Are our Churches Becoming like the New Boxes of Cereal?

I was eating my Trix cereal the other day and I noticed something. Though the front face of the cereal box was the same size, the box has been getting thinner and thinner over the years. I learned in Business School that Cereal Producers die for space on the grocery store shelves. So in an effort to maintain shelf presence they needed to do something to balance cost and price. Their solution: reduce the amount of cereal without "appearing" as if anything has changed. So now, a box of Trix is and 1-1/4 inches and offering less cereal for the same price.

I started to think about our churches. On the front face, our churches look the same as they have in the passed. Though attendance is down, we still maintain a facade of health. We have glitz and programs, but I would suggest that something is wrong. We are becoming thinner and thinner every year. The cost of discipleship is becoming less and less each year. It is is harder to get people to attend Sunday morning. And the church at large is missing the depth of faith that was present in the early church or at the beginning of the Reformation.As a pastor this is a warning and a judgment. I need to continue to hold out the Cross of Jesus Christ and the life that He would have us live. Luke 9:23 is still in the Bible: "If anyone wishes to come after Me (Jesus), let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. I cannot soft peddle the gospel for it is the power of God. so I need to be on my knees more for the local church that God has called me to. With tears and pleading I must encourage them to pursue Christ.