From what the Boomers and Builders say, it seemed that “Church” was easier in years past. Among the sentiments I hear are “People used to want to come to church”, “Church-planting was cheaper, land was everywhere and we could meet in garages if we wanted …” and “We had great strategies and programs that made churches grow”. As an X’er hearing this, I have to do my best to smile and nod. I’m sure there is a lot of truth behind these words but it probably these ideas describe something I find a bit hard to believe on face-value. But we don’t have to talk about that then – let’s talk about now (for now ;-)
As I mentioned in the last post, there are so many angles one could look at the current evangelical landscape from. Things are not all bad, nor are they really good – and many things are somewhat complicated and so I thought I would reflect on some of these common statements.
“People used to want to come to church”
It depends on what you mean by this. No doubt that someone could easily produce a statistic demonstrating that a higher percentage of the American population attended church on Sunday morning. They won’t be able to produce a statistic that suggests that they wanted to of course. Perhaps in generations past, people used to come to church in higher numbers. That’s generally a good thing but does a bigger church translate to a more worshipful, God-honoring, Jesus-following, Spirit-led Church? I submit that it does not necessarily.
Please do not interpret that paragraph as a judgment against highly-attended churches in the 50’s and 60’s. God bless them and a lot of good things resulted (lives changed, churches built, etc.). But let us not simply assume that churches are weaker today because a lower percentage of the community are attending them.
One again, there are multiple angles we can examine. I am personally blessed by the many believers who worship faithfully, who are growing in their spiritual disciplines and intentionally seeking to be a part of a Christ-following community. Many of today’s believers really own their faith. If it is true that it is more challenging to be a believer today, than how beautiful is it to find one (and be one!). Let’s not take that for granted.
Note that I didn’t say “all of today’s believers …”. Because many today who profess to be Christians are nominal. Many still attend Sunday morning for tradition than to worship. Many still leave frustrated if if the sermon or music was not to their liking, (as if the worship of God in community was not enough that morning). Today’s healthy evangelical churches need to be intentional about confronting the spiritual consumerism that plagues so many. We pastors need to be less concerned with “pleasing” the people and more concerned with ministering. In the short-run, many churches will shrink and shed the weight of those only looking for a good show on Sunday morning. May the be left with believers who want to build the Kingdom, seekers who want to discover it and people who really do want to come to church.
Blessed are the churches who are growing because people are finding their identity in Jesus and blessed are the churches who are shrinking when they are faithfully practicing His Gospel.
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