What is the church here for? What is God’s purpose of the church? Why are we called together? These are pretty basic questions, and Rick Warren dealt with them years ago in his great book The Purpose Driven Church. Yet, as I have had occasion to visit many churches, and talk to pastors, and their people, I have found that way too many folks are confused about God’s purpose for the church, and some people are just plain wrong about it. Let me share some things that might help to clear up confusion, and perhaps make some think again about what God wants the church to be and to do.
I believe there are five parts to a Biblical purpose for the church. These all come straight from scripture. Most written church purposes include some of them, but I have seldom seen a church that proclaimed all five as the reason it exists.
The Purpose of the Church in Five Parts:
Part 1 – The church exists to glorify God. That is the purpose of all creation. All through the Psalms we are reminded of this fact. In particular, the church exists to proclaim the glory of God, our Savior. This part of the purpose of the church overarches the other parts. All the rest are ways that we glorify God. Everything the church is and does should be designed to give glory to the Lord.
Part 2 – The purpose of the church is to reach out to those who don’t know Jesus with the message of salvation and discipleship. Jesus’ last words on earth make this very clear:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 (NIV)
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus told his followers to make disciples of all nations. Notice that he didn’t say to go get people to make decisions; instead he said to make disciples. It is not enough to push people into a moment of decision. We are to lead people into a life of following Christ. In Acts 1:8 Jesus told those who were on hand for his ascension to be his witnesses everywhere they went. We are to reach out by simply telling people what Jesus has done in our lives and showing them what it means to be a disciple as we reflect his love and hope on those around us.
Part 3 – The purpose of the church is to grow up to be like Jesus in our thinking, standards and maturity. Take a look at Ephesians 4:11-13:
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephes. 4:11-16 (NIV)
Seems to me that this means we all have a lot of learning and growing to do, and that we must never stop doing what needs to be done to become more like Jesus.
Part 4 – The purpose of the church is to grow together in the fellowship of Christian love for each other.
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35 (NIV)
Christ-followers have to learn to love each other. Sometimes that is a breeze, and sometimes it is nearly impossible, because we can be impossible. The love that we share must be a love that others can see and desire to experience. It is also a love that wants as many people as possible to be part of it. The church is to be an open, inviting, fellowship, not a closed clique or club.
Part 5 – The purpose of the church is to lift up those in need simply because they are in need and we have help to offer.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:34-40 (NIV)
This part of the purpose of the church is often missing in written purpose statements. Sometimes, it is thought to be included with the “reach out” part, but I think it stands alone. The church is to help people with out expecting anything in return. If you don’t think Jesus is serious about this read, the whole context of the quoted passage: Matthew 25: 31-46. He is not messing around. He means for us to do it.
The temptation for a congregation and for a pastor is to pick the part of the purpose that they find the easiest, and concentrate on that. That is the reason that there are a lot of small churches that love each other deeply, but don’t do much to bring other people to the Lord. Other churches feel like a school where people have piles of notebooks from all the church courses they have taken. The members do a lot of training, but they never get into the battle. Still others do a lot for their communities, but they have become little more than simply another charity that does good, instead of being a place with more to give to those in need than a warm meal or free clothes. And some churches like to count the rear ends in the seats, but that is all that happens. People come to those churches for the “show”, but there is nothing beyond “the show” for them.
A friend of mine says the purpose of the church is to “grow more and better disciples with emphasis on the more.” He finds that churches tend to concentrate on things that are comfortable. Reaching out to the unchurched is often uncomfortable. Most churches tend to be more enthusiastic about the other parts, so they have to be encouraged to reach out. He may well be correct. I think a church needs to be and do the whole package to the glory of God. Is your church doing all these: reaching out, growing up, growing together, and lifting up? Why not? Small church, large church, and everything in between, all of us, need to live the whole calling of God. The church was God’s idea. It was paid for by his Son’s sacrifice. So it stands to reason that we should do church his way. Are we?
