I’ve seen a lot of articles recently on the state of the church. I’ve seen statistics that say that the church in America is growing at a rate faster than other religions. I’ve seen statistics that show that the church is declining faster than at any other time in history. I’ve seen statistics that show that while the number of new churches outnumbers the number of churches that close their door each year, we are still not keeping up with the population growth. So while the church in America is theoretically growing, it’s not growing at a pace that is in line with the growth of the overall population. Regardless of which camp you belong to, I think that most Christians will agree that the church is in trouble. Most of us know someone personally that has become disillusioned with church and no longer attends. That’s a statistic that didn’t exist a few years ago, but has grown to the point now that we should start to pay attention. There have been whole books, such as Exit Interviews, by William D Hendricks , written about the mass exodus from American churches.
One of the interesting things about this phenomenon is how strongly some Christians feel about the religious aspect of Christianity. A recent article on churchleaders.com spoke about the need for the church to repackage the message of the gospel for both a new generation and a new culture. Some of the responses from Christians:
“Thank you for your article and the time spent on writing it. However, I feel these points are exactly why some churches are now social clubs instead of hospitals for the sick. Majority of pastors are concentrating on quantity when they need to focus on quality. When we turn back to following the word of God, we will see tangible results in the lives of true children of God.”
“I find it interesting that the … premise of the article is that the culture is shifting, therefore, the church needs to change with the culture. Sounds like the tail is wagging the dog. Seriously, how about an article that investigates what the New Testament tells us how to do church?”
“What matters is to let the Word of God dictate how we “do” church. If we believe that Scripture is the sole rule of faith and practice, then why do some look to the world for how we do church?”
Isn’t it interesting to see how some Christians will hold dogmatically to areas of perceived “truth” so fast that they will watch people die and go to hell before they will admit that we may need to change the way church is done? Sure, we can do church the way we have always done it, but if fewer people are attending to hear the life-changing message that we say we have, the real question is: why would we? Why are we so opposed to change? By “we”, I mean WE. Myself included. I’m not saying that Christians are the only ones opposed to change, but I am focusing my discussion here on the church. From the comments above, I would have to conclude that these people believe that the sacredness of the process outweighs the potential for reaching more people with the gospel, although I’m sure that they didn’t intend to say this at all.
The fact is, the scripture doesn’t really tell us how to “do church”. There are no rules for how we should conduct a church service. Sure, there is some instruction to the church in Corinth about order, but the Bible doesn’t tell us when (or how) to take up the offering, what type of music should be played, whether we should or shouldn’t permit any type of media (drama, video etc) in the service, what topics should be preached on and which should be left alone or even what preaching style works best at making disciples. You would think that Jesus would have given some specific instruction on that wouldn’t you? “I’m leaving you now. Go into all the world and make disciples. You’ll find that expository preaching works best with a blend of old and new musical styles. And don’t push the offering too heavily. People don’t like it when you talk about money. And for heaven’s sake, make sure that people don’t enjoy themselves! We don’t want to be labeled as entertainers.” No such instruction exists as much as we wish it did sometimes. It would make things a lot simpler if we just knew what we were supposed to be doing. At least how we were supposed to be doing it.
I suspect that God knew what He was doing when He chose the vehicle of The Church to deliver His message. In fact, the church has not been exempt from conflict regarding style or message since its inception. Remember that little incident regarding allowing non-Jewish races to join the church? Some people (basically everyone) felt that the gospel had been presented to the Jews exclusively. It took God showing up to Peter personally on a rooftop to get that change to be reflected.
Paul also wrote extensively on the legalism that had crept into the early church. Some felt that unless you were Jewish physically, you could not become a member of the church. That had to cut down on the number of men who attended the early church. The point is that the church has always had differences of opinion on how to do things. While we have usually agreed on what to do, we have not always agreed on how to do it. While we have mostly agreed on what to say, we have not always agreed on how to say it. Jesus used parables. Paul used preaching, or expository speaking to get his message across. The thing is, we’re all different. Some people will respond to preaching, while others like myself will respond better to teaching. My mother senses the presence and power of God in hymns. I don’t. I am drawn into God’s presence through more modern musical styles. Still others experience God’s presence in prayer. We don’t all connect to God or to others in the same way, so why do we expect everyone to be like us? Of course, if everyone were just like me, the world would be a better albeit rather boring place. We’re not the same, and you know what? IT’S OK. Different does not equate to wrong. You like liturgy and ritual in worship? That’s OK. You like loud music and a pastor who wears jeans and a T-shirt? That’s OK too. It may not be me, but it’s OK if that’s you. See, the message we have does not change. God created man in His image to be in community with God. Man broke that community by disobeying God. That broken relationship has been passed down to each of us when we are born. However, although we deserved to die because of our disobedience, God had a plan to restore the broken relationship He now had with mankind. He sent His Son, Jesus, who had never broken God’s law, to take the punishment for our wrongdoing. Although Jesus did not deserve to die, He willingly came to earth as a man, lived a sinless life, and allowed Himself to be killed for a crime He did not commit. Three days after His death, God brought Him back to life. All that we have to do to be in community with God again is to accept the relationship that He offers each of us. That’s the gospel in a nutshell. Does it matter if it is presented through liturgy or with loud music and flashing lights? No. The message doesn’t change.
Can people really experience God by singing 300 year old songs? Sure they can. Maybe you can, maybe you can’t. Can the gospel be shared by using modern examples, like Superman? Sure it can. Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t. See, it’s really not about you in the end. It’s about God. God wants a restored relationship with every man, woman and child on the planet. Every one. Of course, that includes you. Everyone should find a church where they can connect with God and with other Christians. If modern music and a teaching style of presentation are what connects you to God, for heaven’s sake find a church that has modern music and a teaching style of presentation. But don’t get hung up on the little things. There are no perfect churches. Because churches are full of imperfect people. Like me. Like you.
The truth is, we don’t have a lot of time left to present the gospel. We don’t have time to get hung up on whether someone else is presenting the gospel in a way that appeals to us or not. As long as the gospel is being presented, I have to go along with the Apostle Paul on this one. “…the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.” ~ Philippians 1:18. We should be glad that the gospel is being presented with enough variety to appeal to a broad spectrum of people. Let’s remember our mission. Make disciples of all people. Even those who are a little different than we are.