Saturday, December 28, 2019

Why Some Churches Make It and Others Don't: Observations from a Church Consultant


“And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles… . Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8.1, 4) A small church in our town, decreasing in numbers, was assigned to a larger church in the same denomination as a “satellite” of that larger church. Another small church in a nearby town fights for survival. A starter church in upstate New York wonders if it will make it. And a church in a nearby city is on the verge of closing its doors. These are usually the types of churches and ministries that I as a church consultant get called in to analyze, help and offer coaching advice. And there are thousands of them across the country. Instead of asking the question of what went wrong with these ministries, the better question is how does the Word of God and the gospel of God spread successfully and fruitfully? I find some principles here in Acts.

Churches and ministries get too content where they are doing what they do. It is not that the church in Jerusalem was sinning against God, or not witnessing for God, or going the wrong way with God. They had become “cocooned” in the city, growing and even prospering in their cloistered environment. The gospel of Christ was shut up to that place and was not being spread about, as the resurrected Jesus had told the early apostles — “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.“ (Acts1.8) Acts 8:1 became the fulfillment of Acts 1:8. In general, God many times has to “force” churches or ministries to break out of their comfort zones for the spread of his Word.

Persecution grows the Church of God. There are a number of downsides to persecution, no doubt, but the great upside is that God often uses persecution, even violent persecution, to spread and grow his church. Spurgeon once said that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” What persecuted ministries and churches need to see is the future for what they are suffering. God’s cause is often advanced through tragedy and trouble in one place so that his Word and gospel can thrive in another place. While many churches and ministries in trouble want to shore up the walls and try to survive, they rather need to look beyond themselves to what God really wants for a region, a city, a nation or the world. What is God really saying? That Is the question that they must really answer and honestly answer. This is hard but necessary.

Taking risks for God always costs. But they are necessary risks for the spread of the gospel. The leader Stephen was stoned to death because he took a risk in preaching the truth to jealous Jews wanting to destroy followers of the Way. Philip and others took a risk by spreading the gospel message to places that the Jews had regarded as “forbidden” territories, as “unclean” places filled with “sinners.” The message of the Cross is for ALL people everywhere, not just the receptive, the trained, the “clean” and the “deserving.” This is why God’s Word must go to prisons and prisoners, not merely those locked up, but those caught up in the prison houses of their addictions and fears and deviant lifestyles. Not everyone of these will be saved, no doubt, but God’s destiny and plan for the gospel will be secured. The hard question for the churches and ministries cited in the opening paragraph is, Are you willing to die so that others may succeed with the Word of God and the gospel of his grace?

There is no magic church growth pill. In working with over 130 churches of various sizes and denominational backgrounds and in different places, the conclusion I have reached is that there is no one "formula" for growth and church health. Some churches simply seem to have the right "mix" of people, place, vision and calling from God to succeed. Others do not. It is not that the others are sinning against God or making grievous errors in judgment or goal setting or vision casting. The right "mix" simply is not there. And, that does not necessarily mean they have failed or come short of what God wants for them. Most of the time the sense and definition of "church" forbids real growth and healthy change. Sometimes the way the church started and gathered people forbids their continual growth. Every church has its imperfections and needs, no doubt, but there are a lot of congregations where the "mix" of people and agendas and hopes and dreams simply do not favor healthy church growth. And I believe sometimes God has a certain calling and place and ministry for a church that prohibits what we would cite as "normal" growth and development patterns. There is no magic pill for church growth and development.

The Church in Acts grew and prospered, but not every local congregation had the same story of growth and health. Take a hard look at the churches cited in the opening chapters of Revelation. Most of these congregations did in fact disappear from the church scene. Indeed, they had different needs and problems and challenges to overcome. Many did not make it. That never means the Church (capital "C") has failed in its mission from God. The main or central question for your church or ministry is, What does God want from us? Taking a hard and close and biblically satisfying look at that question will tell you how to proceed from where you are now.

Monday, September 30, 2019

Three Decades Ago, America Lost Its Religion. Why? — A RESPONSE

"Three Decades Ago, America Lost Its Religion. Why?" is a recent (Sep 26, 2019) Atlantic article written by staff writer Derek Thompson on the rise of the "nones" (non-affiliated religious people) since the 1990s. He cites a sociology and religion professor, Christian Smith, from the University of Notre Dame for the reasons for this upward tick in this sector of society and religion. Professor Smith has come up with several reasons for the rise, with the three main ones being three historical events: the association of the Republican Party with the Christian right, the end of the Cold War, and 9/11.

Many "nones" are young adults disenchanted with the identification of organized, evangelical religion with the Republican Party. "Smith said it’s possible that young liberals and loosely affiliated Christians first registered their aversion to the Christian right in the early 1990s, after a decade of observing its powerful role in conservative politics." Additionally, the ending of the Cold War with atheistic Communism, adding fuel to the "nones" declaration of being unaffiliated with organized, evangelical Christianity and the Church. Finally, the attacks of 9/11 by radicalized Islamic terrorists made all fundamentalist religion suspect to the "nones." These and a few other incentives gave spectacular rise to the "nones" since the 1990s.

I find, however, this analysis wanting and shallow. It fails to recognize the inherently destructive tendencies of secular humanism in our American and Western European societies, societies that have discarded biblical religion and its standards for no religion and the moral decay of ethical standards. Abortion, same-sex marriage, the rise of the LGBTQ community, the rejection of ordained authority and the skepticism of the institutional Church have added fuel to the "nones" insistence of being "spiritual" but not institutionally religious. They have thrown out "the baby with the bathwater," so to speak. 

To the post-modern, post-truth age, there is no absolute truth, no binding ethics, no unwavering morality that cannot be challenged and then discarded. This has been well documented by Christian theologians and philosophers for decades now. We live, as Leonard Sweet would say, in a "cut-flower society," with no rooting and only a dim residue of Christian values and morĂ©s. This drives the heart throb of many "nones." They can therefore be "spiritual" without being biblical. They can own God without knowing the biblical God. They can practice in-house religion without attending the community of religion. 

The deeper problem has always been a failure of the conservative, evangelical Christian Church to offer a thoroughly thought out and biblically supported Christ centered world and life view on everything--from work to politics, from school to play. We have lost the truth that all vocations are God-callings to be served for God and under God's Word. Work has lost its foundational Christian ethos. Colleges have lost their Christian roots, opting for the secularism of an anti-God academic snobbery. Consequently, the "nones" have seen the Church fail them at defining and describing what real biblical Christianity is all about.

"Nones" cannot be reached by contemporary, hiphop music and Christian-light messages aimed to secure their interest in the Church once again. Many are finding their way back to solid, orthodox liturgy and biblical exposition where the Bible is studied, analyzed, explained and applied to their lives. The "old ways" are proving to be the "good ways" back to God and the Bible. 

I know these factors to be true from having a forty plus year experience as a pastor and a church health consultant for the latter twenty of those years. Working with many churches, large and small, and many different kinds of people professing faith in Christ, including young adults, I have found the above factors to be more of an explanation than Smith has given in his analysis of the "nones."

However, there is always hope to recover the "nones." Real authentic Christianity preached and practiced in our churches will help. Ridding ourselves of cultural Christianity and the hypocrisy that it spawns will also help. This is more than staffing food kitchens or providing homeless shelters where they are needed. This is good, but not enough to capture the "nones." We must once again offer captivating, encompassing Christ centered Christianity for them, wherever they call "church." The way ahead is hard, but truly worthwhile, especially for a generation that want to know God, the real, authentic God of the Bible.