Voices: What does the local church have to offer?

I still remember going to video rental stores as a kid, excited to get a movie, TV show or video game to enjoy. Of course, those days are over. The video rental store industry is essentially dead.

In an age of online streaming, most consumers simply do not want or think they need to rent physical media anymore. This illustrates a simple but vital principle of business: If you only push a product people do not want and/or do not think they need, your business will fail.

The local church is not a business, and we are not “pushing a product.” Nevertheless, the principle still applies. If your community does not want or think they need what your church has to offer, your church eventually will close.

The end of an era

There was a time in many regions of the United States when there was a widespread cultural custom that people should go to church. How personally devout you were, the details of your theology and your chosen denomination weren’t super important. You just needed to be a member and (somewhat regular) attender at a relatively mainstream church.

Why? Because widespread cultural Christianity in the United States resulted in strong social pressure to participate in local churches. If you wanted to be seen as a decent, respectable member of society, you went to church.

This norm affected the way churches did outreach and evangelism. Your church didn’t have to work too hard to convince people to come to church. You just had to convince them to come to your church.

But American culture has shifted dramatically in the past few decades. There no longer is this widespread cultural pressure to be part of a church. For many people now, going to church will actually cost you social status and respectability.

Coddling consumers

Most churches in the United States, even within the Bible Belt, are feeling the effects of this cultural shift. Churches are losing members and closing their doors. Many churches realize if they want to survive, they need to reach more people. But how? What does the local church have to offer that will make people want to come?

There are a number of “real-world” benefits to church attendance even some secular people have recognized: community, a support network, encouraging sermons, uplifting live music, various fun activities for people of all ages, community service opportunities and more.

Numerous churches around the country are growing precisely because they do a great job providing the benefits listed above. But there’s a problem: Churches aren’t the only organizations that can provide those benefits. You can find community, fun activities, service opportunities and so on in all sorts of places.

And being a faithful, committed member of a biblical church requires sacrificing time, energy, money and often social status.

If I can have fun with my friends just by staying out late at a bar with live music on a Friday or Saturday night, why get up early on Sunday morning to attend a comparatively boring church service, especially when many of my friends consider what my church teaches to be stupid, offensive and bigoted?

Naturally, as the Apostle Paul predicted, many churches therefore decide to water down the more difficult and offensive parts of the Bible and church life to keep people from leaving (2 Timothy 4:3).

The words of eternal life

Hopefully, readers will recognize watering down biblical truth is not a faithful option. But what should churches do then?

One solution is to try and draw people in with the real-world benefits described above, but then take the opportunity to evangelize them and teach them the truths of God’s word.

At first, that seems like a great idea. But it didn’t quite work out that way for Jesus. In John 6, Jesus is being followed by a massive crowd—literally thousands of people—after the feeding of the 5,000.

But then Jesus says this to the crowd: “You are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life” (John 6:26-27 CSB).

In other words, Jesus tells the crowd they are seeking him for the wrong reason: earthly, this-worldly benefits. Free food. Jesus says the real reason they should follow him is because he offers eternal life.

Jesus then starts teaching the crowd (6:28-59). But they get confused and angry over his teachings (6:41-42, 52, 60). However, Jesus just doubles down. By the time he’s done, the crowd and even a number of his closer followers have walked away, leaving only the Twelve (6:61-67).

When Jesus asks the Twelve if they plan to abandon him as well, Peter responds: “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (6:68-69).

Why does this small, ragtag group of followers stick with Jesus after everyone else has left? Just one reason: Jesus has the words of eternal life.

What the local church has to offer

Our churches might draw in a lot of people with fun activities, good music, community service and such. But if we stand firm on the hard parts of what Jesus and the Bible teach, we can expect to lose many—probably most—of those same people pretty quickly (Mark 4:13-20).

But here’s the good news: We have the words of eternal life. They have been entrusted to us by Jesus himself—the gospel message and the Scriptures. On top of that, Christ has given us the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). And these are more than sufficient.

There is one thing—and only one thing—the local church has to offer the world it can’t get somewhere else—the love of Jesus Christ (John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:7-21). By faithfully embracing, teaching and living out the words of eternal life given to us by Jesus, local churches can provide their communities with a “product” infinitely greater than any earthly good.

The people all around us need Jesus. They need his atoning death on the cross. They need his resurrection from the dead. They need his words—the Bible. They need the love of Jesus.

When we point people to Christ and demonstrate his love, we may not save every church from closing. We may not draw large crowds. But we will give people something they absolutely need, something no one else can give them.

Joshua Sharp is the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Orange, and a graduate of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., and Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary in Waco. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.