To Grow the Church We Must Shrink the Church
TO GROW THE CHURCH WE MUST SHRINK THE CHURCH
In other words, Church leaders, stop being businessmen and start being loving Fathers. Stop basing your decisions on the short-term “bottom line,” and start being the “good dads” you were called to be, treating “each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.” (1 Thes. 11-12, from today’s first reading).
Souls have plenty of “businesses” to choose from. No, they want a “family bond” to dedicate themselves to. They want parents who love them. They don’t want to be treated as “customers being attracted to a product.”
Yes, if our Church leaders start being firm and loving dads, in the short term, many may leave. Realize this happened to Jesus. In the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6), many of his disciples complained that this was all too hard. And, in John 6:66 (666 is the number of the beast … IOWs, the number of those who abandon their call as children of God), it reads, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (John 6:66)
Yet, we know the early church exploded in numbers after that. Why? They watched a “tight loving family,” totally dedicated to justice, truth and the will of God, who were willing to be thrown to the Lions for the sake of remaining true to God’s will. This was not just another business for these first Christians, this was a “life’s calling,” and that dedication and courage attracted souls like never before.
Our Church is dying because it is a good business decision to remain silent in the face of evil, and to even compromise with evil. Our customers won’t be offended if we do this. They shop at our store (come to our Church) for a time, but then they are easily attracted to the other businesses in their lives. We’re dying because our Church leaders are businessmen instead of loving fathers who do not compromise with evil.
When will we finally understand this???
