Churches have a golden opportunity during these hard times to touch the lives of hurting people.

A December article in the New York Times reports a recent influx of attendees in churches across the nation. Who are these people and what are they looking for at church?

In a REV magazine article titled, “What Hard-Times Seekers Seek,” Tom Bandy identifies six kinds of “hard-times seekers.”

First, there are the broken. These are people with broken health, broken marriages, broken families, broken loyalties and broken spirits. These broken people are looking for healing.

Then there are the lost, people who have lost their moral compass and are uncertain about their future. They have lost their purpose for living and are looking for spiritual guidance.

Next, there are the lonely people who are grieving over the death of loved ones, or have immigrated to a strange culture, or are very shy. They search for a safe and healthy intimacy.

Victimized people are looking for a place where they can find justice, vindication and regain self-confidence. They have been physically, mentally or sexually abused and been robbed of self-esteem by the harshness of society.

Anxious people are obsessed by a gloomy economy, global warming, terrorist attacks and swine flu. They need assurance and inner peace.

Finally, there are the trapped, people searching for support and recovery from alcohol, drugs, the Internet or materialism. They yearn to experience life transformation from a higher power.

A recent church dropout who had joined a meditation group was asked on a blog site to define “church.” He stated that it was a “community in service to relieve the suffering of another.” Interestingly, he stated, “another,” instead of saying, “others,” which would have been less personal. Hard-times seekers are looking for a church that notices their individual suffering, and if they fail to find a helping touch will look elsewhere.

The challenge to churches is to offer what these seekers need — healing, guidance, intimacy, justice, assurance and life transforming power. If none of these things are vigorously addressed by the church’s programs, budget, sermons and outreach then the question must be asked, why?

Hard times demand relevance. The meaning of relevance is not in style, or personal taste, but in redeeming lives.

Del loy is pastor of Crosspoint Church in Natchez.