Churches of Christ - graying instead of growing

[faithfyl]

h**p://churchofchristarticles.com/blog/administrator/graying-instead-of-growing/

I'm not sure when this was written but the author talks about how from 2000 to 2018, there were 1,047 C of C congregations that "ceased to exist." Author says the problem is that people just invite others to visit their church, and what they should do instead, is get involved in studying the scriptures with people. So delving into the scriptures more with folks would help to convert them. There is no discussion of what is being done that turns people away from C of C, though, or how to retain current members.

[FinallyFree]

I don’t think the CofC would appeal to many people because of no music and women not being able to participate in the service, along with many other factors.

[bnot]

The author makes an interesting point and states no one in the 1st century church invited someone to church to convert them. A good point, but there is many more things that the COC participates in that are not mentioned in the new testament, such as using song leaders in a worship service and placing membership. The main problem with the COc is the conversion part, there is no gospel in their conversion talk, the COC conversion process is centered around teaching you COC rules, one true church talk, and emphasizing everyone else is false and the COC is the only church who follows the will of God properly. They try to convert people based on fear and principles that are false, and that is the reason they are in decline.

[Cootie Brown]

Based on my experience, the key is finding a prospect that believes the Bible is verbally inspired by God, is therefore literally true, and historically accurate. Finding the right prospect is the only difficult part in converting them into the c of C.

Ask leading questions, use a preselected script, as well as preselected scriptures and that is almost a virtual guarantee they will be baptized into the c of C. I only failed to baptize one prospect, and that was because he failed to answer my first question correctly.

When I asked him if he believed the Bible is the fully inspired inerrant word of God he said no, and then proceeded to tell me why. I thanked him for his time and left because he wasn’t a prospect.

If a person professes to believe the Bible is the fully inspired inerrant word of God a trained evangelist can make them believe just about anything by manipulating scripture.

IMO a fundamentalist “faith” is centered in the Bible being literally true and historically accurate more so than in God or Jesus. Convince a true believer the Bible isn’t true and their faith melts away. The Bible being the literal inspired words of God is essential for a fundamentalist faith, if that is destroyed so is their faith.

That tactic, of course, is not as effective on liberal Christians. I honestly don’t know what they base their faith on, or if they even have faith in the same way a fundamentalist does.

[Ivy]

Cootie, I think you and I would agree that that is seriously messed up. Other denominations would likely just "present Christ" (think Billy Graham style, etc) and hope for the idea to take root, not pre-judge whether or not the person could be manipulated by his belief in the bible as the inspired word of God. I can see why you eventually became disgusted with the cofc approach you were taught and bought into.

This reminds me of something else that was always disturbing to me. A family member of mine was dyed-in-the-wool, multigenerational cofc. There was a lady who attended my family member's NICOFC who supposedly had multiple "unscriptural" marriages, and had lived with several men through the years. (Kind of a "woman at the well" scenario, I suppose). I once asked my family member why they didn't try to bring her into the fold; she just attended but never took it further. Family member said something like "Oh, no. She never would get her marital situation straightened out." So, in the cofc, you have to get it right and fit the mold BEFORE they will invite you in.

[Cootie Brown]

Religion, IMO, and based on my experience, is all about manipulating people. Liberals and fundamentalists use different tactics but their objectives are the same.

Fundamentalism is all about being obedience to laws, rules, and commands. Worshipping and living correctly & obediently. Fear is their primary motivator.

Liberal Christians focus on love, grace, forgiveness, aka the Fruits of the Spirit. Liberal Christians focus on making church fun. Services are often more like a Christian rock concert. Entertaining rock music is what is used to draw people in.

Unlike Fundamentalism sin is definitely not emphasized and rarely even mentioned. Church is all about grace, forgiveness, love, and having fun. Thus the rise of the mega churches where Sunday services are pretty much about having a good time.

At its roots, it’s just common sense marketing. Who, in their right mind, wants to continuously be threatened with punishment and eternal damnation for the inability to be a perfect human being?

The c of C is dying because they have a really bad, outdated, and extremely negative marketing plan. And let’s not kid ourselves religion, among other things, is a business. It needs customers and revenue to survive.

[ena]

The c of C is dying because they have a really bad, outdated, and extremely negative marketing plan. And let’s not kid ourselves religion, among other things, is a business. It needs customers and revenue to survive.

In a world where you can use the Google search engine to look up specific topics and use youtube to look up knowledgeable people the CoC will fail to measure up. The problem is that it is not fully Bible based. It uses some scriptures and not others even in the New Testament. It's failure to use the Old Testament as an underpinning leaves giant holes in it's understanding. Oh I did learn about the construction of the tabernacle. That is relevant to the construction of the temple. Sacrifices were relevant to covering sin. Jesus was a sacrifice for sin as well. Jesus is a covering for the Christian's sin and is a mirror of the Jewish animal sacrifices. This is a major miss on the part of the CoC. This CoC had a magic baptism for remission of sins that somehow saves you at the point of baptism. Any sin after that could somehow condemn you. It's belief is deceptive and came straight from Satan. John baptized for remission of sins. Was the baptism of John valid for salvation? Any Christian who understands the connection will not stay in the CoC for long. There is a Hell and you can avoid it. My belief is that the CoC will be dumped into the lake of fire. The problem is their understanding is wrong. A church run only to make money will be false. There are many examples. If the money is spent to help others fine. You are expected to use your brain.

[OneStrike_ur_out]

Remember what ho ho brought

[OneStrike_ur_out]

Some freaking thang