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Invitation
In your lifetime, have you actually heard a church bell ring? There are many who can recall a time when the bells of churches actually rang. It was a common occurrence. Bells of churches rang to give warnings, calls to worship, and to celebrate. Nearly every church had a bell. In fact, the architecture of churches of the past required that a tower be erected to house a bell. Churches raised thousands of dollars to buy expensive bells that sometimes weighed as much as 1,000 pounds.
In the past, nearly every church had a bell ringer. The bell ringer was important because he was the man who lived close by who always rang the bell to alert others of an important matter, to invite them to worship or announce a celebration. These bell ringers were church members who took upon themselves the responsibility to communicate with others messages of importance to the local community.
For most of the 20th century those few churches that still rang bells used them to announce a death in the community. The ringing of the church bell became synonymous to a death notice.
Despite their popularity for centuries however, there is a generation among us that has never heard a church bell ring? New churches that are constructed do not have bell towers. The cost of installing bells is staggering. Those that do have bells seldom ring them as lawsuit weary trustees worry that the vibrations from the huge iron and bronze bells could shake the buildings, fall and injure someone resulting in lawsuits.
The fact that few in this generation have heard a church bell ring, might reflect a growing trend in America, that is moving away from serving God to be served by God. If God cannot be of service, the many are choosing not to worship at all.
Today's youth are living in a generation that knows very little about God and less about being a Christian. A recent report by the Consultants for Religious Tolerance, an international religious study group, showed that the number of Americans claiming to be Christian was 86 in 1990 and has been declining by 1 percent a year ever since, even though the population has been growing at nine percent per year. Americans are shifting. They are studying less about religion and have gradually shifted from denominations such as Baptist or Methodist to non-denominations which are less demanding, then to just believing in God and finally to not having any real religious life at all. Today, resolve to give an encouraging word to a youth. Encourage them to get close to God and trust him to guide them. Your words may be the driving force to change that life.