Building Attractive Christianity:

It is no secret that, in our present times, Christianity has lost much of its attractiveness and power. The average American Christian today does not find church attendance as attractive as attending most other social events. Many Christians would rather watch a football game or other social event on Sunday mornings than attend a church service. Many hardly read their Bibles nor spend any reasonable amount of time praying to God. Relatively fewer Christians have enough enthusiasm to committedly attend church on Sundays as their parents and grandparents did. As a result, many churches are running half full, with pews unoccupied. The situation is even more alarming in some denominations where church facilities are now often on the market for sale or simply liquidated or left to rot. As a result, the Church and the average Christian have lost much of the power needed to live a successful Christian life and accomplish the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Church is literally struggling with many issues, including moral and weakness problems all of which bear on church membership and strength. The Lord Jesus Christ clearly had certain things in mind when He established the Church. He knew that if He attracted people to Himself, the Church, which is His body, can also attract the same people to itself as He did. However, this is not happening. Clearly, something is not working out here and it is not the Lord's fault. This problem is from the Church and its members. The attractiveness of Christ lies in the fact that, when light comes in, darkness is overcome. When truth comes in, nothing can stand against it. There is no doubt that there are key things Christians must initiate or revive if we truly and genuinely intend on reversing the course of the current Church’s situation. It is true that societal and cultural influences have helped in watering down the original values of the Bible, but a truly God-centered attitude by Christians is all it will take to pull down all these barriers. Take, for instance, the law of God which said that we should not commit fornication or adultery. In America today, many people are violating this law without regard for God who ordered Moses to write it down for God’s children. But a Christian who wants to please God can determine that he or she is not going to engage in such a practice because of the fear of God. God has always looked for Christians with this kind of resolve to help change His world and cause righteousness to return. Ultimately, love is what makes relationships attractive. Whether it is a good relationship or a sour or broken one, only love can make it whole and beautiful again. When we understand the love of God and see others through that love, every hate, strife, and ugliness will disappear. Only Jesus’ kind of love can change our world today. It is like some people who say that love is blind. By this, they mean that what someone else doesn't like may be liked by someone else. But the truth is love works to bring everyone to the same plane of clarity because all that is really seen is the love of God. The beholder and the one who is being beheld both have the love and are overtaken by its power. Therefore, the Church has great opportunities to minister to the world in these modern times more than ever before if Christ’s kind of love is employed. In just about every aspect of life in our world, there are opportunities to share the Gospel with our local, national, and international neighbors. Employing key caring and loving approaches, there are great potentials and opportunities to reap big rewards for the Kingdom of God. When the Church becomes attractive to the world, it is bound to do the things Christ did when He was in the world. For example, the Church will heal, minister to, and feed the world as never before. The work of feeding the hungry, which some churches and organizations like the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross are currently doing, will be nothing compared to the magnitude of the feeding that the Church will be engaged in. People all over the world will perceive the Church as a kind of mother who takes care of her children in a motherly manner. The Church will become like a mammoth version of what Mother Teresa became to the poor folks in India who regarded her as their mother. It would be recalled that many followers of Jesus followed Him because of the free food He gave them (John 6:26). This inclination is very natural of mankind. Children are mostly attached to their mothers largely because mothers are often the ones who prepare and give them the food they eat. However, feeding in this connection also includes spiritual food or the Word of God. Christ said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Again, the Church will preach and disseminate the Word of God more than it has ever done at any time in its history. People from every corner of the world will be hungering for the Word of God. Many communities and governments will be requesting for the clergy of all faith to visit them and preach the Word of God. Jesus' statement that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few will be remembered at that time, as religious organizations realize that they need more human resources to meet the demand for Gospel workers. Bible schools and pastoral training institutions will be bursting with students as they struggle to train and produce more graduates to satisfy the growing world demand for preachers and ministers. There will also be a great need to print more Bibles and key Christian literature in many languages to meet the insatiable demand.