I drove past the big billboard next to a large church on a freeway each week for seven months and it bugged me every time. It said, “If You’re Not Growing Where You’re Going, Try Us.”
I think churches should advertise, but I think it should be targeted. This sign is targeted, but it’s targeted toward people who are already church members.
It seems to me that we should be targeting the unchurched.
Perhaps this church is located in an area where everyone goes to church and their only opportunity to grow is to pick off disaffected members of other churches, but I seriously doubt that. Aside from the fact that it seems less than honorable to intentionally try to attract church people who are not satisfied with the church they attend, chances are that any one you get that way will, after a brief honeymoon, be dissatisfied with your church too. (And probably become a pain in the neck or even lower.)
Yet we hear that sentence all the time. “I’m just not being fed.”
The question I always wanted to ask, and now that I am older, do ask from time to time is, “Why not? Why aren’t you being fed?”
Sometimes the answer is, “The pastor’s sermons are boring.”
That might be true, but rather than leaving, this person should pray for his pastor and support any efforts he makes to improve.
Sometimes the answer is, “The pastor’s sermons are too simple.”
Maybe his sermons are simple, but it may be that his sermons are simple to you because they are targeted at new believers.
Perhaps you find them simple because you need more challenging stuff. In that case, instead of complaining about simple sermons, you should pray for the people he hopes the sermons will reach, and ask him for guidance for ways you can go deeper. He would probably love to give you some direction.
Other times, the reason the person isn’t being fed is, “The music is not to my taste,” or “too loud,” or “for another generation,” or “I don’t like all the tech stuff,” or simply, “I don’t know the songs.”
Again, look at whom the church is trying to target. You might say, “Well, if I’m not part of the target, then I guess they don’t need me.” That is exactly wrong! The church needs you to be on the team, to be part of the effort to reach people who don’t know Christ.
All of these criticisms imply that the church is supposed to revolve around you.
