Christianity Oasis Forum

[foreverHis]

People come to church looking for light and warmth. They want to know we care. Good Preaching and music may bring them in, but relationships that nurture will keep them coming back. You can feel lonely in a crowd, even when love is preached, and has 'greet your neighbor' moment in every service.
if we kept 10 percent of those who came through our church doors we'd be in constant growth mode.

You say, "Well the bible teaches that if a man would have friends, he must show himself to be friendly.' True, but people bring with them the wounds of their past, the struggles of their present and the unspoken anxieties of their future.
What they want to know is: 'Will you love me as I am, even if i don't fit your mould and change as quickly as you would like me to?'

Often our rigid structure keeps that from happening.
leader, if your greatest concern on Monday is 'how many people did we have in church yesterday?', check your heart. You may be more concerned about image than meeting peoples needs.

Jesus told His disciples'....I have called you friends...John 15:15 NKJV.

Many people are shy, distrusting and relationally impaired. Our mandate should be to make friends out of them, not just bench warmers and financial contributors.

The scripture says, bear one anothers burdens....'Galatians 6:2 NKJV, because a burden shared is a burdened lightened. many of those who come amongst us are not looking for profound answers, they just want to feel soneone cares for them.

When that happens they open up to God's love and miracles take place.

[realtmg]

Amen sis!

[jamisfaithnjoy]

to read areas I've not been onto yet on here and what you said forever is so very true..Just about every sentence I could either relate to personally or have seen it myself with other people..God bless you and may you continue to bring up topics that reach deep within and make us think.

[foreverHis]

thank you guys....but i had a strong prompting to do it..so thank the lord ..love ya's