When I was a child, there was a church less than a block from my house. Every Sunday, an hour before the service started, the church played chimes through the loud speakers. I always felt it drawing me in.
That church was always packed on Sunday morning. Time passed; things changed; they stopped playing the music. Today only a few cars are in their parking lot on Sunday morning.
Why don’t the church bells ring anymore?
Sunday after Sunday, I hear sermons on reaching the lost. “Invite them to church,” we’re told. We adopt program after program to “equip the saints” to win souls to Christ. But the church is in decline.
Why don’t the church bells ring anymore?
I know my church is open on Sunday. There are cars in the parking lot, and I can hear the compressor on the air conditioning running when I get out of my car. On the inside, I know there are warm and friendly people waiting to greet me. But on the outside, all is quiet.
Why don’t the church bells ring anymore?
As I walk to the church door, I hear a car pass by. Well it isn’t the car I hear; it’s the loud thumping radio — loud music full of violence, hate, immorality, drugs and an overall disrespect for God and self. As I open the door, I can’t help thinking how Satan is luring people away from the church and I wonder …
Why don’t the church bells ring anymore?
I find my spot on my pew, and I listen to an inspiring sermon about the demise of the family and the loss of our youth. I hear how we should make more of an effort to reach a lost and hurting world. If we could only bring them in, God would do the rest. I sat there listening and a thought like a quiet, still voice said, “Hey, why don’t you ring the church bells?”
Pam Brasher
Bessemer, Ala.
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