Reflections of Annual Conference 2017 - The Changing Needs of Churches
Yesterday I commented on the life cycles that churches go through. There is birth, life, and death. All three are part of the experience of being a community. I also made the implication that death is the outcome for a church that cannot change to adapt to the change in community around it. One of the statistics that was brought up during Annual Conference this year was the positive growth that we have seen in our Annual Conference in the area of hands on mission. Everything else in our work as churches has declined. Our attendance and Sunday School/Christian education has declined. Our membership has declined. Our financial giving has declined. But the time and effort people gave to DO something has increased significantly.
This is a change that churches need to adapt to or die.
If a church believes that showing up to sing archaic or peppy songs is drawing new people in (or even connecting with long enduring people already in the church), then it is wrong. If a church believes that the preacher or Sunday School teacher or the evangelism committee is going to convince new people (or even long enduring people already in the church) to invest in the life of the church, then it is wrong.
People are active. People want to know that what they do makes a difference. People are doers. The days of passive church are waning. There are some hold-outs. There are plenty of churches that believe that the work of the kingdom involves hymnals and quiet time for 45 minutes. But the statistics seem to point that those churches are missing the change of the community around them. Active churches are seeing engagement. They are connecting with people. If a church makes the effort to DO something, they are going to attract new people (and long enduring people who have been wanting to DO something).
Missions is a loaded term. It conjures up trips to some far off place, staying in uncomfortable lodging, getting dirty and stinky, and being generally in a unfamiliar environment. Or it springs the old stereotype of going to Africa to bring the gospel to primitive people. Missions were replaced with missional giving to help people feel better about not going "out there" and to give the false impression that they were doing something. But that isn't what mission is about.
The Kingdom of God is about making lives better for people. And that begins right where you are. There are people around us that need to experience the Kingdom. It doesn't take building a cement block house in Mexico or running a clinic in Central America, or teaching English in China. There are hungry children in our neighborhoods. There are people whose houses are not safe to live in. There are people who feel that no one loves them, cares about them, or remembers them. Those are people in the field ripe for the harvest of experiencing the Kingdom of God. And it doesn't take traveling to a foreign country. It doesn't take getting dirty. It may be a little uncomfortable. It may require a little effort. But it is what makes a difference in people's lives.
Churches can change and do this. It doesn't require a startup fund to do some of these things. You don't have to be trained (but it may help prevent doing something stupid). It only takes a desire to see the church as a community that can DO something.
Yesterday I commented on the life cycles that churches go through. There is birth, life, and death. All three are part of the experience of being a community. I also made the implication that death is the outcome for a church that cannot change to adapt to the change in community around it. One of the statistics that was brought up during Annual Conference this year was the positive growth that we have seen in our Annual Conference in the area of hands on mission. Everything else in our work as churches has declined. Our attendance and Sunday School/Christian education has declined. Our membership has declined. Our financial giving has declined. But the time and effort people gave to DO something has increased significantly.
This is a change that churches need to adapt to or die.
If a church believes that showing up to sing archaic or peppy songs is drawing new people in (or even connecting with long enduring people already in the church), then it is wrong. If a church believes that the preacher or Sunday School teacher or the evangelism committee is going to convince new people (or even long enduring people already in the church) to invest in the life of the church, then it is wrong.
People are active. People want to know that what they do makes a difference. People are doers. The days of passive church are waning. There are some hold-outs. There are plenty of churches that believe that the work of the kingdom involves hymnals and quiet time for 45 minutes. But the statistics seem to point that those churches are missing the change of the community around them. Active churches are seeing engagement. They are connecting with people. If a church makes the effort to DO something, they are going to attract new people (and long enduring people who have been wanting to DO something).
Missions is a loaded term. It conjures up trips to some far off place, staying in uncomfortable lodging, getting dirty and stinky, and being generally in a unfamiliar environment. Or it springs the old stereotype of going to Africa to bring the gospel to primitive people. Missions were replaced with missional giving to help people feel better about not going "out there" and to give the false impression that they were doing something. But that isn't what mission is about.
The Kingdom of God is about making lives better for people. And that begins right where you are. There are people around us that need to experience the Kingdom. It doesn't take building a cement block house in Mexico or running a clinic in Central America, or teaching English in China. There are hungry children in our neighborhoods. There are people whose houses are not safe to live in. There are people who feel that no one loves them, cares about them, or remembers them. Those are people in the field ripe for the harvest of experiencing the Kingdom of God. And it doesn't take traveling to a foreign country. It doesn't take getting dirty. It may be a little uncomfortable. It may require a little effort. But it is what makes a difference in people's lives.
Churches can change and do this. It doesn't require a startup fund to do some of these things. You don't have to be trained (but it may help prevent doing something stupid). It only takes a desire to see the church as a community that can DO something.
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