I remember the day well. I was nine years old. We were being assigned to our new Sunday school classes. Lo and behold! there weren’t enough chairs. They had to drag a nail keg out of the furnace room for one boy to sit on.

The statistics for that church showed that there were over 500 members, 200 of them children. What an accomplishment for a little church that had struggled for years. No one could have foreseen what was coming. Forty-five years later the church closed its doors. What happened?

Internal friction, never a good thing, accounted for some of the loss. Sociology played a part. Many of the World War II generation simply disappeared from church once their children left home. The baby boomers moved out of the neighborhood or never became active as adult members. The next generation was almost completely missing. Like many congregations, the church of my youth couldn’t survive.

The real problem wasn’t demographics. It was a failure of mission. Almost no one made talking about the Lord a priority. The only person I remember telling us to share the story of Jesus was my Aunt Martha, a Sunday school superintendent. She had it right.

Paul asks the Romans, “How can they hear, unless someone tells them?” If we don’t tell people, they won’t know about Jesus. I know I harp on this theme, but it’s essential for the church.

Jesus didn’t tell us to invite people to church. He commanded us to make disciples. That’s our mission.

Go, tell people the Good News.

Read Romans 10:14-17 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne