What’s Wrong with Your Church?

Don’t tell me. Next time a non-Christian asks what you do (especially if you’re a pastor), gripe a little. Griping to modern Americans is like eating – everyone does it, usually with company. Make sure you’re griping about struggles, not gossiping about saints. It doesn’t hurt to remind yourself (and tell your conversation buddy) why you put up with all that, too.

A little honesty might go a long way.

How to Increase Lay Participation

Many churches struggle with stagnant or declining participation from lay people. Even growing churches want to get more of the congregation active in ministry.

Often that means staff and clergy pick up the slack. This often leads to church members slacking more.

The reason lay people are notoriously passive is because of the very distinction between laity and staff/clergy. Laity are amateurs, while clergy are professionals. Lay people volunteer to support ministry, but the truth is the ministry belongs to the church, and the church is run by the professionals.

There are various strategies to boost lay ministry, but I believe they are ultimately short-sighted. When a particular mission is accomplished, laity will default back to a passive mentality until prodded into action again. The goal should not be specific participation but a perspective change that empowers laity to pursue mission without waiting for approval.

The first step for pastors and staff is stop doing ministry! As long as you’re willing to pick up the slack, laity will feel they have permission to leave slack.

Ministry is the job of the whole church, not a specially appointed caste of ministers. Pastors often see their calling as “doing ministry” when this actually robs the church of its full functioning.

Instead, pastors must become equippers of the saints. This does not happen through sermons, meetings, counseling, or educational opportunities. It happens through one-on-one or small group mentoring, to help members discern their personal gifts and callings, then coaching them on pursuing that calling with integrity. The goal must explicitly be to train and release a Christian missionary into the field.

The second step then is to train small group leaders. Leading the groups yourself maintains the perception that it’s the territory of professionals. For your first mentoring small group, seek out one or two people gifted and called to equip others for ministry. Focus your attention on them. Go to lunch, do hands-on mission together, talk to them about your work and ask for their thoughts. If you’ve stopped or at least reduced your time “doing ministry,” you’ll have time for this.

The third step will be getting out of the way. Depending on your polity and particular congregation, control is held by different people. If Christians are being released into mission with integrity, and continue to be supported and held accountable through small groups, they will need a streamlined process to gain permission. Ultimately, this should not require asking for it.

Christians will find true motivation only through pursuing Christ. The church’s job is to help them hear Christ’s call, discover Christ’s gifts, equip them for excellence, and keep them on track as they “run the race.”

What Is Worship For?

The obvious answer – worship is for worshiping God! – is not my answer. Not exactly, anyway. I think the real trouble is we’ve misappropriated the word “worship” to apply to regular church gatherings, of which worship was only part. I’ll keep using “worship” to refer to church gatherings because it’s familiar language, so please just bear that in mind while you read.

I believe there are three distinct kinds of worship we can find in the New Testament. Unfortunately, I find only one – or at best two – in modern churches. We have a lot to learn from our past.

Regular Meetings

We have to start at the regular weekly gathering of the early church, particularly because the other two won’t make sense without this foundation. 1 Corinthians 11-12 give some specific images of these gatherings. They’re small, intimate, and most noted for their participatory nature. Everyone is involved through their gifts to make the concept of a unified Body of Christ a legitimate reality.

The central purpose is expressing Christ as his Body. The main event is the Lord’s Supper, which for them is a genuine feast. Everyone comes together to share the meal equally. The meetings are also marked by a mutual sharing of spiritual gifts. All the believers are gifted, and all are exhorted to use their gifts in the meeting, as led by the Spirit. Paul is clear this shouldn’t be chaos – Christ guides the church in its meeting with unity, as one guides their own body. Sometimes the early churches messed it up, but were always encouraged to continually seek to be more faithful.

This kind of meeting is absent from modern churches, and I mean entirely. There are ways to use one’s spiritual gifts in various ministries, but not in any communal setting like this. If a brother or sister is gifted for teaching, they can either teach a class or (if they’re either clergy or in a particularly open church) preach a sermon. Other gifts, like prophecy or tongues, in these settings would be disruptive.

Preaching

The second kind of worship we can talk about is marked by preaching sermons, large crowds, a mix of believers and non-believers, and (if it’s successful) baptisms. This is most familiar to us, because it looks almost exactly like a modern worship service.

