So your church wants to reach out to the neighboring community…but how do you do it? Someone on the committee recommends that you post ads online…really? Is that what the church has come to?
YES!
We have come to a day where churches must realize that online marketing is a service to the Lord, not a disservice. There are millions of people who have not been reached. They have questions that the church should be answering. When someone searches for the truth and gets the answers from the world instead of the answers from the Scriptures, we are all failing him.
If every local church began to be global-minded in terms of outreach, the impact could be incredible. Unfortunately, we are often more interested in our local congregation than in the kingdom. It’s sad but true. Many churches will say they are kingdom focused, yet their actions show that the priority is to fill their own lines and their own coffers. It’s no wonder people leave churches faster than they start attending.
In a book called Crazy Love, the author suggests that if we loved those around us so intensely, they would be shocked, then we would no longer be the reason they leave the church. If we want to bring people back, we have to find them where they are. We can’t wait for them to come to our events, our programs, or whatever else we have planned. We need to seek them out, love them, not treat them like a project, and let the Lord do the rest.
So the next time you go online and do a Google search…think about what someone looking for answers might be asking. Where do they get their answers from? Is your church providing an opportunity for the truth to be shared? Maybe it’s about time he did.