It has been a year and a half since I resigned as pastor in Kokomo. Since then, I’ve been trying to figure out what God wants me to do with this next chapter of my life. The Lord drew my attention to a verse of scripture that has become my theme:
“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation.” Psalm 71:18a (NIV)
This is exactly what I want to do. Accordingly, I have looked at several possibilities:
1. I looked at becoming a specialist in helping churches as an interim pastor. I did an interim last fall and enjoyed my time with the church in Walla Walla, Washington. To do interim work on a full-time basis is tough, because you never have a real home. You move every nine months or so. That becomes problematic on several levels. I don’t think that it would work for our family as a permanent way of life. However, doing an interim from time to time could be possible.
2. I had hopes of overseeing a group of churches. I spent a long time going through an extensive candidating process with an area church fellowship, even becoming a finalist, but someone else was chosen, so that door was closed.
3. I asked the Lord if He was done with me in ministry and should I look for a secular job? I considered this carefully, but I’m trained and experienced in ministry. Even though I have a master’s degree in business, I have used it solely in the context of ministry. Besides, the secular job world was not crying out for this old pastor.
4. What I would most like to do is to consult and coach pastors and churches. This would directly fulfill Ps. 71:18a, and I think I could help churches that are plateaued or declining see what they need to do to get moving in a positive direction. My age would help me challenge older church members to get behind younger pastors who want to make the changes necessary for a church to reach the next generation. Making a living at consulting and coaching is not a very easy proposition. I’ll continue to seek ways I can do this, but I won’t rely on it as a way to put bread on the table.
5. Perhaps, the most obvious thing for me to do is to return to pastoring somewhere. I put my name out to churches that are looking for pastors, and I had preliminary interviews with six churches and been invited to candidate by five of them. To each I have said no. Not because they were bad situations. All of them held good possibilities. As a matter of fact, two of the churches are larger than any of the churches I have led. I just did not feel that God was calling me to any of them. This past week, when I turned down the last two of these churches, it finally occurred to me that God doesn’t want me to pastor anywhere at this time.
6. Then what am I going to do? What has God led me to do? For the last six months or so I have been working as the administrator for Tina Houser Ministries. I kind of fell into it, because Tina is my wife, her ministry has been growing at an explosive pace, and she needed some help. I’m doing things that I haven’t done very much (bookkeeping), learning to do some new stuff (website maintenance), and getting to brag about my wife (promoting her books and her workshops). I get to travel with her (and lug her books and stuff around), and see her shine as she shares her heart for ministry to children. This is what I believe God wants me to do now. It is a means by which I can make an impact on the next generation. This is a part-time job, so I’ll continue to seek ways to serve the church. Actually, the thing that has made this a hard decision is that it lacks financial security, but Tina and I both believe that God is directing us to do this. In a couple of weeks we are moving to Woodstock, Georgia, at least, temporarily. We will get to be near our son and his wonderful wife. We’ll get to be grandparents to our beautiful grandtwins (see above). In addition, I hope to do some preaching, and I’ll have time to do some consulting or coaching, should those opportunities present themselves. Finally, for the first time in 38 years I will be involved in a local church without being on the pastoral staff. (By the way, I intend to be some pastor’s big supporter!)
So, if you see Tina anywhere in the world, you will probably see me behind her book table. And, if your church can use my help, I am very available. Thank you to all those who have been praying for me through this time. You have been a rock for me. Please keep looking for this blog. I plan to continue to use this platform to share with you all and to proclaim God’s power to the next generation.
At 2:30 on Sunday, October 23rd, my mother drew her last breath, 93 years, 4 months and 11 days after her first one. She was a great mother, a fine wife, a hard worker and I loved her deeply. Wanda Houser, nee Holloway, was born just outside the tiny Kansas town of Anson to a tenet farmer and his wife. She and her twin sister were welcomed by five older brothers. From the beginning she was a survivor. The baby twins were victims of the swine flu epidemic that swept the country in 1918. Mom’s sister died, but Mom recovered. As a child she loved school, and saw education as her escape from the poverty she knew. Soon she realized that if things were to be different for her, she would have to leave Anson and discover the rest of the world. The school in her little town only went to the 10th grade, so at age 15 she went to the town of Wellington to finish high school. Going to school by day, this teenager served a family as a live-in babysitter to support her education ambition. Her dream was to become a teacher, but to do that she would have to attend college and that obstacle proved to be a financial impossibility, so she found a new dream. She chose to continue learning at a business college and received training to be a secretary. To manage this, she had to move to the relatively large city of Wichita and work as a live-in caretaker of an elderly lady to make ends meet. By age 20 she had her training, a good job and she was living in the city.
