Turnaround Churches

Today is the 45th anniversary as Dr King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. While this blog is not about racial equality, we cannot shy away from discussions of equality. Jesus died for all, Jew and Gentile, light-skinned and dark-skinned, male and female, young and old. In that sense, the speech has lessons for all of us.

The speech, by the way, was an afterthought. He had already finished his speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, and someone shouted “What about the dream?” The “dream” speech is one he had given many times in other venues, but none were recorded the way this appearance was. And none to such a large and anxious audience. And so he stayed standing and began to speak those famous words “I have a dream…“

Dr King had been arrested and recently released, and a coalition of white ministers had asked him to slow down his message.

He said no.

“We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilising drug of gradualism.”

I remind you now of these words. Dr King, a pastor, was nonetheless that day speaking of racial equality, democracy and justice. I remind you, instead of your calling as pastors and church leaders of your mission to spread the message of salvation equally to all people.

Many American churches are struggling with old ideas and practices while overall faith and church attendance slips to near one quarter of this “Christian” nation. This is not the time to “take the tranquilising drug of gradualism.” You need to understand the fierce urgency of Now.

Don’t quit. Don’t grow weary in well-doing. Don’t wait for “someday.” Be aware of the now, and press on!

The stats are all over the place.  Few teens make the shift from attending church in middle school to high school.  Fewer still after they graduate.  Some will come back when they have kids, but the best estimates are that barely 25% of the US population attends church.  It’s worse in New England.

Is the Gospel not relevant any more?  Or is it the way we present it?

I sat in a sermon last week where the preacher talked for 30 minutes about the esoteric proofs from Hebrew for a trinitarian God – one who is three.  He thumbed through the Bible and we listened. There had been powerpoint for the music, but during the sermon, the screen was blank.  (I nodded off at least once.)

Tonite, I watched an info video on using digital in the classroom to engage students.  The meta preview asks “Since most of today’s students can appropriately be labeled as “Digital Learners”, why do so many teachers refuse to enter the digital age with their teaching practices?”

One student is quoted saying “we have learned to play school.  We study the right facts the night before the tests so we can make a passing grade and thus become a successful student.”  Do we play at church, hoping for a chance to cram for God’s final exam when we get old?

Are we engaging them?  One researcher quoted in the video says the average student only gets to ask one question every 10 hours.

By contrast, by the time they finish college, they will have written and received 200,000 text messages.  Someone is engaging them.

As pastors and church leaders, we need to take to heart the call to action, and give our people the 3 Rs:

Rigor – give them meat.  We expect excellence in our athletes, our scholars.  Why not our parishioners?  My friend was right to talk theology in the sermon, but we needed multi-media to truly engage us.

Relevance – The National Center for Educational Statistics says only 39% of the 50% of the tudents that graduate US High Schools think that what they learn in school will have any usefulness in their life.  What’s the number for what you teach in church?  Listen to what matters in their lives, and teach them how to get through the week with advice from Scripture.

Relationships – The internet social networking (MySpace, Facebook, instant messaging) and cell phone / texting is all about relationships.  People are hungry for relationship.  What better place than in church?  Stop this superficial “check the square and get the ribbon” mentality.

We need to engage with the WWW:  Whatever, Whenever, Wherever

I commend the video to you:

If you lead a small church, and haven’t been to one of the websites that support / value small church vitality, you’re missing valuable insights and encouragement.

One such site is the Energizing Smaller Churches Network (ESCN).  They quote a Barna Research report that the typical church in America has an average worship attendance of eighty-nine adults, and that a full 60 percent of Protestant churches in our country are attended by one hundred or fewer adults in worship.

A hundred may not seem like a lot, but considering the strength of the house church movement, where congregations rarely exceed 30, that’s huge.  Even in the 2500-member church my family attends, ministry rarely happens in groups much larger than 40 or 50.  Discipleship is broken into groups of a dozen or less.  (There were 15 in prayer meeting last week.)

Hear the encouragement of ESCN:  “every church in every community in a strategic position. By virtue of its purpose and location, each church in each community is uniquely qualified to influence those closest to it for Christ.”

The church I used to serve at in Massachusetts is land-limited to a couple hundred attendees.  The youth groups runs a couple dozen.  Yet they were named one of the best in the country, and the youth pastor told me they found they were effectively penetrating the High School and ministering to around 200 students.  Similarly, the summer camp for 5-12 year olds maxes out each year at over 100, influencing the community for Christ, even though only a fraction are members of the church.  (That camp has drawn in some community residents to become strong leaders, and many children have been saved over the years.)

Helping smaller churches achieve this goal is the purpose of the ESCN.  I recommend it to you.