THE CHURCH
THAT ATTRACTS PEOPLE

It is an obvious truth that the church is people and people are the
church. The church is not the building, place or structure, but real
people that has been called out of sin, darkness and the world. The
true church of Jesus comprises of people that are blood washed,
tranformed and have vital on going relationship with the Lord.

Furthermore, the church is not only for the saints, it is also for
sinners. Sinners must be attracted to the church. Though they will
come as they are, but they must not go back the way they have come.
The church exists to bring sinners to the saving grace of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The church is not a place for social and religious gathering, but a
fellowship of souls that has been truly washed and made pure by the
atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Such a church must attract people
that will become saved in large numbers and continually turn them to
disciples of Christ. It is when such is happening on regular basis
that we can say the church is truly growing and expanding the
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

What Kind of Church?

Today, there are different kinds of churches claiming authorisation
from Christ. Different kinds of churches abound on the surface of
the earth with different names, appelations and emphasis. While some
are called Pentecostals, Charismatic, Orthodox and Catholic, others
are referred to as Evangelicals, Baptists, Holiness and Indigeneous
churches.

These names mean different things to many people and many wholesome
and unwholesome practises abound in these churches. Yet, the truth
is that the names, denomination and doctrinal preferences of a
church does not really figure in the equation when people are
searching for churches to attend.

Why People Bypass Churches

Rigorous research about churches over the years have confirmed that
people are changing in their perceptions, views and tastes
concerning churches as the year goes by.

People of today are quite different from people of 30 or 40 years
ago. The way they see churches today are quite different from the
ways they see them 40 or 50 years ago. The way people have decided
to join churches today is remarkably different to the way their
fathers and mothers joined churches 50 or 60 years ago.

Then, people joined churches based on the fact that "It is my home
town church", "It is our family church", "I was born there".
However, today, people do not take all these into consideration
anymore when making a choice to join church or not.

These days, people sample, visit and take many factors into
cognizance when they want to join a church. Today, people bypass
many churches in the city centers to attend others in the outskirts
of the city because they could not find what they are looking for in
those churches in the city centers. I know of many churches that
have empty buildings or half -filled halls over the years because
people do not find them attractive enough to attend. Yet, those
churches are surrounded by people that attend churches far away from
their place of living.

In developing nations where there is so much poverty, disease,
financial and economic problems coupled with bad leadership in
government, people turn their hope to God. They see God as their
only source of help and they therefore are willing to attend
churches that have the right strategy to attract them. To attract
such people to our churches, we must possess the right mix of
factors in large measure and they must be open for all to see.

The Church That Attracts People.

Of course, not all churches attract the people of today. Too many
churches repel and drive away people in many communities of the
world today. Churches that are small, stagnant and strugling with
growth should do well to ask themselves why they are not attracting
sinners in large measure. I know of churhces that does not record up
to 50 visitors in a whole year. And in many cases, those who visit
will never stay, simply because they see things that repel them in
their one time visit.

Churches and church leaders that are serious about growth must do
things that will attract visitors to the church and retain them. If
you do not attract visitors, you can not see growth in the church.
Now, let's try to answer this question, what qualities do churches
that attract people possess?

1. Authentic and Real

Churches that attract people must be real, genuine and sincere.
People are looking for signs of genuity in churches before they
join and become members. If they come for sometimes and fail to see
authenticity in our lives, they feel disapointed and they leave in
droves.

I know of churches that people attended enmasse initially, but when
they began to see signs of hyprocrisy, phoney behaviours and fake
claims in leadership, they started going away one after the other,
untill only few people are left.

Churches that want to keep on atracting people must be real, genuine
and practical in their Christian lives.

2. Competent and Growing Pastor

Church leaders must demonstrate honesty and sincerity if people must
come to the church. If they do not see genuiness in the lives of
pastors, how can they expect the church to be real? Today, people do
not really trust pastors due to bad press and nasty stories of many
fake and phoney ones. So, when they see a genuine and real pastor,
they are pleasantly suprised.

When choosing a church, people place genuine, competent and growing
pastor on top of their preferential list. They therefore watch,
analyse and size-up the pastor to discover whether he is real or
not.

If a pastor displays competency in handling issues, genuiness in his
private and public life and growing skills in handling people, the
church cannot but grow due to the confidence of people in him. The
churches that attract people are the ones that have such pastors
leading them.

3. Creative Approach

To become the church that attracts people, creativity is required.
People detest churches that are bogged down by staus quo. They love
churches that are change friendly. They love churches that initiate
creative ways to reach out to the public. People still love to hear
the truth of the gospel undiluted, and they desire that churches
will be creative in the way they present them.

So, preaching the truth of the gospel through drama, visuals and non-
threatening approach goes a long way to attract them. Churches that
change their approach so as to meet people at their level will
always attract people in large numbers.

4. Enthusiastic Love and Joy

People are attracted to churches that display contagious love for
people and true joy of the Lord. Love for God, love for leadership,
love for one another and love for sinners must always be open and
real in the church if we are going to attract people. Not many
people will join a church where the atmosphere is poisoned with
bickering, hatred, animosity, backstabing and character
assasination.

When the present church members do not love one another, visitors to
the church will sense it and they will not stay. When we detest
sinners that visit our churches and make negative comments with our
facial expressions and body languages, they will surely not come
back.

To really attract and retain people in the church, love must be in
display. We must welcome and love the sinners as they are. In actual
fact,we must love them into the kingdom. Guilt, condemnation and
rejection must not be passed down to them. They are already under
condemnation before they came to the church. We must be careful we
do not add to it through our actions and inactions.

The joy of the Lord must permeate our lives and the church, genuine
love must be in practise in the church, then we will attract those
who will come to get saved by the Lord.

5. A True House of Prayer

People are attracted to churches that have strong prayer emphasis.
Churches that pray and seek the face of God will always magnetise
people. These prayers must not be empty rhetorics that accomplish
little or nothing in the life and situations of people. But the
prayers that touch heaven and bring results to the people. It is
the prayers that are fervent, heartfelt, effective and result
oriented. People have multivarious problems; both physical and
spiritual, that require the power of prayer. Prayer ministry that
addresses the felt and real needs of people cannot but attract them
in large numbers.

Prayer draws down the hand of God into the church for mighty
miracles, signs and wonders. Prayer draws down the power of God for
mighty healings and deliverance. Prayer allows the Holy Spirit to
work mightily to bring salvation, healing, liberation and freedom to
people in the church.

When the church is a true house of prayer, then the days of God's
power is here again. Churches that want to keep attracting people
must build a very strong prayer ministry. Prayer for our Nation,
leadership, the church and individual situations must be consistent,
persistent and orderly. They must be prayers from pure hearts, godly
motives, strong faith in God's promises and without doubts.

Conclusively, much more could be said in this chapter but permit me
to lead you to the next chapter on effective strategies. If you
could really make use and practise those strategies, your ministry
will never remain the same and you will be able to attract people to
your church in large numbers.