Soon she found love and married Gene Farris. Not long thereafter, along came my sister, Glenda Jo (Jody). A few months later, Mom found herself carrying her second child. At age 25 all her dreams seemed to be coming true. Suddenly, that all changed when she got the call every wife fears most. Her husband suddenly died on a business trip in Kansas City. Instead of being a working wife and mother of two, she became a widow and had a miscarriage. But mom survived. Her father, who was quite elderly by then, told her that if she found a place where he could keep his cow, he and my grandmother would come and help her “take care of that girl.” So Mom bought a house and some extra lots on what was then the edge of the city. She continued her work for the vice-president (and later the attorney) of the Wichita Bank for Cooperatives and raised my sister with Grandma’s help.
Four years later my mom found love again. She met my dad, Veryle Houser, at a small hamburger café, and after a year’s courtship married him. Four years later along came Claude Raymond (yours truly, Ray). My mother loved her job, but she wasn’t so much a working mother as she was a mother who worked. I always knew that I was her priority. She went the extra mile to be involved in my life. When I was in grade school and they needed a room mother to put on the little classroom parties for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day, my mom took time off work to be there. When I was sick, mom would manage to get away from work to make sure that I was cared for. I don’t think mom ever missed a ball game, Boy Scout event, or anything else that was important to me when I was small.
Mom’s belief in the importance of education extended to her kids. Neither my sister nor I ever considered doing anything after high school except go to college. The question about college was not if, it was where. Mom and Dad made great sacrifices to see that Jody and I were the first in the family to get that college education which elluded Mom. When many of my friends at the small Christian college I attended had to sweat out how they would pay for each semester and finished school thousands of dollars in debt, I could relax because my folks paid for it all. I worked through high school to save for college, but I got to use the money I had saved for student trips to Rome, Athens, Israel, and Peru. At college the pay for the few hours I worked each week was used for personal items and my dating life.
Jody fulfilled Mom’s dream by becoming a teacher, and I became a pastor. Both of us extended our educations beyond Mom’s dream by getting master’s degrees in our fields (to be precise, I earned two). Mom was proud of us. On the day after I graduated from seminary, she rode with me from Anderson, Indiana, where I went to school, to the Louisville, Kentucky area where I was to be married a few days later. Mom, who seldom shared her feelings, said to me, “I don’t know what I am supposed to do now. You and Jody are through school, and now you will both have your own families. I feel like I have done what I was supposed to do.” Her mission was accomplished. She was proud and satisfied.
A couple of years later she retired and began traveling with Dad. For the next 15 or so years they covered all the contiguous states and part of Canada. It was great for her, because she got to satisfy her curiosity and learn many wonderful things. Finally, her body began to betray her and her mobility was limited. Her last trip was to attend my son’s wedding in 2003. I know the trip was very uncomfortable for her, but she would not be denied the chance to be there. The last few years of her life my Dad was her caregiver. He helped her with everything and pushed her wheelchair wherever she needed to go. They celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary last September.
My mom had a good life. She was a survivor …. more than that, she was a hero. She overcame a very difficult beginning and tough times along the way to build the life she hoped for. She passed on her love for learning, her sense of fair play, and her devotion to her spouse and family to Jody and I.
I am going to miss you, Mom. I love you. You hated the word good-bye, so I will say what you usually said: so long, I’ll see you later.
