Challenged and Inspired!

Too many people are moaning about the lack of commitment and discipline in todays church as we respond to polls taken by various organizations. I don’t put a lot of stock in polls. I try to listen to the people I am
talking to and ministering to every day.

So here is what I’ve learned. As leaders, we often whine and gripe way too much about what people won’t do or haven’t done. We fail to understand that most Christians in America who aren't what we would call fully-devoted followers of Jesus don’t have a problem with commitment - They want to be challenged.

Where is the challenge going to church week after week, hearing an irrelevant message and singing songs that have no connection emotionally or spiritually? Where is the challenge when they hear sermons berating them as well as their sins from people who are asking so much from them to the point that they feel judged and demoralized?

Here is my point. We ask way too little of people. But we demand way too much. Here is the difference: a command, or to be demanding is to try to manipulate people into a response. It’s telling people to do something without showing them the reason or the benefit. We ask way too little!

Asking someone to do something in a way that gets them to respond positively puts the burden back on me. It means I have to be inspiring. I have to show the reason why this is important and why they should use their valuable time and give their tithe and offering to support it. Basically it means I have to challenge them. And we know through surveys that people in American churches want to be challenged. I talk to people every day who are going to churches where they are under-challenged and over-stimulated. America goes to church week after week, and come away fired up, with little application for the real world.

So let’s stop demanding and let’s start asking. Let’s stop hanging people over the lake of fire if they don’t come to church every week and tithe and serve. Let’s challenge them. Let’s show the benefit of tithing, of church attendance, and of serving. Let’s inspire them, move them, and motivate them.

You can’t demand anything anyway. Try to demand it of your children and see what happens. Men, demand that your wife submit and see what happens to you. But asking, challenging, inspiring; that’s where it really is. And that’s what everyone wants - to be challenged and inspired!

That’s what Jesus did. Jesus told stories that challenged and inspired His listeners. These stories got people excited and involved.

Let's do a poll right now. Would you rather:

Leave a church service feeling judged and condemned for not being perfect?

or

Leave a church service inspired and motivated to be what Christ created you to become?