by Peyton Jones: Know why your church sucks at reaching people?“It” was never meant to. You were.

Churches are never going to be effective at reaching people.

Churches don’t reach people.

People do.

Churches don’t make disciples.

People do.

Don’t count on your Pastor to reach people either. They strategize and roll up their sleeves with the aim of working harder to do ‘what’s not working’ better. Like athletes training in anticipation of the next weekly match, their weekly energy and activities center on Game Day. Then, when the Sunday service is all over, it’s time to do high fives backstage and gear up for the weekly practice for next week’s big game when the crowds turn up. Except their not turning up less and less. It’s no point getting better jerseys and revamping the stadium if nobody’s interested in coming out anymore.

Our current models of trying to reach people are failing us because they aren’t about people.

You might not be able to see it by looking in the mirror, but the treasure of the Holy Spirit is inside your jar of clay. And he’s busting to kick loose out of you and start doing some damage. It cost the Son of God a death on the cross to make it possible; for you to become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s whole point in writing to the Ephesian church is to tell them that they should be the 8th wonder of the world, radiating God’s glory greater than the temple of Diana, or the Jerusalem temple ever could. The day that Jesus died, the veil was torn top to bottom. The access goes both ways; not just access to God through Christ, but His access to get out.

It’s through what the Spirit on high supplies to every believer below that has consistently changed the trajectory of kingdom growth.  Look at the most rapid kingdom expansion movements being accomplished through ordinary people in South East Asia through the underground church. In church history, epochs of reformation and revival have occurred because God has energized the entire church. Whether it was releasing the scripture into the hands of the commoner during the renaissance to ordaining lay preachers and setting up home based experience meetings during the Great Awakening.  Following suit, the solution for the church’s plight will come from an activation of the pew, not a mandate from the pulpit…just as it has in every age. Whether it be the Salvation Army, or the Moravians. The groundswell of empowered believers delivers change.


Buy Peyton’s newest book “Reaching The Unreached: Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art” over on Amazon.com. You can also download a free chapter and watch a cool trailer for the book HERE or click the image below.

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