I have had the privilege this year of visiting a lot of churches, and I’ve found many of them are dominated by people my age and older. Sometimes people from the church want to share with me about their church. Often I’ve heard them say, “Our church needs young people. I just don’t know why we don’t have very many any more.” Many of them have noticed that the attendance of their churches is not growing. Some are even willing to admit, at least to themselves, that the congregation is dwindling. Long-term members remember past glory days and wish for a return to those exciting times. I think there is good news and bad news for congregations in this situation.
The bad news is that the old days will not return. You can’t turn the clock back in the church any more than you can turn it back in your family. We may long for the days when our grown children were small, but wishing will not make it so. In the same way, we may want the church we had in the 1960s or 70s, but that church is gone. It’s the same place your son’s little league team is: in the past.
The good news is that God’s church is not in the past; His message and His love are the same, and your church can once again be vital and alive. Just like new children are playing on the old ball diamond your kids played on, there is a new generation of adults that the church can reach for the Lord. When you drive by the kids’ ball field on a summer evening, you’ll see and hear the excitement of the children and their parents and realize that they’re experiencing the same fun and joy you did. I believe it can be the same way at church. When young families find the Lord, they fill the church with the enthusiasm that many churches filled with senior citizens are missing.
It can happen! The church can again be an exciting place, but seniors have to want it to happen. Seniors hold the control. Whether they are “in office” or not, they hold lots of power. They’re usually major contributors financially, and they’re in position to make or break new proposals by vote, by their complaining, or by withholding their giving. You see, if the next generation is to be reached, the older generation must understand that the priority of the church must be to reach people for Christ—as Jesus put it, make disciples. To do that, seniors have to realize that changes will be required to attract and hold a new generation. And there is the problem: older people hate to change. It comes down to deciding this question: Do we want this church to grow and see people the age of our children and grandchildren find God’s hope, love and salvation, or is it more important for the church to be like we have always known it?
Looking at surveys and reports, we find that many of our churches have become a kind of club that caters to the needs and whims of its members, instead of the church Jesus commissioned. The church that takes the Great Commission seriously puts the needs of people in the community to find salvation ahead of the need of church people to be comfortable with doing things the way they are used to.
I issue a challenge to gray-haired church members like me to ask God to give them an extreme love for the unchurched next generation, and let Him have His way in you to welcome and encourage them to find what you found in Christ long ago. Then, your church will once again ring with excitement and be the lively place you remember and long for. The music probably won’t be the same. The schedule might be different. The decorations will change. But, you will once again feel the same Spirit moving that moved the church long ago and you’ll know that young lives are being changed.
(I suggest a specific way churches can reach the next generation in my post of 2/21/11 titled "A Winning Strategy")
Christ-followers talk a lot about love, and well we should. Love was the main thing Jesus talked about. It was the hallmark of His life, as well as His death and resurrection. If you know any Greek words you probably know the word Jesus used for love: agape. Agape was an interesting choice because there are at least three ancient Greek words that are translated into the English word love. Eros is the word for love between a man and a woman from which we get the word erotic. Eros shows itself in the desire to possess the love object. Phileo is what we call brotherly love. Phileo loves the love object because of the given relationship, like brother to brother. It shows itself in loyalty. Agape is God’s unselfish kind of love. This word is seldom found in other ancient Greek writings, but it is by far the most used word to be translated love in the New Testament. Agape is love that shows itself in the desire to help the love object. It gives whether or not the giving is returned. Agape is shown in the way God loved the rebellious Israelites and the sinful you and I. It is “the love that will not let me go.” Agape says “I love you.” There is no “if”, “and”, “until”, “unless”, “or”, “as long as” added on … simply, “I love you.”
Jesus’ command to follow Him includes loving as He loves. The incarnation of Jesus and His death on the cross are examples of God’s agape for us. We can’t die on the cross as a sacrifice for mankind, but we can love people the way He loved others. Agape must become the hallmark of our lives as we imitate Him. We can put the needs of others ahead of our own wants and preferences. How did Jesus do it? How did He live out His own commandment to love one another?
First of all Jesus took initiative to make friends, often with unlikely people.
