Some are so inward-looking that they do not evangelise outside the building; the expectation of many is that a new banner announcing a beetle drive or similar will have the locals flooding in; some are not faithful to the Gospel; others actually do not welcome new faces and almost all say "this is the way we have always done things - the great numbers of unsaved must adjust to our way of doing things."
Churches are in the firing line and so many are not using 'the full armour of God'.
As someone in the second half of my 60s, these churches are SO stale, that even I would not use one if I had nowhere else to go.
How many operate as cliques?
How may use hymnals that were out of date half a century ago and use music that would bore to death anyone under the age of 55?
How many prepare long, erudite sermons which go over the heads of so many members of their congregations? How many are still using sermons that regularly exceed 15 - 20 minutes - which in this day of low concentration spans - are probably far too long, in any case?
How many have already passed the point of no return because they have not seriously reached out to youth over the last three or four decades?
If the members of these churches expect God to suddenly bring them hordes of new people - they are doomed to disappointment. This is especially the case when they haven't seen a single convert through their own ministry in their last twenty years of operation! How many actively sideline God's Holy Spirit?
Fresh manna is the only way forward.
Reaching out to the community has to be an active, prayer-backed campaign.
Many churches are succeeding, however. These old-fashioned institutions must inevitably perish.
