The results of the research released to the Heads of Churches and Colleges last week are a wake-up for anyone who thinks the Church is reaching our city. They are a call for us to rise up together and claim the future:
3,600,000 people live in Melbourne (and growing about 80,000 a year).
300,000 at church weekly - 150,000 of these attend Catholic Churches·
65,000 of all attenders are aged over 75 (163,000 are over 55).
68,000 church attenders are under 34 years!!
Churches report about 5,000 come to faith each year.
There is a net loss of 4,800 from the church each year.
The Church, through local churches, and Christian welfare agencies, schools, aged care facilities and many other activities, provides enormous and irreplaceable support for our city which depends on these services. Few in our city are aware of how vital Church support is (even Christians) nor how much our society depends on our Christian heritage and values for its social stability and well-being. BUT without spiritual regeneration the Church will not be able to sustain this vital support. Likewise the current serious increases of crime, relationship failure, domestic abuse, self-harm and addictions will continue unabated.
AND – caring for people, having great meetings and even leading people to faith is not enough:
We are called to EXPECTANT PRAYER, believing the Lord will lead us far beyond what we can do.
We are called to MAKE DISCIPLES who will share their faith and lead others to be disciples (without this the Church will continue to decline. Making disciples who make disciples will reach the whole city).
We are called to LOVE ONE ANOTHER to reveal Jesus is in our midst, and to show the power of the Cross to reconcile.
If we don't respond now in intentional mission to reverse these trends can we expect anything different for future generations? Now is the time for church leaders to come together to seek God to lead us to fulfill His call on the church in Melbourne for the future.
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