Someone remarked the
other day, “Church right now reminds me of a dog on a front porch scratch’n
every ten minutes. The dog can’t do what
dogs normally do because he has to stop and scratch all the time. Scratch’n has become his purpose for existing.” Did I hear a chuckle?
A dog’s life is
about more than fleas…I hope. And,
church life should be about more than the collective anxiety that envelopes us and dictates our every move. But how easy it is to just settle for scratch’n
and howling about all the things – usually in a general way – that plague us.
Living in the traffic circle of endless lament about why "this or that" is not happening has become normative in too many situations. Healthy diagnosis
of “this and that” is often a critical but missing piece in our anxious
conversations about where we are as a congregation and what we should do next. And, let it be said, "This isn't simple or easy for anybody." Getting the conversation and the questions right
on the front end is easier said than done. Mix in some congregational history and personality differences, ratchet up the anxiety in any system and you have a recipe for compounding our ability to converse meaningfully and reasonably about most anything.
As you serve in your time and place, perhaps the following can be of service to you. I stumbled across it a few days ago. Perhaps it will be helpful toward our efforts to come to terms with the
reality a lot of Christians and churches are living in at the moment. Meditate on it and share your thoughts here or with someone else.
Hopefully, it will
help us find the the right conversational roads and contribute something to rediscovering the
adventure that is the good news of Jesus Christ as the centerpiece of church life. Peace. –Randy
Daugherty
By Chuck Lawless
I have never met a church leader who said to me, “I really
want my church to die. I’m not that concerned that we haven’t grown in years.”
At the same time, though, most churches in North America
are plateaued or in decline. Many of those churches have been in that state for
years, if not decades—sometimes under the same leadership.
Why do churches wait so long to address decline? Here are
twelve reasons I’ve seen in my church consulting work.
Nobody is counting the numbers. I realize
numbers are only one means to evaluate growth, but they are an important means.
If no one is keeping a record of growth and attendance patterns, few leaders
recognize the first signs of decline. No one is monitoring health, and disease
sets in.
Leaders in “growing” churches don’t always recognize
decline. This situation especially occurs when a church is
experiencing additions, but the back door is even more wide open. The
congregation sees people join often, but they fail to see the greater numbers
of people leaving. The decline may be slow, but it’s still real.
Members live in their own relational bubble.
That is, most members have only few persons with whom they build strong
relationships. As long as their friends are still present, they don’t get too
concerned about others leaving.
Leaders have given up on growth. Maybe the
community is changing. Perhaps the young people have already left. It might be
the leaders are just tired after unsuccessfully striving for growth for years.
The need for rest trumps the call to reach others.
Members love their pastor. Sure, they realize
the church is declining – but their pastor has been good to them. Their lives
are marked by his care and concern. No one would ever want to hurt him.
Consequently, they remain loyal to him even as the church dies around him.
The leaders don’t know what steps to take.
They know how to parse verbs and formulate theological positions, but they do
not know how to redirect an organization. They are captains who don’t know how
to steer the ship into the right channels. Efforts end in failure, and failures
become discouragement.
The church still has a sufficient number to survive.
The larger the church was in its heyday, the more likely this situation occurs.
The church that averaged 300 five years ago may still appear to be comfortably
full at 200 now. The crowds are large enough to ignore the decline, at least
for now.
Leaders over-spiritualize the situation. If
you’ve read my posts before, you know how much I care about prayer – but “we’re
just praying right now” can be a copout for leaders who fail to strategize.
“God’s just reducing us to His remnant” may be true, or it may also be
theological jargon to avoid taking responsibility for poor leadership.
The church has money in the bank. As long as
the bills are being paid, lower attendance numbers don’t matter as much. If the
church has a strong reserve account, that’s even better.
The congregation equates activity with life.
Programs continue. Somebody gathers in the church building most nights of the
week. The weekly bulletin is filled with events. The website carries current
announcements. If all of these activities are going on, surely the church
cannot be in decline.
Ministries are siloed in the church.
Individual ministries may be doing well. Some small groups really enjoy their
fellowship and teaching. The choir or praise team is prepared every Sunday.
Members cocoon themselves in a few successful ministries, and few people see
the overall church decline.
Even Christian leaders are filled with pride.
That’s a primary reason leaders won’t seek guidance when the churches they lead
are declining. “Surely,” the leader thinks, “I can come up with the solution.
After all, I’m called. I’m trained.” And, ultimately, he may find himself alone
because of his unwillingness to pursue help from others.
What other reasons would you add to this list?
