Yesterday we finished up our series looking at the vision for the next 40 months at TRCC. I focused on the "why" of the vision. We need to understand what our mandate is as Christians to the people of this world and how we are to partner with God to make this the world He intended.
Well I woke up this morning to find some interesting research from Lifeway Research. They are the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. The results are not surprising, but none the less disheartening.
- 79% think Christianity "is more about organized religion than about loving God and loving people."
- I think the church is not demonstrating the Great Commandment. If people are not seeing the church as loving them, then we are truly failing in what it means to be Christ-followers. Jesus left us with very clear instructions in Luke 10:27: He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]" We are clearly not loving our neighbors enough.
- 72% said they think the church ‘is full of hypocrites, people who criticize others for doing the same things they do themselves,"
- This is where the church has become a bit pharissetical in the way we behave. We quickly point out the problems of others and fail to hold each other accountable when we fall short of the mark of God.
- 86% believe they "can have a good relationship with God without being involved in church."
- Can anyone say community? We were created in community to be in community with others.
I don't know about you, but our mandate is clear. We can see what we need to do and where we have fallen short. So let's get rockin'!
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