I grew up in the church. It was like a second home to me, if not the first. But of course that would be automatic as a preacher's daughter. Every Saturday night we would go to bed early, to wake up early Sunday morning. Waking up to gospel music as well the television screen with perfect view of the pastor preaching. Putting on dresses and appropriate attire to go to church. Hair fixed, Breakfast and out the door. Church going wasn't just a once a week thing for us. We went to church maybe 3 times or more a week. So to make it simple. Church is a big portion of my roots, the memories that I look back on from my childhood growing up and is a part of who I am in my adulthood. Looking around though in this day and time, attendance in the church community have been lower than what they use to be. But the real question is why ? Why is it that in my generation, we cant get to church? Why don't we make it there most Sundays? Our elders are genuinely wanting to know. Its obvious that we aren't kids anymore and that it is up to us to continue to be apart of the church community. This is my generation. The millennium that I am apart of. So as a 22 years young woman I have been faced with past and current struggles, mindsets, experiences and hindering things. I have also witnessed them all over. Watching Friends , family and perfect strangers on social media. I have sat and pondered on this question at focus for about a week. The conclusion I came to is that this is more than just a simple explanation. This is about all of us. This is an honest attempt at a start to fixing the problem. Because we all know the start to any resolution is acknowledging there is a problem. Then being completely transparent of your perception of things. So I'm gonna share my perspective as to the reasons why. And I hope that we can re-evaluate and have a good ending result. 1)Different interpretations of what church is
When you gain knowledge on something. As an individual you take what you read or hear and interpret it in your way. The common used definition for church is a building used for worship. The word church in the Bible comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which means a called out company or assembly. So basically people gather regardless of the location and worship together with fellow believers to grow in faith. In the bible we see the word church used in more than one way. There is the body of Christ, which is a local assembly or group of believers.(1 Corinthians 1:2 ,2 Corinthians 1:1) Secondly, the body of an individual believer. ( 1 Corinthians 15:9 , Galatians 1:13) Lastly, It is mentioned as the universal group of all believers that have trusted God through all ages. (Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 5:23-27) So with that knowledge it is believed and constantly stated that "we are the church" not the building. So some make choices to grow in other ways. Bible study and worship at home and other places. But that's not the main reason we don't go to church. I personally believe that for most that reason is given as force of habit. 2)False Prophets We are in a time when you don't know who is the real deal and who is faking it. Like come on now even Satan himself knows the whole bible. So sadly we need more. Unfortunately, majority just not are sure of what is real and what isn't. The prophecy that is given has warned us that there will be a line up of people proclaiming to be holy and be the complete opposite. We don't want to be lead in the wrong direction. 3)Not feeling the spirit Whether it be the worship or the words being spoken or both. Sometimes we are not feeling the holy ghost. The spirit needs to be in all those areas to touch someone's heart. When you move someone's spirit. You got there attention. When you feel that presence all over you, it is undeniable. When you feel the lord reaching out to you through every word, its impossible to shake. We need that. Everyone needs that. Trust me that tug on your heart that either warms your soul or wakes your spirit up is real. If we don't feel that in the church. If I don't feel that in the church, I would say something is off! Something is missing. 4)Guilt / Feeling Unwelcome Some feel like they want to fix things and be in better standing with God before entering. Some are filled with guilt of the way they live. Some feel embarrassed and like they aren't holy enough to attend. Some feel if they do it will be made public of what they are dealing with. Some feel like they wont be accepted. The church and people of God have been associated a lot with negativity and judgement. We are living in a time where people are coming out and more sin is being embraced all over the world. These lost souls feel they can get more love from the world than in a church. And the church should still welcome all the sinners to come and receive the love of God. But that doesn't happen a lot. So it can be easy to just expect the worst. We need to all feel the love regardless of the mistakes we make and how we live. Church shouldn't be a invitation only thing. Everyone should be welcome to attend without the pressure from man to change. It takes God to change someone's heart and mind. No one is above anyone. We are all Gods children. 5)Lost Identity At our age we are still technically considered to be in the area where we are finding our purpose, our place, what we believe and who we are. In that venture everything becomes at question including our faith. Some of us stray and then return to our roots. Others don't. 6)Respecting The House Of God There are some individuals that are content with where they are in life. Or think they are. They're not ready to give up sin. They aren't ready to change. So out of respect for God an the place that is there to honor and praise him. They choose to not be lukewarm. They feel they are too deep in so why change. Sad and unfortunate but true. The truth is You have to decide where you stand an some decide early on that they cant make that change and live for God. The mindset being that no one should play with God. Your either in or out. No in-betweens. 