In my last post, I talked about the shift toward multi-site churches that has occurred over the past decade or so. This shift has been so subtle and also has met with such little resistance that it has become commonplace today without many people even realizing it.
One of the other shifts that has occurred in recent years has to do with church attendance. As I mentioned in a previous post, I grew up as a pastor’s son. When we said went to church, we went to church. In fact, when I was a kid, our Wednesday night attendance was nearly that of our Sunday morning and Sunday night attendance. If the doors of the church were open, we went to church. It was the same for our small community. Attending church regularly meant that you were there every Sunday morning, at least 3 out of 4 Sunday nights and no less than 2 out of 4 Wednesday evening services each month.
Going to church was just one of those things you did if you were a Christian. Even as I got older and had a choice about whether to go to church, I went. I didn’t have many friends in school. All of my best friends went to church with me. It may not have been the right motivation, but I went to church to see my friends. We had the same ushers every week. The same person taught our Sunday School class each week. The pianist and organist were there every week. At every service!
But if we look at statistics for church attendance today, we will see that church attendance has been steadily declining over the past decade or so. Yet, despite the decline in attendance, nearly 80% of people self-identify as Christians. Where is the disconnect? It’s in the frequency that people attend. Where everyone went to church every week in the 50’s, 60’s and even the 70’s, the frequency with which people attended church has declined over the past 20 years.
As Thom Rainer points out in his post on this subject, If the frequency of attendance changes, then attendance will respond accordingly. For example, if 200 members attend every week the average attendance is, obviously, 200. But if one-half of those members miss only one out of four weeks, the attendance drops to 175. Did you catch that? No members left the church. Everyone is still relatively active in the church. But attendance declined over 12 percent because half the members changed their attendance behavior slightly. [1]
There are several reasons for this trend. First, Cultural Christians no longer see the need to go to church every week. Going to church weekly used to be normal behavior for Christians. But despite attending church, there were a lot of attenders who never got involved in the church. They sat in their pews or seats each week and listened to the preacher preach and then went home and had Sunday dinner and watched football. There was no engagement with the church. That is no longer the case. Attending church every week is no longer seen as one of the necessary requisites for sustaining Christianity. There are several reasons for this shift in thinking that I won’t go into in this post.
The second reason for less frequent attendance is the proliferation of single and blended families. If we consider that having shared custody of a child may mean that you get that child every other weekend, that has affected church attendance. Those with smaller children may attend church only on the weeks that they have the children – in order to take them to church. On the other hand, many families who share custody, particularly with older children will not come to church on the weeks that they have custody in order to spend more time with their children.
The last reason I want to focus on has a couple of different factors that affect it. First, the rise of technology, and second, a valid reason to attend. With the relatively quick rise of technology, it is no longer necessary to go to a local church to hear great music and listen to a great message by a nationally recognized leader. Anyone with a smartphone can tune in to great services each week that are headlined by speakers such as Andy Stanley, Steven Furtick or Brian Houston just to name a few. Why get out of bed and go to a church when I can stay in my own living room with a cup of coffee and listen to whoever I want on my computer or phone? Sure, we had TV preachers back in the day, but with the technology available to today’s youth, in particular, they no longer view community in terms of flesh and blood connection. They’re perfectly comfortable with connection through technology.
There are a number of other reasons that are affecting church attendance. There is a definite shift toward less frequent attendance though. If we are going to combat or offset this issue we’re going to need to create an environment in our churches that gives people a reason to attend more frequently.
Check back next time for more trends in the church. Follow me on twitter (@RealTomRawlings) for more trends, leadership and church growth tips.
I was raised in a fairly conservative denomination. We dressed in our Sunday best every week, (yes, that’s me in the picture) went to church, sang from the hymnal, listened to a message from the preacher (my Dad) and went back on Sunday night to do it all over again. As I grew older, I realized a disconnect between my church life and my “real” life. I sang hymns on Sunday morning in church, but I certainly didn’t listen to hymns during the week. No – I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and I was a musician, so I didn’t listen to hymns. I listened to the Doobie Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston and ZZ Top. There was a definite disconnect in my musical styles. And then…
During this time, we were seen by many as rebels. And there was some backlash from the “older” folks. The choruses weren’t as theologically rich as the hymns used to be. We just repeated the same chorus over and over (and over and over…) there was no musicality to it. We no longer sang a bass part – what were the men supposed to do?
As I look around, I see things changing once again. I see these youngsters attempting to hijack everything I worked so hard to accomplish! They’re taking my music and ruining it! The songs are more love songs – very shallow compared to my choruses. The music is almost hip hop – not musically pleasing to me. The stage is set up for a show – all of the flashing lights and fog… How could they do this? After everything we endured to pass on a theologically correct form of worship, they’re messing everything up! In fact, I find myself in the precarious position of standing in the way of progress.
We’ve all heard the old adage “whoever dies with the most toys wins”. While we know it isn’t true, we still like the idea of accumulating things that will build our reputation. We want to be remembered when we die. I don’t think anyone ever looks at their life and says “I would like to die obscure and alone”. We want to be remembered for something.
