911 and two questions for the church!

Last week, when I was preaching, I mentioned that it is human nature for us to ask why God allowed 911 to happen? While reading today I came across this paragraph, that made me think more on this. At the end of my reading, my question was not "Why did God allow this to happen?" but "As God's people, did we do what we should of and pointed people to Jesus?" 

A case in point is the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. This tragic event that has changed AMerica in so many ways raises two strategic questions that the church must consider. First, how did the people that the churches are trying to reach (the target) respond to this event? And second, how did the church respond to the people? The answer to the first question is that a number of people who had never attended or had stopped attending church were in church the following Sunday morning. A Gallup poll reported that 47 percent of adults surveyed September 21-22, 2001, said that they had attended church or synagogue the previous week. This number was the highest since the 1950’s. The Barna Research Group reported that 48 percent of adults surveyed in ate October and early November of 2001 said they had attended  church service in the last week compared with 42 percent polled earlier between late July and early August. Barna also noted an increase in concern about the future. In November, 82 percent of the adults Barna surveyed said they were concerned about the future compared to 73 percent in August. Barna added that the population segment that expressed the most concern was adults thirty-five and younger, among whom nearly nine out of ten expressed their concern. Again, the latter represent not only the future of our nation but the future of our churches. Social scientists and analysts have discovered that most people turn to religion in times of national crisis and instability. Few evangelical Christians doubt that God used the attacks on September, 11 to wake up Americans in general and the churches in particular to people’s need for God and the church’s role in helping them connect with him. People responded to the crisis as we might expect. Did the church use the opportunity to connect with them for the Savior? 

What we discover is that the church wasn't ready for this tragic event. Like so many others, it was caught by surprise. Unlike so many others, such as fireman, policemen, and the Red Cross, as well as many average citizens, it failed to react it failed to react well. It didn't use the tragedy stratigically for spiritual advantage. The church must learn to respond quickly to traumatic experiences and make a difference. We might argue that emergency-oriented organizations like the New York Fire and Police Departments as well as the Red Cross are prepared for such disasters. Whether or not the church is in decline, it is vital that it becomes an emergency-oriented organization as well. (Aubrey Malphurs)