The central purpose here is evangelism. We can see the marked absense of spiritual gifts and sharing. There is generally one preacher talking to a large crowd. While it isn’t described as such, I can easily see other brothers and sisters leading songs or prayers for the group. It’s also likely brothers and sisters were mingling in the crowd, talking one-on-one with non-believers or new converts, praying with them, baptizing them, and connecting them with a local church.

While we see leader-to-audience services with a focus on teaching the gospel, there’s usually a greater expectation that members attend than newcomers. Not that visitors aren’t welcome, but they’re only part of the puzzle. Members going deep in faith – however that happens at each church – are expected to get their primary spiritual experience from what is intended as a sort of newcomer’s seminar.

Church Planting

The last kind of worship gathering is when an apostle is planting a church. The church isn’t ready to be led exclusively by the Spirit, so an apostle mentors them – usually for a handful of months – in functioning properly. The work is never truly completed, as the epistles show us, because the apostle continues communication and coaching in Body life. However, a point always comes when a church is mature enough to function independently, without constant supervision.

The central purpose here is discipleship. Newly converted Christians are guided into the full experience of Christ’s church through his Spirit. They find their gifts, learn to express them in an orderly, Spirit-led way, and comprehend living Christ as a group instead of as an individual. They are also taught in how to live all of their lives in Christ, how to serve the poor, and how to spread the faith and make more disciples.

This kind of meeting happens in some modern churches, but not all. In the ones it happens in, one or more facets are still missing. It’s usually done as a small group ministry, but may be a bible study, outreach or service mission, or membership class. Small group ministry is most akin, and most effective, as a small group can practically function as an early house church. The trouble is, there’s never a separation from apostolic leadership. The church is never allowed to truly mature and grow up; they’re trapped as spiritual children, or perhaps even teenagers.

The Full Measure of Christ

We’ve lost focus on why we do the things we do, what the purpose is. All three kinds of gatherings are vital to the whole church, but church leadership needs to reclaim the apostolic traditions of evangelism and planting. We also need to acknowledge each other’s spiritual gifts, and create space for their proper use.

Spiritual matters don’t come naturally to our sinful flesh, which is why it takes time to learn. Since the apostolic traditions are so lost among most of our churches, it will be a messy process.

I don’t want to discourage anyone reading this, especially those part of an institutional church. I believe we are a long way off, but rather than condemn I want to help shed light on the Way of Christ. We Christians have a long and famous history of making mistakes. Rather than fall prey to guilt, instead we must affix fresh eyes on Christ. His Spirit is a guide to us, guiding us ever closer. There are small steps you can take at your own church now to pursue Body life. Seek them out always, and pray in the Spirit constantly.

What the Church Needs

I hear frequently statements that begin “The church needs…” Some of the more common endings are:

• Young people
• Young families
• A particular ministry or program
• More volunteers
• More money

There’s only one thing declining churches need: Jesus.

Some might be quick to argue their church has Jesus, or is faithful, or feels the Spirit moving, or whatever. The thing is, the above “needs” betray different priorities. Through many, many conversations I’ve had about what the church needs, Jesus never comes up. He’s just plain not mentioned. His absence is profound.

If you’re in a declining church and struggling with what your church needs, listen for Jesus’ name. Seek him. Ask others about him. Thriving church life is a side-effect of the overflowing abundant life of Christ.

All the church needs is Jesus. The rest of that stuff follows, because everyone else needs Jesus, too. They’ll show up, volunteer and contribute their hearts and souls, but only for Jesus.

The Dwindling Power of the Sermon

The more sermons I hear, the less impact each new one has on my life.

Consider going to a motivational seminar and hearing a compelling keynote address. Now consider if you heard a keynote once a week for the rest of your life. They’d have less and less impact the more you heard.

The Body of Christ is meant to be built up through ‘one-anothering’ with spiritual gifts. There’s a wide variety of gifts, and the church is intended to worship through all of them regularly. Sermons are at best two gifts (teaching and prophecy), and at worst a mere human-crafted speech.

Most institutional churches revolve around Sunday morning worship, which in turn revolves around the sermon. It’s okay to keep it, so as not to alienate existing members. Change your focus to intimate small group experiences. Train small group leaders in worship, encouragement, and especially using and discerning spiritual gifts. Each group should feel like a New Testament church, with members ‘one-anothering’ each other weekly in the group, and also regularly throughout life.

With most of your congregation living into their spiritual gifts and experiencing the depths of Christ among each other, leadership will be freed from management to discern Christ’s mission and movement, and truly lead their flocks to God’s kingdom on earth.

How to Evaluate New Ministry Ideas

Most folks in declining churches have at least one or two ideas on how to turn things around. But how do you sort through the ideas to know which are good?

