffering such extreme cruelty for me. He could’ve walked away from it, but He didn’t. He chose to take the punishment.

What are we willing to sacrifice? We’ve allowed God to be taken out of schools, out of courtrooms, out of Christmas and Easter, out of public discussion and legislation because the world views Him as offensive. How far are we willing to let it go before we are offended, before we have no freedoms, before the United States of America is no longer that shining city on a hill, or before we enter eternity and face God for the things we’ve accomplished for Him?

I must admit that I have fallen short of the mark. Although I continue to contact many representatives, sign petitions, pray for wisdom and guidance for myself and the leaders of our country, have been almost a fixture at my son’s school, witness to those with whom I work, even if they think I’m a little short-sighted, old-fashioned, or somewhat rigid…I haven’t always left a standing invitation for those around me to attend my church. By nature, I’m not an outgoing individual, nor a speaker. I am perhaps even stoic, but I feel a great deal and have some deeply-held convictions. What I say here in these passages I say with sincerity. Others throughout past decades have stated the same things.

As a movement, we are now concerned with virtually negative and static growth.
We have attempted many different ways to increase our numbers. We boast of baptisms and sensing the presence of the Lord in our midst, but the fruit of those claims is disturbingly absent. For many congregations, those who have been baptized are never seen again, they are not entreated to become involved, they are not given meat – only milk. The church has become a place to feed emotionalism and it lacks provision for the more substantive nature of the Gospel. The church has chosen to forego its heritage.

I am of the opinion that we are not properly shepherding those who are in the church currently and cannot, therefore, go out into the community to bring others in. We cannot keep so-called converts because we offer no answers and they then leave to find other places of inclusion and acceptance.

We bring in evangelists, an extension of what we should be preaching and teaching regularly. The fact is, evangelists can come in, preach a good, solid foundational message and take their leave. For many, unfortunately, it is a message they’re not familiar with, and the leadership in our own congregations aren’t backing it up. We return to our superficial religious services post-haste.

We can recite statistics all we want, but we fail to realize that the things we’ve attempted and continue to follow-through with are not working. Our churches are still in rapid decline. Revival is far from us.

The first step in revival is to acknowledge our flaws and weaknesses. Secondly, it is then to change them. The third step is to effect social change by getting involved in the political process. From the earliest times, Christianity and politics have mingled amongst each other. Nowhere in even our Constitution exists a church / state separation. It should be no different in our modern age.

I have mentioned several times in this text that knowing history will help us understand more, and give us a bigger picture so our strategy (battle plan) will become clear. It will take more than just seeing what we should do, however. We have to act on it.

Jeremiah 6:16 states, “Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said we will not walk therein”.

We live in an advanced age technologically. Science, although a wonderful tool, has replaced God’s sovereignty. But in which direction have all these advancements taken us. The more “educated” we become, the more foolish we are. We must get back to the basics and get “back to the blessed old Bible”.

I have sent this letter to my home church back in Ohio and it was received with great enthusiasm to the point that the pastor asked my permission to put it in the hands of others with whom he comes into contact. He also asked to be able to use it in his church.

I have given this same letter to our pastor here in Houston and although there is agreement, there has been no real indication that effecting change will be possible. I understand that the propensity to act on what I have written is more problematic since I attend this congregation now and I am the one who is the author of this letter.

I am unable to distance myself from what is in God’s Word, and the religion we seem to be practicing today, which has become a conglomerate of many doctrines. They are not completely compatible.

I would like to know how the Church will act upon what I have written.
The intention of this letter was not merely to take the temperature of a lukewarm movement, but to see it flourish again and to be effective for Christ.

Thank you for reading and considering the things I’ve stated here.
I realize this is quite a bit to read and digest, but I am deeply concerned for the Church.
I look forward to your thoughts.

Sincerely,


Carol Eads

Sorry for the double post.

Vince Eads

This is Carol's husband. This letter was instrumental in getting us motivated to push our pastor and our church to strive for holiness. To be honest, it's been an uphill battle, but our obedience to God's Will has blessed us and gotten us closer to God's Word than we ever have been. I know that the subject letter is quite lengthy, but if you have read it in its entirety, please comment and let us know if it has added anything to your life.

Thank you,

Vince Eads

_________________
TJ