It's that time again. The NFL and college football seasons are underway and most Americans are tuning in. The 2014 Super Bowl had a record 111.5 million viewers, making it the largest audience ever for a television event. On any given Sunday, it has been estimated that as many as 64% of all Americans tune in to at least a portion of one or more NFL games. In contrast to this football frenzy, church attendance has declined. In polling data, when asked "Have you attended church in the last seven days?" about 40% of people report that they have. But, in studies that count actual attendance in real churches, the true number is about 20% attend on a weekly basis.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with watching football (I watch as often as I can), when contrasted with church attendance, it does say something about our societal values and priorities. After all, does watching football make you a better person?
More importantly, if parents are not attending church services, the kids don't either. That means that 75% to 80% of kids today are not hearing life's most important message. They are not learning about Christian values and ethics. In today's world, this is not only irresponsible but dangerous as well. For example, the internet is a wonderful reference and information resource. However, it is also a haven for child predators, pornography, and scam artists of every sort. In order to combat the temptation and evil present in our modern culture, we must ground ourselves and most importantly our children in Christ.
Perhaps the kindest and most generous act you could ever do for another person is to get them back into a church, any Christian Church.
With this in mind, I want to extend a personal invitation to anyone reading this post to join us in our Sunday morning worship services. The First Christian Church of Girard, Kansas is a small congregation of dedicated Christians who freely offer their hospitality and will welcome any and all who are searching for answers or looking for a church family.
For more information about the First Christian Church, please contact Reverend Doug Amend at (620) 238-1730 or revdbamend@yahoo.com
Godd article, Steve.
ReplyDeletePeg
Sara Amend once suggested, "If we can't get people to come to church, we need to bring the church to them." This blog is a good first step in achieving this objective.
ReplyDeleteSteve