The age-old adage rings true for churches, too: If you are not moving forward, then you are moving backward. Stagnation, folks, is synonymous with … dying. There’s no two ways about it… In light of that,
- What kind of legacy do we want to leave for the future?
- Appealing to those of the Baby Boomer Generation and up, today, what do you want your life to be remembered for?
If I may be so bold, the only kind of legacy worth leaving, folks, is one that is eternal! So, will we leave a legacy of faith—that which lasts for eternity—for the generations that follow us?
So often we forget that the Church is not really about us; it’s about Christ and his Kingdom purposes. When we take what is God’s (The Church) and begin to treat it as if it were a personal possession, we’re in trouble! Today, we’re going to be talking about how The Church has gotten into trouble over the last several years—why the younger generations no longer consider The Church ‘essential’… But first, let’s listen to our scripture for today:
“What shall we say, then? Should we continue to live in sin so that God’s grace will increase? 2 Certainly not! We have died to sin [‘self-centeredness of the flesh’]—how then can we go on living in it? 3 For surely you know that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptized into union with his death. 4 By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life. 5 For since we have become one with him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with him by being raised to life as he was. 6 And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. 7 For when we die [our spiritual death], we are set free from the power of sin. 8 Since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that Christ has been raised from death and will never die again—death will no longer rule over him. 10 And so, because he died, sin has no power over him; and now he lives his life in fellowship with God. 11 In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus.” – Romans 6:1-11 (TEV)
Folks, one of the greatest ‘sins’ that we tend to hang on to … is ‘the sin of stagnation.’ We love things the way that they are—the way they’ve always been. The problem with that is … it’ll kill us, as a church. As Pastor Craig Groeshel says, “To reach people that no one is reaching … you have to do things that no one is doing.”
We’re going to be THAT church in southwest Wisconsin—the one that is faithful enough to the younger generations to do things that no one else is doing!But, in order to do that, we have to understand not only where we’re at today; we also have to know how we got here! So, let’s turn now to the ‘seven sins of dying churches’ in order to help us to do just that:
SIN #1: DOCTRINAL DILUTION. Many have made this mistake, but watering down Scripture (the truth of scripture) is not the answer to reaching a younger generation for Christ! Some days, pastors act as if younger generations just can’t handle the truth (and, yes, I’m thinking of Jack Nicholson in ‘A Few Good Men’ right now!), but that’s not the truth! They don’t want to be mollycoddled when dealing with tough doctrinal truths; teaching anything less than the absolute truths of scripture will simply lead to a feeling of betrayal, as they see the difference between what they hear from the Church … and what they read in God’s word! Truths like ‘the exclusivity of Christ’ (the Way) need to be taught boldly … in a world that’s been taken over by ‘pluralism.’ Well, this one may be more for whoever’s in this pulpit, but we all need to know that this sin—diluting the truth of scripture—has helped drive away the younger generations—killing the Church as we’ve known it!
SIN #2: LOSS OF EVANGELISTIC PASSION. Dying churches have very little (if any) evangelistic passion; they putter around at sharing their faith—not at all what Jesus had in mind when he told us to ‘make disciples.’ I can’t help but think of Peter and John as they faced the tribunal in Acts 4; the accusers were amazed at the boldness of their faith! The tribunal demanded silence, ordering them not to teach & preach in the name of Jesus any more. If they did, it would cost them their lives! So, how did they respond?
“But Peter and John answered them, ‘You yourselves judge which is right in God’s sight—to obey you or to obey God. 20 For we cannot stop speaking of what we ourselves have seen and heard.’” – Acts 4:19-20 (TEV)
Folks, what have we seen and heard? How can we possibly keep this GOOD NEWS to ourselves? Dying churches stop speaking about Christ to the world! We’re dead if we do that… Here’s the next one:
SIN #3: FAILURE TO BE RELEVANT. Relevance is really a buzzword among churches today; I believe it’s a good one (There’s even a magazine called ‘Relevant’)! There’s nothing more relevant to a lost world than the saving grace of Jesus Christ! The unchanging truths of scripture will always have the answer for those searching to fill that spiritual void in their lives! Here are the Apostle Paul’s words to a young pastor by the name of Timothy…
“But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers— 15 why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. 17 Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.” – 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (MSG)
Failure for scripture to be relevant in the lives of our younger generations is no one’s fault but our own; we have the ‘relevant’ tools to use, but we need to learn to use them! Next is…
SIN #4: FEW OUTWARDLY FOCUSED MINISTRIES. Show me a church that cares more about its survival than it does about fulfilling the Great Commission and I’ll show you a dying (or dead) church! When that’s the case, it’s time to shut the doors; they’ve moved to a stage of misrepresenting what the Church is supposed to be…
A few weeks ago, you heard a message from this pulpit on ‘Cat Theology vs. Dog Theology.’ So, I don’t have to go into this deeply again. Suffice it to say that a church that has ‘few outwardly focused ministries’ is a Cat Theology kind of a church!
