When Will We Ever Learn

I’ve been watching it for years. The church continues to decline, and the leadership continues to fret, stew, converse, meet, have conferences and discussions, plan, strategize and program. And the church continues to decline.

All we are doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We continue business as usual: same groups and same committees doing basically the same things they have been doing for decades. Large amounts of time and energy are invested in placating special interest groups, trying to stay on the cusp of political correctness, seeking to find the solutions to the world’s problems through the support of politicians who say one thing and do another, failing consistently and not seeming to notice. Evangelism and spiritual growth are moved to the back burner, if not completely left off the stove. Concern for crumbling churches is expressed but almost no attempts at renewal or transformation happen.

Just as there is a recipe for church growth, there is a recipe for church death. Most, if not all churches in decline, are doing the following things.

Inward focused. Each week we gather into our “Holy Huddle” and love on each other. The dying world just outside our doors never crosses our minds. We worry about: who is using the kitchen; are we meeting the budget; is the pastor calling on the shut-ins and preaching comfortable, entertaining sermons; what color have the youth painted their room; what changes have been made, etc. The pastor’s major task is to look after church members. The church is described as “like a family”, possibly dysfunctional, with little room for inclusion. Many churches remind me of the old prayer, “Lord, bless me and mine, us four, no more.”

Lack of evangelism. We think we have done evangelism when we do a mailing, put an ad in the local paper, or invite someone to church. Most people in the church avoid serving on the Evangelism Committee like the plague. In fact, in many mainline denominations, the word evangelism is avoided and seen as a sign of the dreaded conservatism. We don’t want to come across as fanatical, so we say nothing.

Lack of focus on a clear mission and target audience. Most churches remind me of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. We rush from one good idea, goal, mission, or ministry to another year after year. Instead we must focus on a single goal summed up perfectly in the Great Commission – Go and make disciples. Most churches, when I consult with them, have a mission statement of several paragraphs safely filed away that, in no way, affects the ministry decisions they are making. These churches also answer the question, “Who are you trying to reach?” by saying, “Our community.” Much like the idea I shared with my doctor the other day, it is an answer that is both logical and wrong. Unless your community is very small, you have very little chance of hitting your target. Pick a clear target: families with school-aged children; senior citizens; young adults; college students. Focus your attention on reaching a particular group. It takes different ministries and approaches to reach differing groups.

Bickering and fighting over unimportant issues. Many church members expend major amounts of energy on extremely minor “problems”. Let me explain the source of the problem with a rather long quote from my book, RENEW YOUR CONGREGATION.

“This particular church board meeting was being held in the church’s fellowship hall. Most church boards seem to meet in the fellowship hall. Considering how contentious the meetings tend to be, I would call the choice of meeting places oxymoronic behavior. We were sitting around a couple of tables that had been pushed together for the meeting. The meeting had been going on for about 90 minutes when the fight broke out. I don’t know that it is a hard and fast rule, but 90 minutes is about as long as we Christians can manage to be civil to one another. After 90 minutes, run for the exits.

The discussion concerned what color the church kitchen should be painted. Almost immediately after the proposal was made, the rhetoric heated up and the fight began. It was a bloody battle. Names were called. Heritage, parentage, intelligence and matters of faith were questioned.  It was an ugly thing to watch. But watch I did.

As I was watching the battle unfold, I had several thoughts vying for my consideration bouncing around in my head. One of those thoughts was, “Why did these people care so much about what color the kitchen was painted?” Really, what difference, in the context of eternity, did the color of the kitchen make? Sure, I didn’t want it painted black or orange, but even if that had been the proposal I wouldn’t have gotten my shorts in a bunch over it.

A second question rolling around in my head was, “Why did I care so little about what color was chosen and they cared so much?” These fine folks, some of them lifelong friends, were calling each other names, shouting in each other’s faces, threatening physical encounters, and suggesting to each other that attending a different church could be a viable option. It was very important to them and I just did not care even a little bit.

As I sat watching and thinking, an odd thought came into my mind. It was less a thought and more an accusation. The thought was, “It is your fault.” My immediate response was, “No it’s not. I am not even a part of this argument.” As they say where I come from, I didn’t have a dog in this fight.  I was very pleased with myself that I had managed to stay above the fray. In the past I had been accused of enjoying a good fight.

Again, the accusing thought, “It’s your fault.”

“How,” I argued, “could this possibly be my fault?”

God asked, “What have you been doing the last couple of weeks?” I had suddenly realized it was God talking to me. Perhaps you have never experienced a conversation with God. Perhaps you do not believe such a thing could happen. No problem. Feel free to just believe I had an epiphany. What ever happened, my life and ministry were forever changed.

This was a question I was happy to answer. I proudly listed my record. “I have been to the hospital to visit with and pray with several people. I have prayed with two people who were having surgery and sat with their families during the surgery. I have had several counseling sessions with couples whose marriages were at risk. I have been to visit the church’s shut-ins. I have prepared and delivered sermons and led a weekly Bible study and led a weekly prayer group.” I had been busy and had been doing, if I must say so myself, a great job.

God responded, “Great. And what ministry have these people, the lay leaders of the church, been doing?” “None that I know of,” I said.

“That’s the answer to your questions. That is why this is your fault. You have been doing all of the ministry. Doing ministry has allowed you to put life in perspective. You realize what is important and what is not and you realize what color the kitchen is painted doesn’t amount to anything. So, you don’t care. You have been doing all of the ministry in the church and have not encouraged nor allowed them to do any of it. All you have left them with is a crummy bucket of paint. And since that is all they have, they have invested all of the passion I have given them to do ministry in the paint instead. It has become important to them. They are fighting over the color of the paint and it is all your fault.”

The sad truth is, when we don’t have something meaningful to do we tend to major on minor points and expend energy on unimportant things. All believers are called to ministry and when robbed of this elementary need, we react negatively.

Lack of pastoral leadership. Few pastors are trained or asked to lead. We are usually seen as pastors of the flock. In reality, we are, instead, overseers of a hospice facility. In the past I believed my job was to passively hear what the people wanted to do and then help them do it. Again, this led to majoring on minors and wandering in circles. Some of the congregation were very busy, others were just watching, some were judging, and the church continued to decline. Every organization needs clear goals and the LEADERSHIP to find their way there.

Letting political issues set the church’s agenda. As much as many of us are profoundly excited by our politics and how many naively believe politicians really give a rat’s butt about us and the government is going to solve any social problems, they won’t and it won’t. Being a Political Science major with my heart set on a career on politics, it took me several years of observation to come to these unwelcomed conclusions. With the 24 hours news cycle and the endless political posts on Facebook, not too many people are interested in going to Sunday worship to hear some preacher pontificate on politics as the answer to the world’s problems. We are called to preach Christ, not our version of liberalism or conservatism.

Those are some of the things we churches, keep and doing and wondering why the church is dying. When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?

Copyright © 2018, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved

Bill McConnell is the Interim Minister at Norwood Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a Church Transformation consultant and a Christian Leadership Coach. He is a frequent speaker at Church Transformation events. His latest book on church transformation is DEVELOPING A SIGNIFICANT CHURCH and is available at Westbow Press.

He can be contacted @ bill45053@gmail.com. Connect with him on Facebook @ William T. McConnell or on Twitter @billmc45053 or visit his Amazon Author Page @ Amazon