He still chooses to love people, not because He needs them, but because they need Him. When He chose His disciples, He didn’t choose the intellectuals or the most religious people. Instead, He chose simple working men (Peter, Andrew, James and John), a radical (Simon Zelotes), and an outcast (Matthew, the tax collector). If we are going to love like Jesus, we must think of prospective friends the same way. The friends that God wants to give you to influence for Him may not have the right looks, wear the right clothes, or use the right language.
I learned this lesson when we started a congregation several years ago. Our son was a little leaguer and I was a coach. My wife and I saw his baseball team as a great opportunity for us to meet unchurched people who could become prospective members of our new church. Little league baseball parents are notorious for getting into heated arguments. I don’t remember what exactly happened, but one of the mothers on the other team and a grandmother from our team got into a profane shouting match in front of the kids. My wife and I had a habit of speculating about which team families might wind up as part of our church. We were sure that that cussing grandma would not be one of them. She didn’t seem too interested anyway. The next Sunday, to my surprise, as people were arriving before church, I saw that grandma crushing out her cigarette with her foot to bring her grandson to worship. She was a rough one, but she had a tender heart and within a few months I had the privilege of baptizing her. I had written her off as a prospect, but God had not. This showed me that I needed to go beyond being friendly and take the challenge of being a friend even to those who I don’t think would be interested in the church or knowing Jesus.
Jesus demonstrated His love in tangible ways.
How do your friends know you care deeply for them? If you are going to love like Jesus your must be willing to do more than what is expected. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to help your friend? Jesus talked about going the second mile and He washed the disciple’s feet as an example of how they (and we) should treat each other.
One Sunday I preached loudly that, in the light of Jesus’ teaching on footwashing, we must be willing to do anything, for each other and for the world. I pounded the pulpit and challenged the church. The very next day the Lord required me to practice what I had ranted about. The police dispatcher called me (I was a volunteer police chaplain.) and asked me to go to the scene of a teen suicide. I joined several of the officers there a few minutes later. The coroner was in the boy’s bedroom to pronounce him dead. Apparently, one of our high school football players had skipped practice that day, gone home, put a pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. I called the family together, had prayer with them and did my best to comfort them. Since they were Catholic, I called their priest who came a few minutes later. A suicide, especially when it is one so young, is tough for the cops too, so I milled around with them until the body was taken out. The police began leaving and I was ready to go back to the church when Sgt. Thornberry walked up to me. He was one of the department tough guys. He said to me. “Rev., I hate to see that mother have to clean up that mess.” I said, “Me too.” I thought he was talking hypothetically. The next thing I knew, he had found a bucket, some liquid soap, a few towels and some sponges and recruited a neighbor lady to help “us” clean the boy’s bedroom floor. I wasn’t sure how bad I wanted to be part of “us”, but I couldn’t refuse. The tough cop had taken initiative to do a loving act, because the chaplain (me) was oblivious. Not only did I not want to wienie out on Thornberry, more importantly, I had my own words from my sermon pounding in my head, “You have to be willing to do anything.” As I scrubbed that poor boy’s blood and brains off the floor, it was like God way saying to me, “Now you know what you were preaching about and what Jesus meant when he told His followers to wash one another’s feet.”
How about you? Are you willing to do what needs to be done for others to God’s glory? Do you really want to serve others, or do you just want to talk about it? God had to force me to find out what it means to say yes to serving others in His love.
Jesus backed up His words with actions. His friends knew He loved them because of the way He treated them. Words by themselves are hollow, but Jesus preceded and surrounded His words with actions. To love like Jesus we must both live love and speak love. Love must become the thing for which the church is known. For too many people the church is known for making people feel guilty. The church gets a reputation of love only when her members learn to love like Jesus
John 15:9-17 (NIV)
The other night I was awakened by a dream. That happens from time to time, but always before, it was when I had a nightmare. Usually, I wake up just as I am falling off a high cliff or a ladder (or stage), but this time it was different. The dream woke me up, not because it was scary; in fact, it made me feel good … kind of puzzled, but good.
Here’s what happened in my dream.
