If you were to take the "attitudinal" temperature of your Sunday school class this week, how would it run - positive, negative, apathetic? As a society, we have experienced many changes in the past few years. The response by many Christians has been a persistent, even pervasive, negativity.
Quite frankly, some Christians and their churches exhibit very little of the "joy of the Lord." When challenged, they find multiple excuses to feed their faith-destroying attitudes instead of striving to change, based on God's promises.
Such negativity is destructive personally and corporately, creating a huge, unnecessary barrier in front of the unchurched guest. Seriously, if you were invited to your local school's basketball game only to find the stands filled with spectators trashing the local team, and the players slouching up and down the court, uninterested in competing, would you ever go back?
Are our attitudes toward life creating unnecessary barriers for those checking out Jesus?