First, I think it’s important to give honest consideration to most any suggestion made by congregants. The reason is, it gives them a sense of empowerment and ownership. They’re more likely to get actively engaged in ministry if they feel like equal partners instead of mere volunteers for someone else’s idea.

So if you’re listening to more suggestions, it’s that much more important to know how to evaluate them. There’s a few simple questions you can ask up-front that’ll sort out the few substantial ones from the armchair ideas. In the case of ideas that don’t pass the test, you can still support the person in carrying out their mission – just not through the church budget, communications vehicles or any other official accomodations.

Does it support our overall congregational mission? You should have a clearly articulated mission, defined by a tangible change in a specific people-group’s lives (if not, get on it!). If the idea will not promote the intended change in the lives of people your church is passionate about reaching with the gospel, don’t do it.

Does it violate any of our values or beliefs? You should have the most important principles and foundational beliefs defined (even if only with metaphor). If the idea compromises any of these, don’t do it.

Did the mission idea form through spiritual habits, a spiritually-growing small group or discernment process? If not, don’t do it. Mission in the church needs to be more than good ideas; it needs to be rooted in prayer, scripture reading, dwelling on the Lord, and other spiritual habits. That can include small group participation, but it must have developed through spiritual growth in the group.

How will the mission’s effectiveness be evaluated? You must have two measurable criteria to evaluate the mission, and a reasonable timeframe to evaluate within. If these can’t be determined (with help, of course), don’t do it. This can be hard to come up with, especially if you’re trying to spiritually feed people somehow. If you can’t come up with easy-to-measure numbers, try counting testamonies (stories, times people cried, number of newcomers gained by word-of-mouth…).

Who will carry it out? If only one person will lead the mission, don’t do it. No mission should be undertaken by less than two people, for a lot of reasons (mutual support, carrying on if one drops out, accountability…). If the mission team is reduced to one person, that person must find an apprentice to train into partnership.

If an idea passes all five of these questions, odds are the rest will fall into place. Yes, you’ll want to eventually talk about where it will happen, what training or technology the mission team will need, and what it will cost (in terms of changes to people’s comfort zones, then property or financial cost). Ultimately, money is the last issue – although in many declining churches it’s the first.

This short process will ensure quality ministry that has a far better chance at impacting people’s lives, making positive change in your church’s world, and ultimately revealing the Kingdom of God.

But What Do Clergy Do?

I’m leaving my job as a church secretary.  My pastor impressed me with his directness asking why I was leaving.  We had a great conversation and touched on a number of big issues for me, albeit lightly.  I mentioned my desire for a church without a clergy-laity distinction.  His reply was interesting:

I don’t know how [an all-laity-led church] would work.  If I go to a doctor I want to know he’s been to medical school – that he’s a professional.

The statement on the face of it is perfectly sensible – you’d never trust a doctor who just had a good feeling about medicine (although some people even do that).  Medicine is a highly technical field, as well as a very relational one.  We know why a doctor needs training, because they do something that requires it.

But what do clergy do? I’m from a Presbyterian background – about as mainline Protestant as you can get. There is exactly one thing only an ordained clergy-person is allowed to do and no one else: administer the sacraments.  Any elder can preach.  A layperson can be appointed moderator of the session (the board). Anyone can do caregiving like hospital visits. Laity can even perform weddings!  (Reformed sacraments only include communion and baptism.)

Seriously, why bother with clergy? The only decent argument I’ve heard is to maintain good teaching, ensured by seminary training. First, we have to admit there’s wild divergence in theology among pastors even within the same denomination.

That aside though, Christ has sent his Spirit to qualify us for our callings through its gifts. The bible hammers home the downfall of placing trust in human doctrine, so powerfully evidenced by the Pharisees and Sadducees.  They added to or took away from God’s law (respectively), to the demise of their faith. I see no compelling evidence to deny that we’ve done it all over again.

Clergy don’t do anything that can’t be done by any other Christian. Seminary is no substitute – or even suppliment - to the gifts of the Spirit. It just muddies the waters.

The Christian Ghetto

Most Christians – especially pastors – spend all their time with other Christians.  The culture created is called the “Christian ghetto.”  We’ve got to get out.

Pastors

It’s especially insidious for pastors, who get caught up in “tending the flock” – hospital visits, counseling, conflict mediation, and generally managing ministry.  If you’re a pastor, I have bad news and good news.  The bad news is: stop it!  The good news is: stop it!

