Church Attendance: An Indication of a Serious Problem

If you haven't checked church attendance stats recently you may be in for a shock or a laugh or possibly both. While the subject of church attendance isn't actually funny the reality of the situation is. Here's what I mean: Close to 40% of Americans claim that they attend church regularly. Actual statistics, however, indicate otherwise. This means that of the 40% that claim to attend church regularly - many (almost half) are, um, well...They're lying.  Or maybe they're confused; perhaps some think they are attending church when they really aren't.  Either way, there's a problem. If a Christian is lying then they aren't a really a Christian. If a Christian thinks they are attending church regularly and they aren't they may indeed be in need of prayer - or a reality check. Or both.

Church attendance (weekly) in France and the U.K. is around 12%. In the U.K., however, attendance seems to be dropping about 1% a year.  Several northern European nations have regular church attendance below 5%. Perhaps more surprising is the statistic that in many nations the percentage of people who NEVER attend church is greater than the percentage of people who do regularly attend.

I am Pentecostal by heritage. At its best - a good Pentecostal church is hard to beat.  Sadly, a good Pentecostal church is quite challenging to find. Revival is rare, miracles are uncommon, finding people that are still receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is unusual... And this is in Pentecostal churches. Many churches with lesser emphasis on the miraculous must be suffering from dreary nothingness. I recall reading of one pastor who was fanatical about having live foliage and flowers in his church building. When pressed for a reason he finally admitted, "It's so I can say that everything in here is not dead!"

I still believe that America needs revival in a great, transforming way. I believe that we need more services like 'the Toronto blessing' and more revivals like Brownwood, Texas experienced in the mid '90's. More repentance, more baptisms - both of water and Spirit.  

When we become willing to let God revive us - we will find that church attendance will skyrocket. Revival, you see, heals all. 

A final word... I'm told that in the U.K. many years ago ministers came together for what was called the Keswick week. It was a week of prayer and ministry; together many ministers banded together to seek a revival from God. During the course of one meeting, a spectacular move of the Holy Spirit occurred. It did not come as some of the ministers wanted, however, and the actions of a few that experienced the power of God were mocked and quenched. The ministers at Keswick week mocked the birth of what they had gathered for! We must be careful that when God moves we accept with grateful hearts what God is doing in our midst.

If we do not experience revival in our churches soon our dwindling attendance may prevent us from experiencing meaningful revival at all.  

For more information on Jonathan please visit his little spot on the web, JonathanMilam.com

Ministry in the Wilderness

The nation of Israel, when failing God shortly after their miraculous exodus from Israel, found themselves mandated to spend 40 years wandering...Simply wandering; following the same dreary paths over the same terrain for 40 years. Essentially, all they were doing was waiting for a doubt-filled generation to die off. Major bummer; massive waste of time.

When pastors find themselves leaving one church and seeking another church to pastor it has been aptly called 'The Wilderness of the Candidate'.  The term 'wilderness' is used specifically to illustrate the difficult, trying aspect of one pastor searching (with no clear road map) for one church that has needs calling for their specific strengths. The challenge of this task, a hopeful pastor seeking a corresponding needy church, cannot be overstated. Whle rarely lasting 40 years (as did the original wilderness wandering) the time spent finding a church to shepherd can seem to last forever.

Many ministers, in fact a great majority of ministers living today, are existing in a 'wilderness' situation, the length and challenge of which are so great that at times the burning, consuming, motivating desire to minister dwindles and often dies completely.  The agony and frustration of unfulfilled ministry is not only life threatening (nerves can fail, health may vanish, marriages and even families can crumble) but the core calling of a minister may come into question and ministry, as a life goal, may even be lost or abandoned.

If the church today was as powerful and successful as God planned then the challenge of finding the ideal place for for a displaced minister might be of minor importance.  The truth, however, is that the church today is NOT successful and one major reason is that many minister are not fulfilling their calling - they are lost in a wilderness. Reality would indicate that the church today is reeling in a wilderness of free-falling failure while its ministers are stumbling in a wilderness of confusion.

Frankly, I'm not surprised.  For years I have believed and shared that the greatest abuse in the American church is the unwillingness to make proper use of God-called ministers. Our lack of Apostolic methodology has resulted in a lack of Apostolic success.

Cities were turned 'upside down' in the New Testament - and this description was made by those who were NOT Christians. When an unbeliever acknowledges the power of a church to alter a city one is experiencing a genuine revival. Revival on this order is what we are NOT having in the U.S. - but we desperately need it.

The American church can have revival any time it wants. But the American church won't have revival until it will claim its ministers from the wilderness. Prayer is key; it always was and still is. We need prayer that God will open doors in churches for ministers to minister. Singular ministry, where one man essentially controls one church (rather the norm in America today in many churches) is unbiblical and is largely responsible for the failure of the American church today. When Samaria needed the Holy Spirit they didn't call for only for Peter: They called for Peter AND John.  Jesus didn't send ANY of his disciples out one by one; he sent them out two by two. And this didn't mean husband and wife; a husband and wife equal one in biblical perspective.

We need multiple ministers working together in every church; this is the will of God and was consistently the method used in new testament, biblical ministry.  Until we have this as a common practice in America - America won't see the revival she needs. 

The thought above is my heart on ministry: We need revival. As one many said, 'We need a weeping revival, a reaping revival and a sweeping revival'. I agree. But it won't happen until we have redeemed many ministers from the wilderness.

For more information on Jonathan please visit his little spot on the web, JonathanMilam.com