Proably not good to think outloud…or blog out loud…or whatever. Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to understand why people don’t go to church. My thoughts weren’t so much about the people who don’t know Christ, but rather those who do and say they love him. It is interesting to me on why some don’t come.

I don’t want to judge their commitment to Christ. I just long to understand. The book “The Shapping of Things to Come” have some interesting comments about church following an “attactional” model. They say that is not biblical. I must admit, it is easy to fall into an attractional model. We try to figure out what would cause people to come…things like updated music, better musicians, more programs, a more inviting ‘space’ and then try to do things to attract people.

However, I wonder, for those of us who consider ourselves strong Christians and know that Jesus makes a difference in how we live from day to day, are the ‘attractional’ things what make us want to come to church, or is there something deeper. I believe there is something deeper. The authors of the book I’m ready say that the church needs to go into the community and be missional rather than being attracting.

I can see their point. While I’ve heard and have even said, that you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian (after all, it is what you do with Jesus), yet, I can’t help but wonder about those who have been touched by God’s grace through Jesus and who decide not to support the church. Yes, some might bring up that it is more imporant to be in ministry, but I wonder if those making this argument are in any type of ministry.