In a nutshell, you’re wearing all the hats, which goes against what the bible teaches us about the various members of the body carrying out different functions.  You’re the leader, the visionary, the prophet.  Hand off what amounts to deacon’s work to those gifted for it.  It’ll take time, sure.  Whenever you’re heading to do one of these pastoral duties invite someone gifted and passionate for that kind of ministry along.  First they observe, then they might pitch in with a prayer, and eventually you sit back and let them do the work.  Talk to them each time about how they felt.  After a couple smooth sessions without your input, ask them to do one without you. If it works out, release it entirely to their care.  (Make sure they recruit and mentor someone else, too.)

With all the spare time you find, become a regular at a coffee shop or something.  Learn all the staff’s names, tip generously, and strike up conversation whenever possible.  Read spiritual books (or just bring them with you).  Get a laptop and do some work if you need to.  Eavesdrop.  Get to know people outside your church.

Laypeople

First, there’s no such thing as laypeople in Christianity!  You’re priests, for Christ’s sake!

Second, it’s easy to spend all your social time at church functions, or with Christian friends.  You’ve got to break the habit.  Stick with the one or two major groups in the church that are helping you expand your boundaries and devote your newfound time to getting to know folks like yourself who aren’t Christian.  Join a club, find a hobby store or hang out with co-workers more.  Anything to connect with non-Christians.

It’s Not About Evangelism

It’s not about tactics.  It’s about learning and listening.  Get to know these people.  Love them!  They’re not targets for recruitment or even salvation, they’re people.  By all means, bend over backwards for any of them.  We’re Christ to non-Christians, and he died for their (and our) sakes!  Just don’t sweat sharing your faith.  If you live a life worthy of the gospel, you’re planting the seed.  God will make it grow.

Why Grow?

A large majority of search traffic that comes here finds my How to Grow Your Church post.  I love that there’s so much interest in looking outside the church instead of in.  If you came here by such a search I’d really like to know: why do you want your church to grow?

The question may sound stupid on the face, so I’ll explain.  I believe there’s two broad “camps” to possible answers – wanting your church to grow for your church’s sake, or wanting it to grow for the strangers’ sakes.  Inside each of those are countless other answers.

For your church’s sake: What will your church gain?  What will it miss out on without growth?  How does this reflect the mission of Jesus Christ in the gospels?  What are the reasons a stranger might share your vision of your church?

For the strangers’ sakes: What will strangers gain?  What will they miss out on without your church?  How does this reflect the mission of Jesus Christ in the gospels?  What are the reasons a stranger might come, and reasons they might stay?

It’s my humble belief that those in the first camp – for the church’s sake – will find all those questions hard to answer.  The reason is, Christ regularly tore down institutionalism in favor of horizontal organization – groups of equals with direct access to God.  His heart constantly went to the stranger, the “lost sheep.”  Parables often highlight the greater compassion for those on the fringe.

It’s easy to get caught up in growing a church for the sake of Christianity instead of the sake of Christ.  Attendance is down, volunteers are slim, committees are populated by the same handful of overworked people and the median age is rising.  That doesn’t mean you shift the burden of your church’s welfare onto newcomers.  Change your outreach mission to sharing your experience of Jesus Christ, help people find their Spirit-given callings, and don’t ask for anything in return.  I’d bet you anything you’ll grow as a side-effect.

Spectator Worship

I’d guess nearly all American churches – mainline, orthodox, charismatic, evangelical… whatever – do worship as a group of professionals (paid or volunteer) leading a group of spectators, possibly with occasional guided crowd participation.

The kicker is, that’s not how Christians are supposed to worship.

New Testament worship was done is small cell groups (averaging around 35 people, I think).  It was done in homes.  Everyone participated using their spiritual gifts.  Several people read and interpreted scripture, and the group judged for themselves if it was good.

Sometimes the New Testament church gathered all the groups across a city for important matters, and sometimes they’d do big crowd spectator worship.  These were relatively rare, however, and primarily geared toward evangelism.

Weekly spectator worship conditions congregants to be passive, and supresses expressing spiritual gifts.  You can’t even see other worshippers’ faces without turning around!  No wonder members feel like volunteers instead of owners.

Modern churches can return to New Testament worship by focusing worship in small groups and promoting gifts discernment and use.  Read scripture, pray, sing, meditate… whatever works with each group’s makeup of personalities and gifts.  If you can, scale back crowd worship to monthly or bi-monthly and market themas large public evangelism events.