My New Year’s Resolution

Yea, I know. Most New Year’s resolutions fall by the wayside by February. I’ve done my share of those. But I am going to keep the list simpler this year- and by sharing it with you I am hoping you will help me be more accountable to them.

So here goes.

First- my goal is to more strictly adhere to the principle of Philippians 4:8 every day. Here Paul said:

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.

I confess that more often than not my thoughts have not been focused on these things. I have allowed the cynicism, pessimism and materialism of culture to overly influence me. I want to dig my way out from under this garbage and refocus more on the praiseworthy blessings of heaven in 2009.  I think by so doing, many areas of my life and relationships will improve by God’s grace.

Second- I want to take better care of the temple in 2009. This means getting to the gym more often and eating better. This is a continual battle of time and commitment to me, but one I must win. I have two little ones who need a healthy dad.

I solicit your prayers in these goals and you can help keep me accountable too!

Are you doing the resolution thing?

Happy New Year!

“The Man Who Saved Christmas”

His name was A.C. Gilbert. He was a visionary toy maker/manufacturer best known as the inventor of the Erector Set.

Way back in 1918 during the height of WWI the US government was “toying” with the idea of shutting down toy manufacturing so that factories  like Gilbert’s could be used for the production of war materials. In response Gilbert addressed the Council of National Defense arguing that educational toys prepared American boys for adulthood. His voice was heard and the production of toys was not stopped and Christmas was saved.

There is much more to the story, of course. A movie starring Jason Alexander (George Castanza from Seinfeld fame) was made in 2002 about Gilbert and his efforts. I have seen and enjoyed it. It feeds into the nostalgic nature of the Christmas holiday.

Ah, nostalgia. Someone said nostalgia is longing for a yesterday that never was. I can see that. Usually our yesterdays are not as idyllic as we remember them.

Yet, I remain nostalgic at heart and Christmas brings that out in me.

Here is hoping that you have a wonderful and warm Christmas. One to remember!

And hoping that the Christ-child is ever living and guiding you to peace and goodwill here and hereafter. He grew up to be the man who really saves!

Merry Christmas!

The Church in Crisis Part 2

Now that we have considered the reasons why the church is in crisis, our focus can shift to how to respond to this crisis. While the need to properly respond may seem to be a given, unfortunately for many churches the crisis and how to respond to it is ignored. And the reason for the ignorance is wedded to the crisis itself- response requires change and many churches will always resist change even if it means extinction.

 

Why the need for change? Simply because culture around us has changed- dramatically! The way people interact with one another, the way they interact with the Christian message, the way they respond to church, even the way people think and come to decisions have changed (all of this- and more- has been defined by the term, postmodern). And because of all of this- the same old way of doing church business no longer has quite the same connection.

 

Think about our traditional evangelistic methods: door-to-door approaches; gospel meetings; “cottage studies”; filmstrips, etc. No longer do they make much impact. No longer do people respond to these methods. Add to this a general mistrust of the institutional church in the mind of many (Why this mistrust? Church scandals, splits- all the negative perceptions detailed in part one) and the combination is lethal for churches.

 

So change is a must. Change toward our own thinking about church. Change in moving away from the institutional model toward relationship building. Change in our methods of evangelism. Change in the focus of our ministries. Change in how we interact with our communities. These kinds of changes are absolutely essential- or we will just continue to grow older and smaller.

 

Notice that no mention was made of needs to change the core message of the gospel or even worship style. While there could be a need to change the way the message is presented, we would defeat our purpose and calling as God’s church to attempt to change the core of the message to something not supported by divine revelation. Whatever the shift in culture and our response to it- it still needs the message of Christ to bring light to darkness. And while we may (and should) seek the most effective ways to communicate the unchangeable message through our worship time together- most unchurched folks have no preconceptions about worship and will accept practically any worship style as long as they see authentic and sincere participation in the worshippers.

 

IT IS ALL ABOUT CREDIBILITY

 

It is no longer about what we say but about what we do. Before our message will ever be able to penetrate our postmodern culture it first must be authentically lived out among community. This is absolutely crucial to understand in responding to our current crisis. Faith lived out genuinely and sincerely is now what gives the Christian message its credibility.

 

It is not about church posturing, church programming, church messages or any other institutional approaches now- it is all about me living out my faith example in a genuine way through my personal relationships and personal ministry. In other words if I say I am a Christian most folks are not going to care about what church I attend, they are going to care about how sincerely and faithfully I live that out in my life. They will want to know if I am compassionate toward them and others. They will want to know if I am living out what they perceive to be the Christian message- helping the poor, ministering to needs of others, living a moral lifestyle, if I am honest and selfless, etc. Unless I am credible in these ways, my church- to them- will never be credible and I will never get the chance to share my faith witness to them. It is just no longer about the institution making claims about Christianity- it is about the person living Christianity out. This is where it starts.

