Wednesday, July 25, 2012
What Makes It Last?
In two parts, Skye Jethani looks at some statistics and demographics that indicate the megachurch phenomena may be a bubble about to burst. You can read the stats at the links, they look scarily like the stats and demographics for some mainlines a few decades ago. He offers no solutions.
Here's what concerns me - why is the church a "trendy" institution? The church is the institution that holds and exists solely to maintain and proclaim the bedrock truth of our lives. That is not a trendy thing. In fact if the church has to follow trends to to fulfill that primary function then it may not be possessing that which it is supposed to possess.
Further, can a church that is trendy truly fulfill its mission. Jethani closes his posts with an anecdote:
Further it is time for the church to let the truth transform us. IF we are winsome, the church is winsome and trends are unnecessary.
Here's what concerns me - why is the church a "trendy" institution? The church is the institution that holds and exists solely to maintain and proclaim the bedrock truth of our lives. That is not a trendy thing. In fact if the church has to follow trends to to fulfill that primary function then it may not be possessing that which it is supposed to possess.
Further, can a church that is trendy truly fulfill its mission. Jethani closes his posts with an anecdote:
Kallestad began networking around the country looking for a young pastor he could bring onboard and eventually hand the church over to. One conversation stuck with him.Trends are not truth. Trends can service the truth, but they often end up hiding it. It is time for the church to focus on the truth.
“It’s a pretty good opportunity,” Walt said. “We have 187 acres just of a major freeway, multipurpose buildings, and a great staff.”
The leader looked him in the eyes and said, “Who’d want it? Who in their right minds would want to run that?”
“That’s when it dawned on me,” Kallestad reflected. “By the time we service the $12-million debt, pay the staff, and maintain the property, we’ve spent more than a million before we can spend a dime on our mission. At the time, we had plans for a spectacular worship center with a retractable roof. After that conversation, I scrapped it.”
Further it is time for the church to let the truth transform us. IF we are winsome, the church is winsome and trends are unnecessary.
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