Three good reasons....

H B London writes in his latest email newsletter:

Only about one-half of those who claim [in surveys] to attend weekly church services actually do. You know how I estimate who goes to church? I just walk out into a neighborhood and take a look at the houses on a given block. Most are not in church.

Fewer and fewer people are attending church these days. How do we stem that tide?

1) I think each local church must take responsibility for its own "turf," so to speak, and develop creative ways to stimulate its people to become genuine salt and light.

2) Next, I believe the church must be built on a foundation of biblical truth rather than spiritual entertainment.

3) And, finally, I really believe we must be working hard to close the "back door." We need to know why people do not or no longer attend just as much as we need to know why they do attend.

And the people who do attend church all said, Amen! All three of these points are vital to keep in mind when it comes to mission/outreach/evangelism/going out into the community - whatever you want to call it. Local, biblical and discipled.

A 'sticky' church

Larry Osborne talks about why his church is 'sticky' - that is, it keeps the people it gains.

We work hard to minister to the people we have. We want to serve their spiritual needs incredibly well and do it in a way that their non-Christian friends can easily understand. As a result, they tend to spontaneously invite their friends and co-workers. We've never had to ask or persuade them to do so. They just do it.

We've also learned to slam the back door shut by providing opportunities for people to develop deep and long-term spiritual relationships. Rather than trying to pretend that everyone can care for everyone, we've created lots of relational pods where people are velcroed together by the kind of authentic friendships that can only be found in smaller and more stable settings. And these kinds of relationships have proven to be incredibly sticky.

and

I’d also regularly take a gut check to make sure that I haven’t fallen into the trap of viewing the people I have as tools to reach the people I want to reach. If we aren’t caring for the ones we already have, why should God send any more our way?

Osborne has more to say about small groups in particular, and also throws in a little plug for his new book, Sticky Church.