The Church of Christ Way

 

A few months ago in one of your classes you mentioned the attitude of some who say "I can be Christian without the church." The majority of people claiming to follow Christ believe they can be Christian without the church look at the number attending Sunday AM then look at Sunday Adult Bible Class, Sunday PM and Wednesday PM. It appears those who attend more often agree with those who do not because the next Sunday AM they accept the returnees as followers of Christ.

 

So, the question is "How does our assembly help us to follow Christ?" Going strictly by the numbers the answer is they do not. Nothing happens on Sunday AM to cause the majority to want to return until the next Sunday AM. And no one asks why.

 

Working at Dollywood on Sundays and attending only Sunday evening my observation is Sunday PM is a second class assembly. We sing less songs, the Lord's Supper is a formality and is little different than passing out soup at the homeless shelter. And it is easy to see who does not contribute.  Wednesday PM is 2 lectures separated by a couple of partial songs. Our Bible Classes are similar to the Soap Operas. You can miss a couple of weeks and not be behind. How does what we do help us to be followers of Christ?

 

It is not only GSM the majority of congregations are quite similar. It is "The Church of Christ Way." The problem is it is not working. The congregation we attended in Ohio recently merged with another congregation. It appears neither could afford to pay a man to speak. Those congregations were each close to 60 years old.  When we left, 13 years ago, the congregation membership was 200-225 had elders, deacons, a preacher and a Youth minister, a VBS with around 50 or so, a deaf congregation of 10-15. When they merged they were around 100.

 

Last night the speaker from WCB mentioned God's word will not return void. In the United States 95% of the people who become what they call Christian do so by the age of 25. That means the word that will not return void does not have much affect on people over the age of 25. And no one asks why.