I was with a group of people who had been in my youth group when I first started in the ministry. We were all the age we are now. One of the women had brought us all together for some kind of reunion and it was a lot of fun. We gathered round a fire at the close of the celebration to sing some songs we sang in church and youth group in the old days. I awoke when we sang,
My life, O Lord, I give to Thee,
My talents, time, and all;
I’ll serve Thee, Lord, and faithful be,
I’ll hear Thy faintest call.
I lay there for several minutes thinking about the dream and the song in particular. The words were familiar, but at first I couldn’t remember which song they were from. As I thought about it, I began to remember the words to the verses and recalled the song as one of the songs often used at the close of worship. It was part of the invitation to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. It went along with the theme of much of what Pastor Jones talked about. Over and over he told us, “God has something He wants you to do, and you have to find out what it is.” He was all about total commitment to following Christ. That little chorus brought back the times when I decided to accept Christ as Savior, to invite Him to guide me, and to use my life for His purposes. In other words, this was one of the songs that the church was singing when I fell in love with Jesus. I hadn’t heard it or thought of it for years. I love contemporary music, but some of the old songs like this one, also hold deep meaning for my life.
I spent the day thinking of the dream, the song, and what it might mean. I had never before had a dream that I thought meant anything. (Except, perhaps, that I should keep myself from falling.) Was the Lord trying to tell me something through a dream? I know He sometimes speaks to people that way, but not me, at least not before now. When I sang those words as a youth, I meant them. I heard His call—to go to a private Christian college and seminary, to youth ministry, then pastoral ministry, later to church planting, then back to pastoral ministry. This last year and a half I have been trying to figure out what God wants me to do with the next chapter of my life. I have applied for several jobs that I thought fit my gifts and calling, and I turned down some that didn’t. I was disappointed when the position I really thought I wanted, and for which I was best suited, was given to someone else. Let me admit that I have been confused, frustrated, and sometimes felt sorry for myself. Through this dream God reminded me of the commitment I made to Him as a teenager. I think He is asking me if I still have that same trust in Him. So now I am renewing my commitment to do whatever He wants me to do. I’m not going to try to make something happen on my own, but I am going to be open to whatever He brings my way. Right now, I am enjoying my work as the administrator for Tina Houser Ministries. Basically, my role is to make it easier for her to do her workshops, be her traveling companion, sell her books, and take care of her website. In addition, I am speaking wherever I am invited, and writing this blog. I remain open to whatever else God lays across my path to do. Will it be a full-time ministry position of some kind? Part-time? I don’t know, but I will do what is set before me. Also, I am listening for His further call, if He has something else, or something additional He wants me to do. “I shall be wholly Thine.”
By the way the little chorus comes from the song “Consecration” by Andrew L. Byers and Mildred E. Howard. Below are the lyrics for the entire song. They move me still.
Since Jesus gave His life for me,
Should I not give Him mine?
I’m consecrated Lord, to Thee,
I shall be wholly Thine.
Chorus:
My life, O Lord, I give to Thee,
My talents, time, and all;
I’ll serve Thee, Lord, and faithful be,
I’ll hear Thy faintest call.
I care not where my Lord directs,
His purpose I’ll fulfill;
I know He ev’ry one protects
Who does His holy will.
My home and friends are dear to me,
Yet He is dearer still;
In my affection first He’ll be,
And first His righteous will.
My all, O Lord, to Thee I give,
Accept it as Thine own;
For Thee alone I’ll ever live,
My heart shall be Thy throne.
More than anything else, if there is to be hope for the plateaued or declining church, it must clearly show Christ to the world. That sounds like a no-brainer, but surveys are finding that, while Jesus is very popular, the church isn’t. It seems people want to know Jesus, but don’t want to know the people who represent Him. We have to find out what we’re doing that turns people off. What do we do that blocks, rather than magnifies the love and hope of Jesus? People crave love. They desperately desire hope. They want relief from the guilt and pain they carry, and they want to know that their lives have purpose. Jesus offers all of these things to everyone, but the church is often the last place people go to find them. What is it that congregations are doing wrong? Why don’t people realize that we want to share what we have found? Here are four common reasons that must be overcome for the church to turn around or get unstuck from a plateau.
