Some thought after attending Congress 2006
Posted by Don Bryant on February 6, 2006
Went to Congress 2006. As always, it’s a great experience-worshiping, equipping, fellowshiping, and roaming the exhibit hall. But I do walk away from Congress at times with the feeling that lots of evangelicals don’t really like church…. I just hear a lot about how really bad we are doing. Scott McKnight’s workshop nailed a trend that is growing at an alarming rate. There are approximately 20 million evangelicals in the US who don’t “do church.” They are experiencing what is called “distributed formation.” They distribute their spiritual growth over many different resources – books, cds and dvds, conferences, the internet, etc. But they are not doing local church in any consistent way. At most they are drifting from church to church with no one place providing the soil for their spiritual roots. It is predicted that this trend will continue to grow until in 2025 there will be 70 million who don’t do church.
The other theme I consistently hear is how much the world doesn’t like or relate to the church and how much work the church has to do to get back into the world’s graces so they will give the Gospel a new ear. True enough. But I do wonder. The church is spending a lot of time doing church for the world-their music style, their preferred atmosphere, their preferred dress, etc. No wonder that church people get so “antsy” about church. Developing a full congregational life is not so much what it’s about anymore. Christians have to be extremely careful about creating any barriers between themselves and the world to the point where maybe the church isn’t calling any shots anymore. Everything has to be done so that the world buys in. But the reality is that the world isn’t buying in. Church growth in the US is stagnant. Megachurches are growing as a phenomenon, but that doesn’t mean the Kingdom is being extended – Christians are just grouping differently. They like big churches (so do I) with the full menu of professionaly run programming and the economies of scale that make resources available in abundance. And that sounds good to me, too.
I wonder if the “seeker” knows that he is being catered to and secretly wishes that the church would just be the church.
Laurie J. Parker said
I don’t like big churches, because the intimacy of the Savior is truly lost at the initiation of membership…. you become a number of the roster and forget that He knows your name.
As far as the Congress experience… Christians love to know that they are not alone, but alone is the only place where the true experience of the Savior exists… so entrain new Christians who are excited to know that they are not alone, but is the large church capable of sustaining the truth of the personal relationship…. I odn’t think so.
freeman said
The church itself, in general, does not know how to be the church, Although it is clear in His Word what the church should be, the church has changed radically to accomodate itself to the culture. This being the case and the church itself rationalizing and condoning it, what must the “seeker” think when the Holy Spirit draws him to Jesus and he enters a church? The wisdom of this world says, “How cam we attract the seeker?”. But God says,”Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks /gentiles
look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stunbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…”
1Cor1:22-23. The seeker is drawn and he knows not why – we know why and must believe that he has been drawn to hear the “foolishness” of the gospel. The church seems to believe that it is not doing it’s job because unbelievers are not coming through it’s doors in larger numbers. The truth is that the church (again, in general), believes that the simple preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ won’t convict unbelievers and cause them to repent of their unbelief. It is sad to think that unbelievers view the gospel as foolishness; but it is even sadder to think that many of our leaders have forgotten that “…the foolishness of God is stronger than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” 1Cor1:25 We are the true seekers who seek to know God more and more every day through Jesus Christ and His Spirit. The unbelieving “seeker” as many call them does not know who or what he is seeking until he is told and shown by us, the true church. Are we doing that or are we simply creating a comfortable feeling Christ for them (and, consequently, ourselves)?
George Brugliera said
I hope all is well with you Don and everyone at Coastal