Somewheresville, MA: A new study by the Love-it-or-leav-it Charitable Trust has uncovered a shocking reality in the modern church: Following Jesus' exact instructions in the gospel may not the best strategy for church growth.
"I'm just so shocked," says The Reverend LIOLI, director of the study entitled, The Church I Serve. "But what we're finding is that doing the things Jesus said to do--feeding the poor, housing the homeless, visiting the sick and imprisoned, clothing the naked--aren't necessarily directly related to the success of the church."
Though these findings are only preliminary, the strong correlation between sick, imprisoned, homeless and naked individuals and having low to no income was found to be one source of the problem. "It seems that people without homes or food or clothing can't give much money to the church for staffing and building costs," says the Rev. L.
The study has yet to offer suggestions for how these particular challenges might be overcome.
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