Appropriate to the last post opf this series, Perry Noble has posted an article on the core values of a church in decline. Here are the first three —
#1 – Laziness – Most people/churches are not “stuck” or in decline because they do not know or understand what the Lord wants them to do…God speaks very clearly in His Word and through His Spirit. It’s just that God’s work always requires people to take a step of faith! Remember, God promised the Israelites the “Promised Land,” but they actually had to go in and fight the battles. A church that refuses to do whatever it takes and embraces laziness will eventually settle in the desert until that generation dies off.
#2 – Fear of Man – God has called His people to set the world on fire; unfortunately, too many church leaders today waste their time trying to put fires out and make people happy! Scripture pretty much sums it up in Proverbs 29:25! If your first question is always, “what does our biggest giver want” and “not what does God want” you church is stepping into the casket!
#3 – Pride – When a church and/or its leaders are not willing to admit a mistake OR that a method that used to work just doesn’t work anymore…it’s over.
What else should be on the list?
Lack of continuing education among the leaders/elders. By this, I mean lack of reading books by those like Dan Kimball who give insight to disturbing trends in church attendance or involvement or books like Simple Church.
Those kinds of books promote good discussion on what needs to change or reaffirm why things need to stay they same.
We can find many ways to describe these issues, and undoubtedly, there is merit to many different words used. But in my view, the bottom line is that we don’t live and act as if we truly can rely on what we say we believe: Jesus is the Son of God, he reconciled us to God thru his sacrifice and resurrection, he calls on us to love one another the way he loved us.
We often try to codify these truths into rules that only provide the appearance of righteousness, but fail to change lives.
The book “Why They Left-Listening to Those Who Have Left Churches of Christ,” by Flavil R. Yeakley is also along these lines. His book is based on the results of an online survey done a couple of years ago. It is a dry read with statistics and such, but if your wondering why people are leaving churches of Christ it might be worth reading also.
“It’d unimaginable to me that we in the Churches of Christ would have spent the last 30 years begging our members to find salvation in grace, not works, because works cannot save — ”
In my opinion it is statements like this, and the work it describes that did happen over the past 30 years , that promotes the decline.
#1 – Laziness. “Most people/churches are not “stuck” or in decline because they do not know or understand what the Lord wants them to do”
I disagree they don’t know what they are to do, they read in the bible one thing, and are taught at church another not what God wants, what man believes he wants.
They are taught in the bible God is one supreme being, they are taught in the CoC now that he is three beings acting as one. They are taught in the bible that Jesus is the offspring of Mary, by a miracle of God, God’s Son, they are taught at church that Jesus is in actuality “God”,They read in the bible that God gave the apostles powers from the almighty, they are taught by men, they are given that same “Holy Ghost” at baptism, yet nothing changes. I don’t believe laziness is the cause of a church in decline , it is confusion.
#2 – Fear of Man , could not agree more “Pandering” to the wealthy, ear tickling is one of the main problems, money is the goal, that is not God’s church, that is “Man’s church”
#3 – Pride. When a church and/or its leaders are not willing to admit a mistake —it’s over.
If the next part had been left out, I would agree completely. ,(“OR that a method that used to work just doesn’t work anymore”)
I just don’t believe good old time preaching (as Jesus did) is out of style as far as God is concerned, but the church leaders today (progressive) are quick to admit to mistakes, just someone else made them. And the pride seen in church buildings today is not pride in the “Lord’s Church” but in the leaders, men. humility, is a thing of the past for them.
Most leaders in the large churches (in my opinion) would sell their soul to publish a book, or speak at a big “christian gathering” such as Tulsa, Pepperdine, Abilene and even smaller.
Remember Jesus spoke at big gatherings of sinners.
What else should be on the list? Teach what Jesus said, not what you wish he had said.
If God had his stamp of approval on the “new coC” it would not be in decline.
The self-education of all. As a whole, members of the Church of Christ are not readers, especially of material from writers outside the “brotherhood”. What most of them do read are books prepared for Sunday and Wednesday Bible study that have been used repeatedly over the years. Reading that makes the membership stretch is not really encouraged.
Oliver Wendall Holmes said,”Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” I’m sure this is what terrifies most leaders.
As disciples of Jesus, we should be holding to his teachings, and encouraging one another to do the same. The difficult part is being able to do this without becoming a legalistic and judgmental church family. I think it is important to teach people that our God is an interactive parent. He loves us and wants to be part of our daily lives and use us to help his lost and broken children. Unfortunately there are just some “Christians” who are not interested in doing this. Would you be willing to give a homeless person a ride to church and feed them lunch EVERY Sunday for the rest of your life if there was no sign of them ever accepting God’s saving grace and power to change their lives?
a. Low battery. This comes from repeatedly cranking the starter on an organization which has insufficient fuel to do much more than hold services. Since holding services takes priority over everything else, there’s nothing left in the tank afterward. No time, no vision, no enthusiasm, no power. But leaders convince themselves that all that is really needed is to give the church members a good swift kick in the pants, so they put up lists like this one in the hopes that they can motivate people to love and good works by pointing out the flaws in their individual character. Eventually, people grow weary of hearing the starter whine, of having their own personal flaws blamed for the organization’s failures, so they move on to a more successful -and less whiny- organization across the street.
