I would also say that people are looking for the Church, not something that calls itself something else. I think there is a hunger for something other-worldly. I would say that people aren't looking for the Church more than they are looking for authentic people who are not afraid to live the life in their everyday lives as husbands, wives, employers and employees.
And what they've seen behind the walls of "churches" all too closely resemble what they see everyday on their jobs: politics, fighting, hypocrisy, etc. Therefore, there is no attraction for them to become involved in another venture where there are no signs of life, THE life.
What I'm saying is that when we meet people where they're at and introduce them to other believers in a real relational way, the lost will, in time and with little preaching SEE the CHURCH in action and want to join, as did thousands in Jerusalem and the surrounding regions of the Early Church.
This is not church, call it what you will, but it's not church.
What is your definition of "church?"
And what they've seen behind the walls of "churches" all too closely resemble what they see everyday on their jobs: politics, fighting, hypocrisy, etc. Therefore, there is no attraction for them to become involved in another venture where there are no signs of life, THE life.*****
Just because organized churches have had politics, fighting, hypocrisy, etc... is no reason to not call it church. Any gathering of people will produce those things - yes, amongst believers too. The Church had it problems even in its infancy with the Apostles of the first century.
What we have now is chaos and watered down theology. People don't even know what sin is nor what virtue and manners are. We've come a long way baby.
Gotterdammerung