Why some churches do not grow

[en]Thanks to Pst. Perry Noble (http://www.perrynoble.com) who wrote this magnificent message. I like to share it to everyone, especially for the church leader. These are 8 reasons why some churches do not grow.

  1. The Vision Is Not Clear. If people don’t know where a church is supposed to be going…then it will attempt to go everywhere and eventually wind up nowhere. Interesting experiment – ask people this coming Sunday at your church, “What is our vision” and see if people give you the same answers or different ones.
  2. The Focus Is On Trying To Please Everyone. There is NO church on the planet that will make everyone happy every single week … and … according to the Scriptures that isn’t really supposed to be our obsession. Too many times we become so concerned with offending people that we actually offend Jesus.
  3. Passionless Leadership. When a leader does what he/she does for a paycheck and not because its their passion … it’s over. I’ve said at this site before…I want difference makers not paycheck takers. AND…also…it is hard to be passionate about a place when a persons average stay at a church is two years or less.
  4. Manufacturing Energy. If a program is dead in a church … then it needs a funeral and the people need to move on. Investing time, energy and money into something that is dead will not revive it. Celebrate the fact that “that” program had its day…and then move on. AND…quit trying to fire people up over events that you would not attend if you were not on staff.
  5. Lack of Prayer. Many times we work so hard putting our ideas together than we actually think there is no need for the supernatural power of God to be involved. Prayer should not be the good luck charm that we stick at the beginning or the end of what we do … but rather it should be our constant desperation to see God do the undeniable among us. Intense desperation often brings undeniable revelation!
  6. Unwillingness To Take Risks. When our focus becomes to play it safe rather than to do whatever it takes to reach people far from God…it’s over. NOWHERE in the Scriptures did God ever ask anyone to do anything that didn’t involved an “oh crap” moment. We’ve GOT to be willing to embrace the uncertain if we want to see the unbelievable.
  7. Disobedience To The Scriptures. Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, II Corinthians 5:16-21, Luke 19:10 … I could go on and on … but we MUST understand that Jesus didn’t come to earth, live here for 33 years years, give HIS life for us and then return back to heaven to intercede for us so that we could get in really little circles and talk about ourselves and condemn those who are not as good as us. We are called to REACH PEOPLE FOR GOD – PERIOD!
  8. Selfish Attitudes. Matthew 20:28 says it all…and if we are going to be more like Jesus we’ve GOT to serve others rather than expecting the church to be our servant all of the time. When a person (or group of people) refuse to embrace that a call to follow Jesus is a call to serve … then we’ve lost sight of who He is and eventually we will make being a Christian all about Jesus following/serving us rather than us taking up our cross and following Him! [/en]

[id]Artikel ini adalah tulisan dari Pst. Perry Noble (http://www.perrynoble.com). Saya dengan senang hati menerjemahkannya supaya Anda mudah memahaminya, khususnya jika Anda masuk dalam kelompok para pemimpin gereja. Pst. Perry Noble menyatakan ada 8 alasan mengapa gereja bisa tidak bertumbuh.

  1. Visi yang tidak jelas. Jika jemaat tidak menangkap visi gereja dengan jelas, tentang akan dibawa ke mana gereja itu, maka ada kecenderungan jemaat untuk mencari gereja lain dan berpindah ke sana. Coba buat sebuah eksperimen kecil. Besok Minggu tanyakan kepada beberapa jemaat apa visi gereja Anda, dan temukan apakah mereka memberikan jawaban yang sama atau berbeda.
  2. Fokus untuk menyenangkan semua orang. Tidak ada satu gereja pun yang bisa melakukan hal ini. Dan bahkan Alkitab pun tidak pernah menunjukkan bahwa gereja harus bisa menyenangkan semua orang. Berhenti menghabiskan waktu untuk melakukan hal ini.
  3. Pemimpin yang tidak bergairah. Ini bukan sekedar tidak bergairah untuk melakukan kehendak Tuhan, tetapi bisa saja memiliki gairah yang salah. Banyak pemimpin gereja bergairah melayani saat ada uang untuk mereka. Sebuah gairah yang salah!
  4. Menghabiskan energi untuk hal yang sia-sia. Kalau satu program terbukti tidak bisa dijalankan … sudahlah, berhenti dan berpindah mengerjakan hal lainnya. Menghabiskan energi, uang, dan waktu untuk membangkitkan program yang sudah mati akan sia-sia. Akuilah bahwa satu program punya harinya sendiri. O’ya, jangan pernah membikin program yang Anda sendiri tidak akan menghadirinya!
  5. Kurangnya doa. Tidak perlu penjelasan lagi. Gereja bukan gereja jika tidak ada doa.
  6. Tidak berani membayar harga. Keluar dari zone nyaman Anda, selalu ada resiko dari setiap pilihan dan kebijakan yang diambil. Jangan mencari amannya saja.
  7. Ketidaktaatan kepada Amanat Agung. Saya tidak perlu menuliskan ayat-ayatnya. Tuhan Yesus tidak datang ke dunia, menghabiskan 33 tahun-Nya, mati, bangkit, dan kembali ke Surga hanya supaya Anda duduk di gedung gereja yang indah dengan kelompok eksklusif Anda. Pergi, jangkau jiwa bagi Kristus!
  8. Egoisme. Saat gereja tidak lagi berfokus untuk melayani jiwa-jiwa, itulah egoisme gerejawi. Tinggal tunggu waktu saja sampai seluruh jemaat keluar dari gereja itu. [/id]

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