I have been blogging some this morning – posting on other people’s blogs. I guess it is time to post on my own.
I have been so caught up in the various things happening out there. I found encouragement toward a resolution to Wade Burleson’s individual situation on his blog. I found hypocrisy and sheer un-Christian attitudes exposed on Kevin Bussey’s blog. I found news articles about the IMB controversy and the possibility of the members of the SBC asking all the trustees to step down if they continue their course of asking for Wade’s removal on Marty Duren’s blog. I also found a discussion on Rick Thompson’s blog that featured a “critique” of one of my comments concerning the local church after the article, “If the church is the only hope, what is the hope for the church?” In the end, it is this that has got me going.
I have been reading Barna’s book, Revolution, as noted in the sidebar on the right. I was going to save comment on it until I was done. I was, however, delayed by caring for a sick child and haven”t finished as I hoped to do. Still, I think Barna has a few things to say and since the subject came up in a way that I couldn’t avoid over at Rick’s blog, I want to address it here. Remember, please, that I am not quite finished.
First let me say that I am not buying everything Barna is selling. I do believe in the validity of the local church. If I did not, I would quit it and start trying to reach people through another lifestyle altogether. My presence in the local church is my greatest testimony in my belief in the local church.
There are some things that the church needs to deal with, however. Nationwide, approximately 80% of unchurched people (81% in KY) have left the church after having been a part of it. In KY, 43% of the unchurched left in the previous 5 years (2005 stat) and 38% in all the years previous. Moreover, the numbers get larger as the unchurched get younger. To sum up, the church has a major disconnect between younger generations and the gap is widening yearly.
The complaint? I am paraphrasing and oversimplifying, but mostly they think we are fake. And I have to agree. To a large extent we are.
Now I am not talking about your run of the mill hypocrisy, here. We all bear the marks of a life not lived up to the standards we represent in Christ.
The issue of falsehood that is so egregious is that we claim to have a life altering message, but settle for church membership/attendance. At least, this is true in the churches around me. The concern is that we should get people in church, get kids off the street, keep them out of trouble, get that young family to attend – they’ve been out for a while. Truth is, that young family is finding that the time investment in the church is not reaping the spiritual dividends that we claim will be theirs. Rather, they get songs and sermons to which they cannot relate, child care that appears not to prioritize their children’s safety, and people who are more concerned that they be counted and that they give some money than if their souls are nourished.
This is not true of every church. In fact, I suspect that no church represents this concept in a wholesale fashion. It is, however, a fact that we are perceived this way by many.
We need to be willing to lay aside our format. That has been said before and will be said again. My greatest concern here is that we need to lay aside the way we practically do evangelism. Too many times we settle for “getting people in church,” and we just quit with that.
First we need to make sure that we are leading them to faith in Christ. Then we need to make sure that we are nurturing them in the areas of discipleship, fellowship, vital worship, sound doctrine and more. The more we count them and expect money from them, the less they will be there and the less they will give. The more we really win them and really nurture them, the more they be faithful and the more they will invest of their money, time and talents.
What do you think we need to do differently than we are doing?
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Kdawg
on Feb 1st, 2006
@ 1:27 pm:
Good insight! I think our evangelism must change drastically. Instead of becoming friends with people in order to win them to Christ. We need to become friends with people and because we love them tell them about Christ.
We have become “shady used car salesmen” (many are very Godly people). We want to “earn their bidness” as they say rather than genuinely care about them. We don’t need to put notches on our belts, we need to be genuinely broken for lost people and change our methods to reach them!
KB
Evangelical Orthodoxy
on Feb 1st, 2006
@ 3:27 pm:
You make some good points, and frankly there is not enough room on this blog to really consider the broader issue. I think the first is the general philosophy that sweeps across America. The trendies call it post-modernism; I am one of the few that reject this. I think we suffer from mass individuality, which really is modernity gone to seed. Everyone does what he or she wants without consideration for the community. We see this in church, in business, in politics, in relationships. Since Constantine, the Church has been in the business of many things besides being the Church. The Reformation stopped the advance, but quickly Reformers – most notably Calvin – became what he sought to reform. In America, the Church really did not find its voice until the Social Gospel of the late 1800s. So well did the Church succeed in the Temperence and Labor movements that it established itself in American psyche. During the 20th Century, again popularity bred prosperity … prosperity never works for the Church. The American Church became a political and cultural institution and a framework of the community. After the 1960s, this became less so, and the Religious Right tried to re-establis the Church as an arm of the Republican Party. All of these – whether a Sunday Country Club or a right-wing rally – is not the purpose of the Church. To thrive, the Church need not emulate MTV or pretend to be hip. The church needs to be authentic. An authentic place for people to encounter God.
art rogers
on Feb 2nd, 2006
@ 8:52 am:
kdawg,
You do a good job of portraying our mixed motives. We often offer friendship with ulterior motives, albeit good ones. We need to share Christ out of a genuine love for people. They do sense that we are fake, don’t they?
Evangelical Orthodoxy,
Or should I say “Kyle,”
Thanks for your insight. You are right about this being a broader issue. In my opinion, it is so broad as to defy comprehensive discussion. I think the only way to talk about all of it is to talk about the pieces of it, one slice at a time. Of course, this will mean that when we get done, much will have changed in the subject of our first discussion and we will have to revisit it.
Which is fine. It’ll keep us fresh, right?
martyduren
on Feb 2nd, 2006
@ 9:04 am:
*Off topic*
Dude-
The blog looks mui bien; good work.
James Hunt
on Feb 2nd, 2006
@ 11:13 pm:
Thought I’d drop in and read. Glad I did. Your post as well as the comments that followed are right on.
Bold, compassionate proclamation of the gospel preached by people living it out in practical acts of mercy would be a good strategy. I say this…even as I’m trying to learn it.
James