Humanly impossible...

The canon laws of the Church of England section B.6.1 states, “The Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday, is ever to be celebrated as a weekly memorial of our Lord's Resurrection and kept according to God's holy will and pleasure, particularly by attendance at divine service, by deeds of charity, and by abstention from all unnecessary labour and business.” In other words, churches are required to hold services every Sunday. This has been true for centuries. Today, the Church of England is facing a serious problem. Church attendance has been steadily declining for the past decade and now only 2% of England’s population goes to church. There are too many churches that are not able to hold services, and consequently, are breaking the cannon law. A reporter was told by a Church of England spokesperson that, “It has been humanly impossible for the clergy to get around to all of them (churches) every Sunday.” The decline in church attendance is a fairly common phenomenon in post-Christian society. I believe that we are in the middle of a similar trend in the New York City metropolitan area. Many churches are closing its doors and many pastors are calling it quits. As the Church of England has concluded, they are seeing church growth as "humanly impossible." We have a lot to learn from the Church of England. I want all of us at The Well Church to know that church growth is "humanly impossible." It is not solely up to us, but we serve a God who makes all things possible (Mark 10:27b). Scripture is clear that even in the early church, it was God who added numbers to the local body (Acts 2:47). However, we also have responsibilities. We must do our part and trust that God would do his, and trust the results to him. So, what can we do? Acts 2:42 gives us a blueprint. We must devote ourselves to Scripture, to one another in our community through fellowship, and to prayer. Let us participate with God by following this blueprint and expand His Kingdom in the greater New York City area. Can I get an amen?