K-Love

I love all kinds of music. I credit my god mother. When I was a kid I would spend nights at her house. She had a phonograph and  records of all kinds of music. I would listen to all of them and grew to love them all. For me, music is powerful. I listen to it day and night. It makes my exercise tolerable. It helps put me to sleep and deals with my stress. It helps me keep focused. I still listen to all kinds but mostly “Christian” music, new and old. That keeps me focused on Jesus. I think such music and radio like K-Love is the best hope for “Christianity.” Consider this from an article I recently read:

1. Church Attendance Is Now a Fringe Activity

Except for a few U.S. communities (deep in the Bible Belt), nobody asks which church you attend anymore, because the assumption is you don’t go to church.

Increasingly, church attendance is a fringe activity.

2. “All Welcome” Means Nothing

Almost every dying church has an “All Welcome” sign nobody takes seriously. About the only way non-Christians will show up at Christian churches is via personal invitation. Regardless of what any sign might say, the real welcome comes from you.

3. Regular Church Attendance Is Irregular

Culture has changed so radically in the last decade or two that even committed Christians aren’t in church as regularly as they used to be. (Here are 10 reasons why.)

4. A Band, Lights and Haze Are Traditional

Many ‘contemporary’ churches sound like they’re programmed for 50-year-olds. (Since I’m nearly 68 that’s not bad for me :)) 

The way we do worship music in the ‘contemporary’ church is not that contemporary. In fact, the band, guitar, keyboard and lights is the new traditional ‘rock’ worship.

The culture has moved on to other music; hip hop, R&B, DJ, pop and so much more.

5. The Show No Longer Captivates

Bad preaching and bad music can kill a church, but great preaching and great music don’t automatically generate church growth.

6. Church Members Follow a Dozen Ministry Leaders

Today many Christians actively listen to, read and follow more than a few ministry leaders, other than the pastor of a church they attend, subscribing to their podcast, reading their blogs and otherwise tracking with their church.

7. God Has Become Generic

As the Barna Group’s research has shown, even though most Americans self-identify as Christian, almost 50 percent function as post-Christian in their practices and beliefs. In a post-Christian culture, God is generic. Jesus is specific, and personal.

8. People Don’t Know What They’re Converting To

Most people don’t know what it means to be a Christian?

It’s very difficult to become a Christian if you don’t even understand what that means.

9. Background Understanding Is Often Zero

Post-Christian people have very little Christian background from which to draw.
 

10. No Church Can Be Better Than Some Church

Our culture has gone through a few decades of people leaving the church. But we’re moving in away from a generation who are done with church to a generation that doesn’t know church at all. Maybe that’s a good thing. They have no bad experiences to overcome. They just have no church experience at all.

Things are changing. There are some common things which seem to be working, that seem to be drawing people to Jesus. Music is one of those and the simple message of K-Love that is to be positive and encouraging seems to work. They don’t do sermons or teachings. They do meet people where they hurt. They share short testimonies of folks whose lives were changed by meeting Jesus. The music they play seems to be non-offensive to non-believers yet draws people to Jesus.

Maybe that’s more like we should be. Meeting people where they are. They clearly aren’t interested or feel welcome in our churches. They may eventually, but first they have to be comfortable with us and curious about changed lives. Maybe we need to be more positive and encouraging and less preachy and judgmental. Maybe powerful music can be part of that. Isn’t it worth a try? Most of what we are doing now isn’t working.