I think that all of us can look back at our lives and see some great experiences. Even some not so great ones that we have learned valuable lessons from. So what happens to this valuable knowledge when we die? Who benefits from it? What will we be remembered for, and who will be the ones who remember us? I remember sitting down with my grandmother just months before she died. She recounted all of my fathers antics as he was growing up. It was great just to hear stories of my father when he was younger. To learn a little more about his life. Things that he would have never shared with me because they didn’t set the proper example for his son!
In 2 Timothy 3:10, Paul again addresses Timothy – “you know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance…” Paul challenges Timothy to learn by emulating his lifestyle. Paul wasn’t a slacker. He worked hard, and faced challenges and difficulties often. Here, he tells Timothy to learn how to live life by watching him. Paul had found his purpose in life, and was instructing young Timothy to not only learn how to approach life, but how to live life. Paul’s first sentence addresses not only what he teaches, but how he lives. We should also not just pass along information when mentoring, but pass along pieces of our lives. We should be the examples of not only mature Christianity, but an example of how to live life.
I am where I am today because of others who have poured a little of themselves into me. They weren’t content to just be my friend or my “boss”. Their goal was to make me a better person, not just to make themselves look good. I am now passing my life onto others. I challenge you to do the same. Use both your victories and defeats in life to make a difference in someone else’s life. Don’t just die with the most toys. The real winners are those who live on through the lives of others.
Love is a funny thing isn’t it? We can love our dog, love our children, love our spouse love our car or our job and even love pizza! There are so many aspects of love that it’s difficult to understand sometimes. Love can be convoluted by the broad meaning of the word and it becomes easy to fake love because of it’s very nature. I remember being in love once in high school. The police called it stalking, but I know it was love!
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People will love only themselves…. How true is this? I was just talking to someone about this the other day. I experience it many times a day. Can you relate to slow drivers in the left hand lane? They aren’t concerned about holding up traffic. They are thinking about themselves. Or nothing at all. It’s difficult to tell sometimes. I’ve been shopping at a well-known department store while the stocker was stocking the shelf I wanted to purchase something from. Did they move so I could get my item? Not a chance. They are thinking about doing their job, not about me trying to purchase something. I’ve been driving in the parking lot looking for a place to park while someone pushes a cart down the middle of the parking lot. Are they thinking about holding up another person? No. They’re thinking about finding their car and unloading their cart. People think about themselves – not others. I’m sure you can think of a situation I may not have mentioned. In all of these cases, people are showing by their actions that they love themselves more than they love me.
What if we really loved each other? What if we gave up our favorite seat to a guest at the church and helped them feel welcome? What if, instead of thinking about what we like, we started asking what others like? What if we helped those in our community ~ raked leaves or mowed the lawns of our neighbors? What if we got involved in the church ~ even if it meant just walking around greeting others, or walking a new family to their child’s classroom? What if we became known as the best employee by our employers and co-workers because we were looking out for them? What if we really loved each other? Wouldn’t that make the rest of our culture take notice? 
I was reminded again recently of our humanity. Another church leader had a “moral failure”. Of course, this type of thing creates a feeding frenzy among the anti-religious faction, and embarrasses quite a few Christians in the process. I think the thing that surprises me the most, is that we are surprised at all. I mean, let’s face it – we all have moral failures. As much as we don’t want to admit it as Christians, none of us live a sinless life. Even after salvation we continue to struggle with sin. It is that struggle that puts us in need of a Savior and right smack in the sights of God’s grace. And yet, we treat someone who has messed up as the enemy when their “moral failure” is discovered. It’s not that we’re any better. We just haven’t been caught. Yet. So my question is, how good is good enough? Actually, the question should be, how deep do you have to hide your sinful nature to be used by God?
I guess what I’m getting at is that we are so quick to condemn but not to forgive. It is this very kind of judgement that Jesus addressed in Matthew 6 when he admonished us not to judge. Don’t look at other people’s faults when you yourself have similar faults. One reader of an article on a pastor who had sinned pointed out that, statistically, most of the men condemning him for having a problem with pornography have the same problem. Yet we hold such men in high regard and are surprised when they don’t live up to our standards. Paul addresses this issue directly in Romans 7 where he says “
I’ve recently come to know God in a new way. You see, one of my children decided to show out a little while ago. This is not the first time this has happened. Since she is an adult (by age anyway) spanking is not appropriate any more. I’m now faced with a dilemma that God faces every day. In God’s terms, my child sinned against me. She exhibited unacceptable behavior towards me. My challenge is this: I still love her, but I can’t allow her to continue this behavior. Therefore, I cannot just forgive her and move on as if nothing ever happened. That would be enabling. Don’t misunderstand me. I can forgive her. It’s the ignoring the wrong that gets me.
I think that we have often bought into the cultural lie that God is too loving to punish us. After all, like my Mom said – why can’t God just forgive and forget? Because it is his nature to shun sin. While grace without sin is not grace, continuing to sin because of grace substitutes entitlement for grace. God does not offer entitlement, he offers grace. How do I become more like God? I need to love the person who has done the perceived wrong to me. I need to be quick to offer grace when asked to. I need to restore the relationship and not hold past wrongs against people. It’s grace that will cover the wrong and restore the relationship, which is really what God wants. It should be what we want as well.
