Do Our People Still Sin?

Quite often in church nowadays I get the impression that those in charge of planning the service forget that more than a few of their parishioners sinned since the last time they came together.

Some lost their temper. Others lied. More than a few fell prey to sexual temptations. Students cheated on tests. Jealousy marked many, as did profanity, greed and pride.

Was the congregation gossip-free? Probably not. Did anyone take something that didn’t belong to him or her? Was someone drunk? Did harsh words wound anyone?

The list of possibilities is quite long.

So, when the confessional prayer was said by everyone, or when the time of Communion was gone through, was the sin problem adequately dealt with, or were these elements just a formality that was as surface-deep?

I have a feeling that sin and the toll it takes on people’s lives needs to be taken far more seriously in our churches. Sin—how it could be forgiven and overcome—was why Jesus went to the cross!

Sin … I’m aware that it can be made worse than what it should be by the church. That’s occasionally been a problem. But to me it seems more likely that just the opposite is the case today. Pastors and church leaders view sin as less a problem than it really is!

Let these short paragraphs be a check in your heart as to which side you fall on.

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.

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I Have To Find Out

Millennials (those born in America from 1980 to 2000, which means people who are presently 13 to 34 years of age) are the last U.S. generation to be carefully studied. The oldest people in the next group of approximately 20 years are only 12 and much too young to even begin to be interviewed.

But the Millennials are already starting to make their presence felt. If for no other reason, they’re the largest group ever to come down the pike. They even surpass the size of the Boomers.

Millennials have much to commend them. They are strongly relational. They are world-conscious and want to make a positive difference in it, and they are the most tech-savvy of all the generations. They are also the most educated. They’re interested in money, but not so much to accumulate things as to be able to meet their goals of serving.

However, Millennials are not fans of the church. They have read about the sex scandals, and they are turned off by all the preachers on TV asking for money. It’s fair to say that for most Millennials, religion doesn’t really interest them. While they are okay with Jesus, they aren’t excited about His earthly body called the Church.

In my mind, this discovery has profound implications on the future of Christianity in America. Generally speaking, the church in the U.S. is already in decline. To lose the predicted 80-85% of the Millennials would be disastrous.

I don’t know how to reach this age group, but I am on a quest to find out. And I’m not just interested in how a given super-church is doing it, but how Millennials can be attracted by tens of thousands of churches all across this nation.

I believe the only people who can tell me how to do this are the Millennials themselves, and I’ve begun having what eventually will probably be hundreds of such interviews with them.

I will be sharing what I find out. But I challenge you to go on a similar quest. Let’s learn together.

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.

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A Big Task!

The first book I read in 2014 was The Millennials: Connecting to America’s Largest Generation (B&H Publishing). It’s by the father/son team of Thom and Jess Rainer. In my mind, it’s a must-read for people in ministry.

Their research is based on extensive interviews done with twelve hundred Millennials. That term refers to people born in the United States between 1980 and 2000, and there are 78 million in that category. The Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) totaled 76 million.

There are many reasons to feel good about the people in this group who are now between the ages of 15 and 35. For example, the Boomers supposedly said “don’t trust anyone over 30”; that’s the exact opposite of what Millennials feel. They have a great respect for those who are older. They are also on track to becoming the most educated generation, and, for the most part, they aren’t focusing on self as much as on how they can make a difference in the world.

But the figure that got to me the most was their overall lack of interest in religious matters. Nearly 2/3 (65%) rarely or never attend religious services. Only a small portion is truly Christian (10-15%). An amazing 78% agree that American churches are irrelevant today, and so on.

If the church can’t somehow capture this age group, it will have a profound effect on the future. The big question is how to pull this off.

My personal conviction is that we who are older don’t have a clue as to how. The only way to come up with viable answers is through dialogue with Millennials.

I have begun to do this in a most serious manner. I believe that everyone in ministry needs to do this as well. What I’m learning is not at all that comfortable. (Example: Millennials are not as crazy about lecture [preaching] as they are about dialogue. Wow!)

Anyway—I’m listening and trying not to react. Are you?

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.

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Finding Out

There are various ways to find out what people think about your church … that is, if you really want to know.

The quick comments people make when leaving a service will usually be positive. But the truth is that the majority of those who attend say little or nothing.

You will probably get the most honest comments from people if they can remain anonymous. Have you ever tried including a card in the bulletin that reads something like:


In our attempt to get honest feedback from the congregation, would you please answer the following brief questions, then leave your card in one of the boxes in the back.

  • What I found most beneficial in today’s service was ____________________________.
  • If I brought a visitor, I would have been most pleased about ____________________________.
  • On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best), I would rate today’s sermon a _______.

When reading people’s comments, don’t get hung up on any one given response. For example, a single “1” rating for the sermon shouldn’t be a problem if the average is around “7” or “8.”

Then again, maybe you would rather not know.

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.

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