As crucial as Bible studies and fellowship are, dying churches gorge themselves on closed study groups and church-wide fellowship events, while neglecting outreach in the community. The ‘country club church’ can remain so only for a certain amount of time; in order for the American Church to survive into the future, it must learn to reach out into the community with outwardly focused ministries! Essential churches think outwardly … always looking for that next opportunity to share their faith and to win another soul for Christ!
SIN #5: CONFLICT OVER PERSONAL PREFERENCES. Have you ever heard questions like these?
- Should the bulletins be bi-fold or tri-fold?
- What type of font is better suited for the newsletter—Arial or New Times Roman?
- What kind of drinks do we serve our guests? Do we serve rotgut coffee … or do we go ahead and serve up some Starbucks, if that’s what would get our younger generations on board?
People within the church can squabble over the most insignificant things; and, these kinds of conflicts (trivial) can absolutely smother a church! These quibbles tend to overshadow the true purpose of the Church! When the power of ‘personal preference’ overcomes ‘God’s purpose’—the call of The Great Commission, serious shortsightedness tends to spread among the congregation. They do not see the imperative to win people for Christ due to the blurriness of their own selfishness. In my experience, nothing can kill a church faster than this sin! ESSENTIAL CHURCHES grasp the primacy of the Gospel!
SIN #6: THE PRIORITY OF COMFORT. Dying churches just love being comfortable…
- They’re comfortable with ‘their ministries’…
- They’re comfortable with their comfort levels the way they are…
- They’re comfortable with NOT being stretched spiritually…
One of the greatest things that can happen in the church is for people to approach their pastor or other leaders about upcoming changes, with reservations… Now, that sounds bad to some, but to me … that’s great! Why? That means they’re being stretched spiritually…
‘The way we’ve always done it’ will not pass muster if the American church is to thrive! Essential Churches flourish as they get outside their comfort zones and reach into uncharted territories of ministry… “We’ve never done it that way before” needs to soon be followed by phrases like, “but we’ll do whatever it takes to fulfill God’s calling on our lives as The Church.” Finally…
SIN #7: BIBLICAL LITERACY. Or, maybe we should say … ‘illiteracy.’ 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us, “Do your best to win full approval in God’s sight, as a worker who is not ashamed of his work, one who correctly teaches the message of God’s truth.”
One of the major sins of a dying church is the neglect of theological teaching (teaching about God)! If a church member doesn’t understand the basics of scripture, then they are really limited in their ability to witness to their faith! And, those who don’t comprehend the scriptures will also have trouble remaining obedient in their walk with God… Knowing the Word of God is serious business; that’s why I’ve been urging everyone in this congregation to pick a reading plan and read your Bible regularly throughout each year… My purpose for doing that, even when I arrived over 6 years ago, was for us to move toward being an ESSENTIAL church…
Let me share with you what these 7 sins of dying churches have done to our United Methodist Church right here in Wisconsin (2008)…
Current #s: Loss in these areas (last 10 years):
Membership: 84,000 2,551/year
Worship Attendance: 39,000 1,172/year
What this means is that the United Methodist Church in Wisconsin—at this rate—will cease to exist in 32-33 years. The Wisconsin Annual Conference would become a non-viable organization in as little as 15 years (without the #s to sustain ministry as we have known it)…
Folks, we’ve majored on the minors long enough. It’s time now that we, as a local church and a part of the larger Church, get back to the basics—get back to doing what we were supposed to do in the first place: Make Disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of this world! We may have to slaughter a sacred cow or two to get there … but, back to the basics is where we need to go, whatever it takes…
Are you ready to do something about ‘our problem?’ Are you ready to help the Church move from non-essential to essential in the lives of our young people and others who do not feel connected to the Body of Christ in any way? It’s the direction we need to move … and now!