How We Help Everyone Follow Jesus

I think that around this time, there's a lot of people evaluating churches.

Freshmen come in, and I think that we often evaluate churches like our favorite restaurant.

Do we like what they're serving? Do we like the atmosphere? Do we like the vibe? Is it comfortable? Is the music too loud or can we talk in there? Is it the style of food I like? Like if I like Tex-Mex or seafood or Chinese food or Thai food, is it the style of food I like? Does it meet my preferences? And I think a lot of times in 2026, honestly, you hear that and there's probably a part of you like, well, how am I supposed to evaluate a church? Which the scripture has a lot to say, which kind of shows us how far we've come.

in this deal, that we start thinking, okay, do I like the church? Is it convenient to me? Is it fun? Do I like the preaching? Do I like the pastor? Do I like the worship? These would not have been questions thousands of years ago, okay? Like nobody's asking that question of Peter, right, or John, right? Those weren't the questions they had.

So what's happened that here we are today that we evaluate churches like a Yelp review? Is this the one that I want? And so what I wanna tell you, if you're a guest with us today, that we evaluate ourselves against our own mission statement, that we exist to help everyone follow Jesus by engaging the lost, equipping the saints, and empowering members for service.

So we're going to start this semester by talking about who we are and specifically how we help everyone follow Jesus.

Because that is our mission statement.

But would you consider with me for just a moment, a little thought exercise for you.

What if Satan wrote our mission statement? What if there was a meeting in the demonic realm and he circled up all the demons? They saw our mission statement.

They said, hey, let's rewrite that to what it should be.

And they came up with something like, we help Satan.

Everyone forget Jesus by evading the lost, entertaining the saints, and ensuring that members are served.

And there's probably some of you that are like, yeah, sign me up for that.

Not the forget Jesus part.

But I'm so tired of you asking me to share the gospel with my coworkers or my neighbors.

And if somebody walks up to me wanting to borrow or wanting to have a dollar or two dollars, like don't make me engage them with Jesus because I'm uncomfortable with that and I'm trying to break eye contact and go to the other side of the road to evade them.

And yeah, I want to be entertained.

I want to go to eat a meal after church and talk about how funny it was.

how good it was.

Wasn't that so great, the story, and the word, that song, you know, and it was just like, yeah, entertain me.

And then you think, what's in it for me? Because, you know, I'm a single mom, divorced twice with one kid, and so when are you guys gonna start the single mom, twice divorced with one kid ministry? You need to meet me exactly where I want a ministry made perfectly just for me.

And this is how a lot of people think about church today.

No wonder the enemy's winning in areas and territories.

That he is being victorious and that one of the greatest evils today is consumeristic Christianity.

This idea of what's in it for me what about me? What are you going to do for me? And I've said it many times and I'll never stop saying it, that church is not something we go to.