For me one of the most difficult things in the world is being patient. Due to the fact that I have grown up in consumer based culture, patience is not my best virtue. I find myself many times wanting something as quick as I can get. I believe this type of attitude transfers over to some of the attitudes in our churches. I can only speak from my own personal background and feelings toward this subject. It seems to me that some churches do take a more consumerist approach to cater to the needs of a certain group. The church has become commercialized. I see the church emphasizing programs that stress numbers. The numbers of Christians and converts become more important than actually developing people into Christ followers. The attentions of most modern day churches here in America have taken a corporate approach to the Gospel. This compromises of the Gospel highlights the positive attributes of Christianity and disregards the intense struggle Christianity can be. I believe that Jesus personified the Gospel through his relationships. This gets me to my point. I believe that many churches have concentrated on sheer numbers and not enough on actual discipleship. What is the point of numbers? Do numbers help us here or in heaven? This is one area of the church where I believe we have missed the point. Many new converts end up leaving the faith because the Gospel was not fully expressed to them. In other words they find the faith to be fraudulent and more difficult than expected. People new to the faith who undergo discipleship programs at least learn what Christianity is. I believe that churches need to be patient when they construct new programs and sermons. Understand that this is about God’s kingdom and his will. It’s not about having meaningless social status or having Christianity become the biggest religion based on numbers, but not actually practiced. Christianity is centered on God and should be taught accordingly. I’m not suggesting that this will fix the churches problem or create Christendom, but I’m suggesting that this will create people who are serious about their faith. Relationships take time and patience. Jesus took the time to express the Gospel to his disciples so that they could carry it out to all nations, and we are called to do the same.
-Cory
