Christians In Between
It was my first pastorate and the first revival for the new pastor. One night a man I had never seen answered the invitation. With tears in his eyes, he confessed he was an inactive member. He was rededicating his life and wanted to support the new pastor and the church. I was thrilled. Later, another church member warned me, “Pastor, don’t be too excited; he does this at every revival. In a few Sundays, you will not see him again until the next Revival.” Unfortunately, the church member was right.
When the Pew Research Organization began their work, they asked the question, “Do you consider yourself a faithful Christian?” They evaluated the answer by how often a person went to church. By this standard, a faithful Christian went to church every Sunday. One who attended twice a month was rated as semi-faithful. Today, I am told they regard attendance once every few months as faithful. When asked how the organization explained this change, they replied, “Times have changed.”
Regarding this rule for evaluating faithful Christianity, many reply they go to church, “Whenever the spirit moves me.” While working on my project for a seminary degree, I interviewed the inactive members of our church personally. I was quite shocked to learn that some of them regarded themselves as faithful members, yet they had never attended church in all my tenure.
No doubt, the Pew research evaluation is flawed. So, let’s talk about what you do between your times at church. I took my car to the shop for repair. A mechanic was giving someone a tongue lashing. Thankfully, the person he was demeaning was not present. The mechanic’s rant was filled with verbiage that was far from Christian. A few weeks later, a local pastor asked me to supply for him. Imagine my surprise when that mechanic came to the altar to lead the offertory prayer.
It is not my intention to preach a negative sermon with this column. Such sermons are of minimal value. Neither is it my intention to tell you how often you should attend church. Jesus told us that faithful Christians follow Him. What is important is how you follow Him while you are in church as well as times in between.
