On January 20 1961 the newly elected President of the United States John F. Kennedy verbalizes and immortalized the words “Ask not what your country can do for you, Ask what you can do for your country.” That is a slogan that is still resounding fifty years later. It is easy to understand that statement because it relates to the life we live in our country. But when it comes to the spiritual world we find a very different slogan.
Most people do not come into a church, ministry or spiritual institution because they have a burning desire to work for God or do the Lord’s work. On the contrary the average person seeks out God because they have a need in their life and want to know “What can God do for me?” It is not “What can I do for God”? It is my opinion this is one of the major errors the church makes. Could it be that because we do not address individual needs that there could be a lack of growth within our ministries? So many times we want people to come into the church as fired up about serving God as we are, we instantly begin to “churchalize” them and try to mold them into the perfect church attendee. A role, may I add that many times the person themselves will try to assume only to find after a while they are still trapped in their situations and circumstances. They come to the opinion that going to church is not working and eventually stop going altogether. A term we in ministry like to use in these situations is “Church hurt” or being hurt by the church.
With the hardships facing today’s world hundreds of thousands if not millions of people are searching for answers to their questions they are seeking for something tangible to hold on to they do not need the church telling them to “pray” about the situation, they need to be taught how to pray. They do not need to hear “Just have faith” they need to know what faith is.
It is easy to tell someone they need to renew their minds but it is not so easy to tell the person how to renew their mind or even why it is important to renew their mind. We have hundreds upon hundreds of religious websites and social networks out there but if you notice most of those are geared to those who are already (or professing to be) mature in the word of God. We have so many different forms of technology at our disposal today; free conference calls, free blog spaces, free radio shows etc. but the majority of those who participate in these services are those who are either already walking in a ministry calling or believe that they have a ministry calling on their life. As the old saying goes we are preaching to the choir. We are swapping ideas, messages and theology among ourselves we have created a sort of ministry click but the people who really need something from the Lord are not being reached. This is the niche that all churches, ministers, pastors etc. should be aspiring to reach. We should be targeting those who really want to change their circumstances and situations. Rather than those who have already attained their spiritual goals. We need to begin to reach out with our technolgy tools to those who need something from God.
The ones who coming Asking “What can God do for me”, need to be taught in the Word of God. They need to gain an understanding to the promises of God revealed in His word. They need to get a firm foundation on Biblical principles and then taught how to apply those principals to their lives. Once they come to understand these things, then the faith they have will begin to grow, only when these things have been accomplished will they “Ask what they can do for God?”
