Would you wear a T-shirt or put a bumper sticker on your car that said "I love my church?" My guess is that if you are a typical Sydney Anglican then even if you had the courage to wear this slogan, you still may not believe it.

Why? Because it seems that most of us think that our Sunday gatherings are not the kind of place we should advertise in our community. We seem to have given up on church as a place to invite our friends and family.

This is demonstrated in our widespread practice of running church events aimed at outsiders, instead of promoting church as the front door to newcomers. When we try and work out how to get people to hear the gospel, we seem to automatically think that we have to run something outside the church service, rather than shape and promote the regular gathering as the standard place to bring a non-Christian.

So, children's groups run games events, youth groups run band nights, women's ministries hold craft nights, men's ministries run sporting nights, and so the list continues. We spend countless hours and dollars making these events because we don't think that the outsiders will like our church.

Why have we become this way? One possible reason is that we think that since the heavenly church only contains true believers, then our earthly gatherings should also be restricted to (or at least focused upon) the Christians.

Yet, whilst earthly gatherings are a genuine slice of heaven (not merely a shadow of those realities,) there remains a now-but-not-yet aspect to church in these last days. Jesus continues to build his church by his word, and until the last trumpet's voice has sounded, this gathering process will continue. Our local churches will always consist of both sheep and goats.

But, perhaps a more likely reason is that we just don't love our churches. We cringe at the tardiness of the program, right through from the songs to the supper, and everything in between. We believe that there is no way that our unbelieving contacts would ever enjoy the two hours we sit through each Sunday.

So, we run events that are attractive, and then hope that when the unbeliever turns to Jesus that they will then come on Sundays and learn to put up with the mediocrity that is our weekly gathering.

I am sorry if this sounds overly bleak. I am sorry if it comes across as offensive or confronting. Yet, I am convinced that deep-down, many of the members and leaders of churches endure church, rather than enjoy it.

So, what is the solution? Let me propose a radical and controversial suggestion. Why not cancel all of your evangelistic events for 2007, and put the resources into making your Sunday services better. Here are some suggestions:

"¢ Instead of putting on an amazing array of cakes and treats at a coffee and dessert night, put that same energy into improving the morning tea or supper at church;

"¢ Instead of making a clever "skit' or DVD to promote an upcoming event, use these multimedia skills to produce a short film or drama for use within the service, to support the teaching of the sermon;

"¢ Instead of inviting a guest speaker to a special event, invite that speaker to your normal church gathering, so that people are encouraged to bring their friends to church, rather than to a special event;

"¢ Instead of putting energy into Christmas events, put your creative energy into the Christmas church services that you know will attract hoards of outsiders;

This change in focus will have a two-fold effect. Firstly, it will mean that Sunday church will be much better. But, secondly and most significantly, it will show that the congregations actually think that church is good"”for them and for outsiders.

Please understand this vital point. I am not against evangelism. I love the gospel, and I love unbelievers hearing it at any and every occasion. However, I think that church is a secret weapon in reaching our world, and that the current practice of funnelling people into church via special evangelistic events shows our lack of love for the local gathering. Furthermore, please realise that I am not against public declarations of the gospel. We need to keep evangelising in every Areopagus we can find (cf. Acts 17) so that we declare the gospel in the world as much as possible. But, we must not do so at the expense of our church gatherings.

In the youth ministry I run at my church, we have chosen not to have any evangelistic events in 2007. Yet, by eliminating these one-offs, it now means that every youth group gathering is now evangelistic. The teenagers are encouraged to bring their friends to any event on our calendar, and they can be assured that their unchurched friends will be made to feel comfortable and will also hear the saving truth of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ"”every week.

So, do you love church? Maybe not right now. But perhaps you need to work on the marriage. If you invest time and energy on making church great, rather than sowing seeds in another field, then you may soon enjoy church" or perhaps fall in love again! And maybe then you might be game to affix the "I love my church' sticker on your car's bumper bar after all!

Jodie McNeill is Year 13 Director and a Youth Ministry Lecturer at Youthworks College. Click here to read his blog.