Who is our competition?

One of the greatest dangers of any church trying to reach people far from God is believing that our competition is other churches.

We compare Pastors and Preaching
We compare music ministries
We compare Activities
and we compare numbers.

While there are dangers here of Jealousy, this is not the real danger.
The real danger is not realizing that people who do not know Christ do not care about those things.
These are thoughts Christians have, not the lost.
They never think about these things even after attending our services.

I realize that if we are trying to reach Christians, Churches then would be competing, but that's not our goal. And since we are seeking to find lost people, we must understand what we are competing against.

So here goes my thoughts...........

We are in competition for peoples Hearts.
Those things that make people happy, safe, loved.
No one does that better than Jesus and so our focus ought to be on letting them know the love of God through Christ.

We are in competition for peoples Interests.
No one wants to be bored and sometimes churches can put on a pretty uninteresting face.
Our world is active as well as interactive.
But again, real Christianity is the same.
I can use words like Exciting, Amazing, Spectacular to describe what the Christian life is like.
Do they see that in our Daily lives? In our Worship Services? In our Preaching? In our Home Groups?

We are in competition for peoples Souls.
The soul is where the real battle is.
Daily peoples souls are stained by short term gain (Sin), hidden by alcohol or drugs, made heavy by pain and loss.
They use Money to make themselves happy, things to feel better, music to satisfy a brokenness that can only truly be fixed by God through Jesus.
To compete for someones soul is to accept them where they are. No matter what they have done or are doing.
It is to allow them to be themselves, without hiding behind a mask.

Churches are not our competition, and so how are we doing in the race for life?

Are we Loving God and others in a way that draws men and women to Him?
Is our Ministry Interesting, causing men and women to want to participate?
Do people who enter our church feel valued, special, wanted, no matter what?

That's where the real competition is. Lets get in the game.