How is the Church affected by the Economy

I've heard a lot lately about how the economy is affecting the church. Some say that the dark day of the economy will inevitably lead to dark financial days for the church. Others say that otherwise. I had the privilege of hearing Ed Stetzer speak at a conference last week. He noted research done by Texas Tech university which state that the economy and church growth are counter-cyclical. What that means is that when the economy is strong, church attendance/growth is down, and when the economy is weak (like now) that church attendance/growth increases. If found this to be fascinating information. When I had some time to think about this, what Stetzer said fell right in line with what I heard Jon Randles say a couple of weeks ago, when people are in crisis, they are looking for something to hold on to. People are looking for hope. Hope was a key word in this last election. The reason that churches grow, or swell (whichever the case may be), is because, by and large, people see the church as an institution that offers hope. This, for the most part, is true. What we as the church must understand is that we must not only represent hope, but we must share the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. I saw a bumper sticker that was left over from the last election. It said: go Hope? Right below it was an Obama/Biden sticker. As I thought about that question, got hope, I answered, unequivocally, YES!! What we as the church and our nation must understand is the hope does not come in the form of an elected official. Hope come is Jesus Christ alone (Colossians 1:27)! People are looking for a safe harbor to anchor their lives in these times of turmoil and crisis. The question is: Is the church ready to be the safe harbor? As the church, we must be ready, willing and able to welcome in hurting people. For too long we have cloistered ourselves in the holy huddle that has become the church. When Jesus established the church, He did it upon the truth of His identity, not the identity that we try to create for ourselves. The church must get back to lifting high the name of Jesus. Jesus said that He will draw all men unto himself when He is lifted up (John 12:32). We must get back to lifting the name of Jesus to this world. That is what they really need. Are we in need of stimulus? Yes, but not a financial one. We are in need of a spiritual stimulus. The church needs to be stimulated to return to it's roots, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. Our nation needs a stimulus in that they are in desperate need of Jesus. When these two stimuli come together, we could possibly see the next Great Awakening. God is ready for His church to be His church. He is calling His church to get out from behind our desks, from behind the doors of our house and into the world to meet people and introduce them to Christ. Who do you need to introduce to Christ today?