What Makes An Effective Church?
II Thessalonians 3:4
By Harold D. Dinsmore, M.Div.
Ó2008 Harold D. Dinsmore 

Let’s read our passage of scripture together.  “We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.”  Our church has been a church on its own now for well over 130 years.  We have had periods of growth and decline.  Troubles and victories!  But have we really been effective as a group of individual believers?  How do we know we have or have not been effective?  Have we really been continuing to do the things we have been commanded in the Bible?  We must have a target to aim for in ministry or else we will never know if we hit the target or not.

               A Peanuts cartoon that described the evangelistic strategy of many churches today was published sometime ago.  In it Charlie Brown was practicing archery in his backyard.  Instead of aiming at a target, he would shoot an arrow at his fence and then walk over and draw a target around wherever the arrow stuck.  Lucy walked up and said, “Why are you doing this, Charlie Brown?”  He replied, without embarrassment, “This way I never miss.”

               Unfortunately, the same logic exists in many churches today and I believe we have been guilty of being one of them.  We have been naïve in our thinking when it concerns reaching the lost people in our community.  If we would ask the church who it is we are trying to reach for Christ the response would probably be, “Everybody!”  We’re trying to reach the entire world for Jesus Christ, right?  This is part of the Great Commission, but no church can reach the entire world for Christ.  We need to narrow our focus.  Our church must specialize in a few areas of ministry.  Because the job of reaching the world is so immense, god has chosen all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.  Just go down to the Plaza or your local shopping mall and sit and watch people coming and going for a while.  It will be very evident that God loves a variety of people.