Id love you to come up to New Jersey and try to work your magic Church here....there is a whole other dynamic & within 6 months you will be running for the hills. LOL!
It is not magical, just hard work. I call it "get busy." When laziness abounds death is prevalent.
It never ceases to amaze me how many "leaders" come out of the woodwork with their ideas and who the problem is in the church. Yet they have failed to reach anyone.
The main problem is that they are Gathering Centers (clubs) & not Spiritual Centers or they are Mom & Pop & Extended Family groups and they dont know what they are doing. Mixed into that are the apostate Methodist, General Baptist & Presbyterian churches that have no spiritual legs. I really wonder if there is any Strong & Productive churches in the whole of North Jersey.
I would think that it could not be much more difficult than what Jesus was faced with in the face of the Jewish religious leaders and in that culture. He commanded in Mt. 28:19, 20 to make disciples. As far as I can tell he never set any conditions. We can look at those who are not or we can look at those who are. The harvest is plentiful . . . .
EW&F, why would one expect "dead people" to respond unless God animate them?
Dead is dead, they all respond the same.
There is no more difficult mission field in one place than another.
I suggest a serious effort in prayer with an understanding that God may ask you to be a part of the solution.
One cannot pray and ask someone else to do the work...
Doesn't work that way.
Jesus told us that the fields are white unto harvest.
He knows what He is talking about.
He told us to pray for workers for that harvest.
The harvest is there, but there is no one out harvesting!
Instead, we are targeting "geographical areas" as if cities, states, and counties get saved.
In fact, our target ought to be people -- especially people who are God's elect, prepared ahead of time and awaiting someone to share the gospel to begin the process.
That happens when someone DOES what God ordained in the Scriptures, i.e., preach the gospel, baptize, make disciples, teach, then continue.
That is what the people of the Jersey area should know from the history of great revivals in THAT land, but what they have forgotten in their quest to be a secular people.
Brother, not to pick on you, but YOU need to be the one to start the new movement.
No one else will.
But you are not even currently involved with a congregation because you cannot find one suitable "enough" to meet YOUR standards.
I'd suggest getting involved, then start to preach the gospel.
You know it, believe it, and have the power and authority of God behind it.
Reminds me of the time I complained to the leader of a group I was in. He told me that he wanted me to lead in ministry in a particular dorm. I complained to him and said that nobody came to Christ in that dorm and that nothing ever happened. After I walked away and thought about what I said I felt embarrassed. I prayed and asked God for men I would reach. After two years that same dorm became the dorm with the greatest number of Christians in it. one out of 4 became Christians during that time.
A friend of mine told the story of a time when he worked on an oil rig in the ocean and he complained to God about the lack of fellowship. He started praying and God prompted him to start a Bible study. He was on the rig for two weeks at a time. God gave him fellowship all around him.
We need to be talking to God about men before we talk to men about God.
The question I need to ask myself when I complain is "How big is my God?" When my God is big the world is small. When my God is small the world is big.