1. Churches often seem irrelevant to people living in the 21st century.
The message of Christ is for every generation and every kind of person, but many people don’t believe that. To tell you the truth, in many cases I don’t blame them. Many congregations and some denominations are stuck in another century. For some it’s the 18th or 19th century; even if a church is still acting like it’s living in the 20th century, it’s passé. Congregations get hung up on traditions and appearances. These are things that only the members care about. A world that needs love, hope and salvation, doesn’t give one wit about worship or music style, and can’t figure out why it’s such a big deal to the church. If and when they show up to worship, they simply need to be able to understand the message. A congregation that puts its preferences for any kind of style over its desire to communicate the Gospel is asking to be considered irrelevant.
2. Congregations keep to themselves.
Declining churches talk about being a family, and perhaps they are, but not the kind of family Jesus envisioned. He declared that we would be an open family, always welcoming the new brothers and sisters that our Father adopts. Declining and plateaued churches are often great families to each other, but they are closed families. If you ask them if their church is friendly, they would say, “Oh yes.” More often than not, they are very friendly … to each other. They don’t realize how hard it is for a new person to become more than a guest. They aren’t prepared for new people. They don’t think about new people joining them. In the abstract they say they would like new members, but in reality they fear that new people would upset the way things are. New people can make the old-timers feel uncomfortable, and perhaps, dilute the old-timers’ position of power within the congregation.
3. Too many congregations present an angry face.
Unchurched people are repelled by congregations that show anger at people. God hates sin, but he loves sinners so much He sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for their sin. Some pastors and congregations seem to have forgotten that. They’re always against “this” or up in arms about “that.” It’s scary for people who aren’t part of their group and it doesn’t attract people to join. Don’t get me wrong. Sin is abhorrent, and Satan’s schemes should make us angry; however, we must not repel the very people who God loves and wants to save from sin. We do that every time we are perceived as hateful people. The face of the church should be God’s love. His judgment and wrath should not be hidden; they are parts of the story, but it was God’s love that drew Him down from heaven to bring the lost to Him. Love was the hallmark of Jesus’ earthly life. Churches that are plateaued or declining need to find ways to be seen as places where His love is shared.
4. Internal dissension turns unchurched people and new Christians off to the church.
Finally, the people God wants to reach often resist becoming involved in a congregation because of church fights and disagreements. Some people who have called themselves “Christian” for a long time seem to think (and some say it openly) that their role in the church is to be the “devil’s advocate.” Folks, the devil needs no advocate, particularly in the church. He does just fine advocating for himself. I have actually heard people say they wanted to make sure that someone kept the pastor in check. In other words, they thought that someone in the church should make sure the pastor didn’t get his way. If the pastor’s intention is to make disciples, and he is not proposing anything heretical, why does the church need someone to get in his way? If, in fact, the pastor’s way is the way God wants the church to act, these people are in God’s way. The Apostle Paul had an opinion of those who cause dissension in the church, “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy” Romans 13:13 (NIV). Look at that! In Paul’s opinion, dissension is a sin on par with orgies. I think many church dissenters would be offended to be lumped in with orgy participants. If that is the case, they should quit dissenting and get with the program. The earthly consequence of this sin is not merely frustrating the pastor, it also turns prospective Christians away from becoming part of the Lord’s work in your congregation.
There is hope for the church! Even for churches that are plateaued or declining. That hope comes from the Lord and will become reality when pastors and congregations are willing to pay the emotional and financial prices, choose making disciples as their top priority, become willing to adopt new methods, organize for agility and growth, and become known as communities of God’s love that both want and expect newcomers to join with them.
(If you are interested in having Ray present the "Hope for the Church" series, or any other blog topics as a conference or sermon, you can contact me at ray.houser@gmail.com for scheduling information. If you are interested in seeing Ray speak, go to Vimeo.com and put Ray Houser in the search box. You will find several of my sermons there.)
