An alarming number of Christians are staying home on Sunday mornings and the trend is affecting today's church. Believers who have become "stayaway saints" are alternately worrying and exciting church leaders, pointing to what is being seen as either a serious threat to the spread of the gospel or the actual cusp of a revolution that could usher in the sort of revival many have prayed for and dreamed of for years.
A 2005 study by The Barna Group, a California-based Christian research organization, found that about 13 million Americans whom the researchers identified as being born again were "unchurched ... not having attended a Christian church service, other than for a holiday ... at any time in the past six months." People aren't leaving the faith, but they are leaving the traditional church.
Traditional pastors better wake up and smell the coffee, it's just not about serving coffee. Pastors are either stuck in their traditions and saying "I aint never seen it done like that before!" (The famous last 9 words of a dying church)....or they are using western fortune 500 marketing concepts to build a business (see attached video).
Either way pastors, people are turned off by both. What the church needs is biblical, transparent, and authentic communities built.
Put the marketing books down, take a breath, crawl into your prayer closet, and read the book of Acts. We need to see some real Christianity at work, not another succesful biz.
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