 

Beyond that, change for the institutional church means shifting focus from within to without. Take a quick look at most church budgets and it is clear that more money is spent ministering to self than ministering to community. This has to change. For churches to be credible in postmodern culture they have to be involved in compassionate ministry to community, to the poor and needy, to victims, to broken people. Churches that are growing do this well with counseling centers, recovery programs, homeless outreach, after-school events and other forms of community outreach. These are the new “gospel meetings” or methods of evangelism. But it takes great commitment- on behalf of church leadership to shift the focus of the institution and on behalf of church members to help make these things happen. And quite frankly, some churches will either never see the need for such commitment or will not make such a commitment. Again, in such cases, the decline will only continue.

 

WE ARE IN A MISSION FIELD

 

As Christian theologian Don Bartel says, we must admit that we are in a mission field in this postmodern culture and because of that we need to think like a mission outpost in a strange and foreign land. Another theologian, Grant Osborne has compiled seven principles for putting into proper context the challenge churches face in our current crisis. We would do well to hear and heed.

 

• We must first be willing to critique the bankruptcy of our age. The emptiness and moral confusion of our times can be a means to witness.
• We need to center more on biblical theology than systematic theology so that the biblical worldview confronts the false worldviews of our day.
• We need to focus on community. Our culture is relation-hungry and people are seeking places to belong. A loving, healing faith community is the best witness in these times.
• The focus of our message needs to be the historical gospel.
• But we need to make sure that message is culturally relevant in our media-savvy age.
• We need to use conversation and life stories to draw people into the “real world” of Christianity.
• We need to think carefully how to live as well as what we say. In this age we witness with our transformed lives as much as with our informed lips. We must avoid the materialism and success-oriented lifestyles of our culture and exhibit a countercultural community to the world.  

WELCOME BACK TO THE FIRST CENTURY

 

The pluralism so evident in our 21^st century culture is amazingly similar to that of the first century and this brings us to the good news. The gospel message flourished then. It can flourish now also. Remember however, that the church as an “institution” with all the institutional trimmings (buildings, property, bank accounts, multiple staff, years of tradition to protect) did not exist in the form it does now. The message truly was presented in the credible faith witnesses of individual Christians. They simply went out into that culture preaching and living the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection. In that culture they found people hungry for a message with substance and hope. Christ’s light faithfully lived and taken by Christians then shone brightly in the darkness that defined that culture and people gravitated toward it. The power of the gospel message has not changed. So why can’t that happen again today?

 

It can- and that should excite us. I am convinced that more and more folks will grow tired of the empty and unfulfilling menu the world offers and hungrily seek alternatives. But are we willing to do what it takes to allow God to work in us to make it happen again? That is yet to be seen.

The Church in Crisis- Part 1

Crisis is really not too dramatic a term to use to frame the current state of the Christian church in America. More and more the “church” is losing ground. Consider this information released back in February in the U.S Religious Landscape Survey for 2007.

 

• In 2007 there was only one church growing faster than the population rate- the Independent Christian Church. (Only one other- the Catholic Church- was able to remain static with the population. All other churches lost membership.)
• More and more Christians in America are claiming no allegiance to any church and another growing percentage of folks call themselves “secular nonaffliated.”
• There is no longer any church “brand” loyalty. Here is a quote: “Fluidity is the rule today, not the exception. There’s greater diversity and greater movement — a quantum leap in the rate of change.”

Now, let’s narrow the focus to Churches of Christ. Here are some stats from Flavil Yeakley who is the leading church growth statistician among us from his Good and Bad News: A Realistic Assessment of Churches of Christ in the United States 2008

 

• Churches of Christ rank 12th nationally in number of members (1,264,000+), but we rank 4th in number of congregations (21,791).  Comparatively, the Southern Baptist Convention churches have some 16 million members and some 41,000 congregations.
• The average Church of Christ has about 60 members and about 75 total members and adherents. 
• Churches of Christ declined from 1980-2007 in the following states: Missouri (-18%), Texas (-3.8%), Oklahoma (-7.1%), Illinois (-5.9%), Kansas (-9.3%), Michigan (-7.5%), Arkansas (-2.0%), Massachusetts (-18.2%), Oregon (-4.3%), Ohio (-1.2%), North Dakota (-41.7%), Alaska (-16.7%), Vermont (-23.1%), Nebraska (-3.9%), New Hampshire (-6.3%). 

And finally let’s just learn from observation.

 

• Most Churches of Christ are now smaller than they once were.
• Most Churches of Christ now are “older” than they once were.
• Most Churches of Christ now are not as evangelistic as they once were.  

Putting all of this hard and soft data together is why the word “crisis” does apply to the current situation of most churches today in terms of health and growth for the future. A big problem is that most churches and church leaders fail to recognize this. Churches who are able- even with smaller numbers- to continue maintaining staff and ministries just do not seem to be alarmed- even as their church grows smaller and older. But when you objectively combine all of the data and see the trends, the future for institutional churches does not look bright.