When we look at most cultural issues from a Christian perspective, there usually seems to be two sides to every argument. When we look at the issue of abortion, there are the pro-lifers and the pro-choicers. The issue of same-sex marriage has been a hot topic recently in Christian circles. We are labeled as homophobes and bigots because most people who consider themselves Christians are opposed to the idea of same-sex marriage. Then you have those who consider homosexuality a normal, natural state. The issue of alcohol has two camps – prohibitionists, and those who consider the consumption of alcohol to be well within the scope of living a Christian life. We have even taken sides on some of the basics of Christianity. Consider the subject of faith, or Faith, depending on which camp you reside in. There are those who consider faith to be a verb – something which is exercised. There are others who consider Faith as a noun – something which one possesses and uses to obtain all that God wishes for every Christian. There are people on both sides of the fence when it comes to the subject of grace as well. There are those who believe that Gods grace will cover any sin, therefore it’s OK to sin as often as you like. God’s grace will not hold the sin against you. Then there are those who believe that grace alone is not enough. One must also follow myriads of rules, regulations, “suggestions” and other things so that God will know you are serious enough to warrant His grace.
Why do we so often relegate such things to either one side or the other? We polarize nearly everything that is spiritual to the point that we often see those who think differently than us as “The Enemy” – even though they are Christians. It’s often difficult for us to see any other opinion than our own because we tend to be “black and white” types of people. We see sin as sin and even a little sin is enough to affect our lives. This is because we are made in the image of God and He sees sin the same way. The difference is that while God does not tolerate sin, He has great compassion for the sinner. Another difference is that we often don’t recognize our own propensity for sinning. We are quick to point out the moral failures of others while overlooking our own shortcomings. This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7 when He said “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” As Christians, we must do some judging, or we will treat sin and holiness the same way. We must judge between right and wrong. We are taught to beware of false teachers, which we would not recognize unless we were judging their actions and motives. What Jesus says in Matthew 7 is to not judge others when we ourselves have sin in our lives. We often don’t see the sin in our own lives. Or we choose to overlook it because someone else’s sin is much worse than our own. So we split into two camps. Ours and Theirs.
What you can determine from this conversation is that there is probably an element of truth in someone’s story, but neither of these stories is 
Soon after high school, I felt a strong call on my life to be involved in ministry. However, being a pastor was the only form of Godly service I could think of. And with the sting of church abuse still fresh on my mind, that wasn’t the direction I wanted to go. And then God got very specific with me. He gave me the specific call of being involved in music ministry. Of that I was positive. Now I had a clear goal. However, the path to getting to my goal was still unclear. Even after I had begun to set my sights on my future, things were still unclear. I had a destination in mind, but getting there was very confusing. I couldn’t see a clear path to my goals. Do I go to school? Do I begin looking for a job in music ministry? What is my next step?
Wouldn’t it be great to see the future? To have it all laid out for you? And yet, as those of us who follow God as a matter of course have come to discover, that isn’t at all the case. Especially, it seems, when following a directive given by God himself!
However, in this case, God had something else in mind to help them reach their goal. He had the priests carry the Ark of The Covenant into the water first. The Ark represented the presence of God, since it was considered to actually contain God’s presence. Doing this would cause the path to become clear. The river stopped flowing about 20 miles upriver from their crossing which allowed them to see clearly their steps across to their destination.
“Not idiot,” said one of the men. “Only one thing. Five months ago, at festival time, Johnny came to the island and found himself a wife. He paid her father eight cows!”
“Sarits’a father, Sam knew that his daughter was not going to bring a high price. His family advised him to ask for three cows and hold out for two until he was sure to get one. But Sam was in such a stew and so afraid there’d be some slip in this marriage chance for Sarita that he knew he couldn’t hold out for anything. So while he waited he resigned himself to accepting one cow, and thought, instead, of his luck in getting such a good husband for Sarita. Then Johnny came into the tent and, without waiting for a word from anyone, went straight up to Sam, grasped his hand and said, “Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter.” And he delivered the cows.
As they were speaking, a woman entered the adjoining room and placed a bowl of blossoms on the dining table. She stood still a moment to smile with sweet gravity at Johnny. Then she went swiftly out again. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. This girl had an ethereal loveliness. The dew-fresh flowers with which she’d pinned back her lustrous black hair accented the glow of her cheeks. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle of her eyes all spelled a pride to which no one could deny her the right. And as she turned to leave she moved with grace that made her look like a queen.
“Happy?” He seemed to turn the word over on his tongue, as if to test its meaning. “I wanted Sarita to be happy, yes, but I wanted more than that. You say she’s different from the way they remember her. This is true. Many things can change a woman. Things that happen inside, things that happen outside. But the thing that matters most is what she thinks about herself. Back on the island, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. Now she knows that she is worth more than any other woman on the islands.”