7)The Sabbath Its believed that Saturday is the correct day to have church because of the Sabbath. But in this society church happens on Sundays which doesn't go with the original Sabbath day. 8) Bad reputation of the Church Some don't give it a chance or another because of the reputation or their personal experiences. Hypocrisy. Judgement of others. People who faithfully attend church but have evil spirits and ill intent behind their actions. Prices being put on tithing. People making a mockery inside the church. People gossiping. Fake smiles. The act as if you have it all together. Sweeping things under the rug that shouldn't be. Seeing people in church that will curse and mention Gods name in the same sentence. Just things that shouldn't be happening or going on with people of God in the house of God. In a community of people that are believers. As a young generation we need to see better. When we see these things we don't want to be apart of that kind of stuff. We need it to be well understood that we listen to your actions so much more than to your words. What you say means nothing unless we see you being a model of what you teach. The people of the church don't have to be perfect. Just be a genuine lover of God an his people an have that guide your actions. Live unto Gods will. 9) CHURCH ISNT THE SAME Things have changed since we were younger. Are belief in God remains the same. But the belief in his "people of today" doesn't feel the same. We cant take church seriously because we don't see the people of the church taking it seriously. They don't preach in such a way that you get the epiphany. It feels watered down. Diluted messages. Where you have to read between the lines or you just feel like everything you doing in life is ok. Like you have nothing to be held accountable for. We don't get that "Wow That is speaking to me." When a preacher is giving a message . God is to use him as a vessel to speak to his people. We don't feel that magnitude in the church anymore. God isn't present when the youth is being prayed over and being counseled to. He should be. Because if he was we would feel his presence. We would feel home. Like we can let go and release our struggles. But instead we are left with the same baggage we came in with. Some preachers are in the biggest scandals that would shock a lot of people. Its becoming a joke. Its losing its value of what it is placed here to be for us to be. How can you expect us to take it seriously if the people held in the highest positions of the church don't. How do you expect to win the souls of us young people, if your not being the light in the darkness. We see others with different beliefs that are diligent in their practices, that show the willfulness to stop where ever they are and pray to their God. They live and die for their God. The people of our church save their prayers for food or Sundays only. And we cant even simply start at least successfully living for our God. 10) Unanswered questions/ Same Repeated Sermons Over the years of seeing this can make someone start questioning what is happening. Some come to church looking for questions to be answered, and leave feeling they haven't been answered. Because in church we hear the same scheduled sermons being spoken. But the bible is filled with many messages but we only hear a limited amount. So some seek the truth and more information in alternative ways. Because we are lead to feel we cant get effective teachings. 11) Lack of understanding Some get lost in the teachings and simply don't know what is going on. When the message is being taught in church it continue flows out but its not a setting where you can raise your hand an ask a question as soon as you get overwhelmed with information. A lot don't admit it but they're lost and just don't understand what's being taught. Some people might need more elaboration than others. But its such a wide amount of people being spoken to at once that some people slip through cracks and give up. 12) Our elders failure to acknowledge we have grown/ Improper ministry People of the church don't see us as we are now. In some cases, they see us and see the child in us still. But we are grown now. We see things. We have contributions to the world as well as the church. But sometime we have the constant pressure from the people that watched us grow or that are simply elders to us. Or we are expected to just do as we are told without further acknowledgement.They rather handle us as children. When we are not. We are all different. And we are all reached in different ways. The way we minister to others have effects on a lot. Some churches don't offer a place in the church for our ages to grow in Christ. Some that aren't thriving in the church feel like they don't belong. Our generation does need a place in the church so we can carry on when our elders are gone. 13) Don't have time or don't make the time Some people work during the time frames that church is happening. Some are sleeping in because they did so much the night before. Either way we all no this is no excuse but I'm still mentioning this because it is still what's happening when we not in a church building. Some people are spending their time stressing about money and other things. There is a decent amount of us that want to go. Desire to go. Plan to go. But something always gets in the way. Or derails the plan. Or maybe its just the lack of motivation and drive to get up, get dressed, and go to church. Some of us get so rapped up in everything else going on in our lives that we let it hinder us. So what are we going to do about this? What steps are we gonna take as a community to better this crisis we are in? Its up to you. I hope that these reasons where read with an open mind and heart to hear from a young adult. Take them in and really think about it. I gave the honest truth in hopes to a brief pause and then a step in the right direction. #therearenoapologiesforbeingwhoiam #iamsarbri #iamtruth
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AuthorI am Sarbri ! The Wife , Mother, artist , business woman, singer, songwriter, deep thinker , flawed yet beautiful individual that has learned to embrace all who she is an what all life has to offer her. I am who I say I AM.! Archives
May 2019
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