 

Consider one more data set. This information comes from the book UnChristian which chronicles what 16-29 year-olds who are outside of any church tradition currently think about the Christian church. Based on research done by authors David Kinnamen and Gabe Lyons six negative themes frame how this generation thinks of us.

 

• Hypocritical- pretend to be something unreal
• Too focused on getting converts- they feel like targets rather than people
• Anti-homosexual- bigoted against and “fixated” on curing
• Sheltered- boring, old-fashioned and out of touch with reality
• Too political- overly motivated by political agendas
• Judgmental- doubt we really love people as we say we do 

Because of all of this there is a tremendous challenge in front of churches. Either we can ignore or discount all of this information, continue on our current course and hope something will change or we will petition our Father to give us wisdom to negotiate the changing landscape with faith and vision to better and more effectively present the Good New message.

 

“LEADED AND UNLEADED” CHRISTIANS

 

One of the leading theologians in America today, Brian McLaren coined the phrase “leaded and unleaded Christians” referring to the often vast differences between older and younger (or newly converted) Christians. These terms illustrate the tension between these two groups which in so many ways is at the heart of most church problems- problems which contribute to the current church decline and failure to address the real cultural issues we face.

 

The tension results when the “leaded” Christians in the church (who are more settled, traditional and moneyed) resist attempts by the “unleaded” to change, adapt to the new realities of cultural attitudes toward church and adopt new methods of communication, ministry and outreach. Since the “leaded” usually occupy leadership positions and also control the treasury they usually have the ability to limit the influence of the “unleaded”. This results in either an uprising (split) by the “unleaded”, their departure to another church or them just quitting church altogether. (This illustration simply represents what has happened over and over again in many churches of all stripes. It is not an attmept to lay blame on either the “leaded” or “unleaded” but just a general observation. This is a too complex issue to try to solve on this post.) When this happens it not only cripples the church and continues a failed pattern, but it undermines the credibility of that church to its community and reinforces the negative opinions many already have.

 

The point is- something has to change. We simply cannot expect to continue along this type of path and get different results (isn’t this the definition of insanity?). The fact is our culture has changed around us (the data in UnChristian bears this out) and we have to recognize that and come to grips with the fact that the same ole way of doing church work is leading us to an ever shrinking body.

 

To be sure there are other factors involved in our non-growth. Growing secularization and consumerism within Christian homes; Lack of urgency concerning evangelism; Lack of commitment to Scripture; Lack of commitment to a church home- all contribute. 

 

The bottom line is that the institutional church is increasingly viewed as irrelevant- as more concerned with serving its own needs and maintaining the institution, its traditions and property, than about serving the needy and hurting in the community. This is why we are in a crisis.

 

The good news is that first, we know we are in this crisis and second, with crises comes opportunity. The question that remains to be answered is- are we going to effectively engage the opportunities and therefore revitalize and renew our churches?

 

Next week I will post part two- with suggestions on how to address the crisis.

 

Scrooge is Alive and Well! (and other thoughts)

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According to the latest Christianity Today Scrooge is alive and well in our churches. CT reports that overall church collections are down. The article claims that the average after-tax amount regular church-going Christians give per year per household is $200. Wow.

Isn’t it interesting how the auto makers are in trouble because- at least in part- they refused to hear and heed the call for change in their industry and just keep doing the same ole stuff the same ole way. Why is it that it takes a crisis to get folks to awaken to fresh ideas? Kind of works that way down at the church house too.

In most industries an executive coming off of ten years of sustained success would be lauded, promoted and have a feeling of security- even if the eleventh year was not as successful, but not in college football. I am no fan of Auburn or Tommy Tuberville, but- as a friend used to say- why in the name of common sense was he forced to resign? Mercy. No team- even the very elite- can win every year. Of course it is difficult to feel sorry for TT when he gets a six million dollar buy-out. But it all just demonstrates how crazy big-time college football is.

Hotty Toddy! How bout them Rebs!

Christmas season is officially here. While channel surfing I ran across the movie, Christmas Story. My guess is that it will be shown about 1429 times before December is over. You will shoot yer eye out kid!

Recently I had the chance to hear on radio an extended presentation about the “last days” we are now living in. Were you aware that Russia is going to ally with Iran and a Muslim coalition and in great force descend down upon Israel in the valley of Megiddo for a fierce battle which Russia will win to become the world power- only to have China’s millions swarm all over them later- after which the anti-Christ will appear- followed by Christ himself coming. Wow. All of this is found clearly in the Scripture too. Seems Daniel, Isaiah, John and the other prophets of old could have cared less about the needs of their day and time and were writing in great detail strictly about us today. Twenty years ago Daniel, Isaiah and John had the USSR and China joining forces to defeat Israel according to these same radio voices. Too bad they have all forgotten one hard fast rule of biblical interpretation- Scripture can never mean now what it did not mean then. And I am fairly certain the prophets of old were not thinking about Russia in their proclamations. They had more immediate threats and situations in mind.

Don’t forget to go to church Sunday and don’t be a Scrooge!