b. Bad news “good news”. “Silver and gold I don’t have, but I’ll give you what I do have! What I do have is thirty-nine reasons why you, and all the people in those other churches, are going to hell.” Funny, the only people I seem to find who want to spread a message like that are preachers. A gospel that is really bad news kills the hearer and wounds the messenger. When this is the message the church member is supplied with every Sunday, it’s all he has to give. And he knows nobody wants to hear it. So, he becomes either disdainful of the unbeliever or disillusioned about the nature of his own faith.
c. General disrespect for people. Listen for this sad song, to the tune of “Blest Be The Tie”:
“The public is evil and cold,
The Baptists are headed for hell.
Our members are stingy and terribly lazy,
So why aren’t things going so well?”
(Next, this ditty to “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”)
“The truth is only known to us,
The de-nominations lie.
Our members are a carnal bunch
Who may all deserve to fry.
The sinners are too evil to want to come to church.
So why would you guys wander off
And leave us in the lurch?”
Once again, the prophet Pogo is right.
Perhaps a 7th category in Perry Noble’s list could be something like, “They value their opinions more than “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”
I heard an interesting statement last night. A husband and wife were members of a Church of Christ congregation; the wife had been raised as a Catholic. Pertaining to the continual repercussions of a church split a few years ago, she commented that for all the problems with the Catholic church, one thing she never saw was a church split. She didn’t even know what a church split was until she became a member of the Church of Christ. She didn’t even know that Christians treated each other that badly until she became a member of the CoC. This is based on occurrences within the past 6 years, not 60 years ago.
Read the banter of comments on this site about “you progressives” and “those conservatives.” This sounds more like the disciples arguing among themselves about who was the greatest! Maybe there should be three categories — (1) progressive (2) conservative, and (3) Christian. Choose ONE. “Well, at least we’re closer to being Christian than they are.” This isn’t a multiple answer, (1) and (3) or (2) and (3). It’s (3) or nothing.
There is still too much of the Church of Christ that is in rebellion to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. What seems to be our top priority has been exposed, and it is the correctness of our own inflated opinion. People up and down the intellectual scale or the educated scale or the social scale or the church office scale all fall for it, putting pride of self first– Jesus takes a place down the line. Look at the prideful statements. “Well, this is the problem I have with you progressives …… ” “You conservatives all believe ……. ” Labeling of divisions.
The boat is sinking and the occupants are arguing over who is carrying the biggest millstone.
Instead of doing something about unity, we argue about it and why it is your fault; and we analyze it and do statistics and argue about whether or not the math is valid; and we compare ourselves to one another and to others in order to justify ourselves. And the prayer of Jesus in John 17 falls on the rocks.
“Well, you’re saying we all need to just accept anything that ….. ”
” …… anything that is from a complete submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and to that alone.”
Complete submission comes first. People who brag about their “complete submission” and how it’s better than someone else’s flirt with hypocrisy.
“You shall not surely die.” “Go ahead, throw those names and labels around.”
There are some social psychologists who are “intellectual gurus” now because they have figured out that one of the reasons we are in such a political mess in this country is the different parties and candidates vilifying one another and labeling with names. They are consider to be smart because they say the system is becoming corrupted. Duh.
These are people who are figuring things out using human effort, and they are ahead of what the church is doing. What?? The church can learn better behavior from the world? When are we going to get a clue? What more does God have to do to break through a stubborn and self-righteous spirit? Is this deja vu nation of Israel all over again?
Or, we can sow to the flesh and from the flesh reap corruption. And remain in denial. And keep looking at each other. And keep tossing around labels.
finis
I would like to see a topic on leadership. While leadership in itself is a complex issue, let me provide a few simple thoughts. We need leaders who can evaluate their congregation and lead that congregation based on its specific and possibly unique strengths. I find it ironic that leaders often point their finger at the members; whats wrong with the members, why are they so lazy, why are they leaving just because we changed the song service. To me, leadership is about recognizing the congregations strengths and motivational triggers, and supporting such to advance God’s kingdom. Congregations are different, but all hold one ultimate goal, to praise Jesus. Mercedes, Ford and Toyota all carry one goal, to successfully sell automobiles, but their success comes with totally different strategies. Our goal is to praise Jesus, but how we motivate our membership, organize and carry out that goal can vary. That being said, I don’t believe there’s a “cookie cutter” answer to the decline of the “Churches of Christ”. One locale may reverse its decline with the establishment of small groups, while another may decline by attempting the same thing. I can give a hundred similar examples. In my opinion, we have failed to develop the leadership we need in the Churches of Christ. We have leaders that love Jesus, that devote their life to Jesus and work endlessly for the church, but its more than that. Our leaders need additional qualities. To God be the glory, and in Christian love.