Worn-out on Church?

I guess the sub-title says it all: “Worn-out on Church? Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary”. George Barna’s latest little offering is a rant called Revolution. Released last fall, I finally got around to seeing what the fuss was about. Not the fullest take on the issue, but it may rattle some cages if they are a Barna fan. Perhaps it can at least stir up some dialogue on a question that is lurking in the halls of many churches like a white elephant nobody dares talk about.

The issue Revolution tackels is the role the local church should play in the life of the believer. Barna says “Droves of committed believers are foregoing Sunday mornings to live a 24/7 faith unfettered by the clutter and bureaucracy within the church walls.” And it’s not just people embracing a “feel-good, invent-your-own spirituality” that prefer to worship at The Green Cathedral of the 18 Holes on Sunday morning. It’s passionate Christians with a vibrant faith who just don’t have time for the “same old, same old” churchianity and the artificial bubble of the Christian sub-culture. Barna predicts that by 2025 only about one-third of American Christians will rely upon a local congregation as the primary or exclusive means for experiencing and expressing their faith. The rest will be split between a) alternative forms of faith-based community and b) the media, arts, and other cultural institutions (p. 49). I'm not sure what the stats would be, but I'd guess that Canadians are already further along that path that those south of the 49th.

As a Pastor working in a traditional church setting this obviously has some significant ramifications for me. But it’s really nothing new. I remember having this discussion with a number of people that left the first church I was pastoring back in the early 90’s. At that time I thought they were uncommitted, wishy-washy (even back-sliding!) Christians who were going on strike because they didn’t want to tithe or support the vision (my vision?) of the church. Having been around the block a few times in the last 15 years, I’ve been chagrinned to realize that lately I’ve been articulating their side of the argument. I’d like to go back and have those conversations again. Maybe we could have seen something really dynamic released in our community.

Don't get me wrong. I love The Church, even the local small ‘c’ kind of church. But I’ve come to believe that what we mean by 'local church' needs redefining. We can no longer measure the success of a church by the A, B, C’s we have used for so long – Attendance, Buildings, and Cash-flow. The reality is that if only one-third of believers are going to show up on Sunday we won’t have enough resources to staff our programs or pay for our buildings to get the job done in the way that until now we think it should be done.

But from a Kingdom perspective, maybe, just maybe, that’s not a bad thing. Maybe some of the keys to impacting our community that all of us professional pastors are desperately scrambling for are not to be found in a better Sunday service or an improved variety of more elaborate programs. Maybe we should be looking towards releasing, enhancing, and facilitating alternative faith communities. (Like living room churches, perhaps?) But can we as leaders in a traditional local church even go there? How does that impact the local church we are trying to build? (insteresting how we phase that...) Or closer to home, how does this impact my pay cheque?

Or is the right question “How does that impact The Kingdom?”

Hmmmm... Just a thought. I’d like to hear yours…