I have been preaching at different churches the last six months. Churches that are between pastors and in the active market for a new one. These Churches are rural, small, and between 100-182 years old. You know what else they have in common? They are mostly empty on Sunday and have a collective memory of a time they were full, which ended at least 40 years ago and has been in a steady decline ever since.
As I was sitting alone in the sanctuary of one of these churches this morning, I was looking at the empty building, roughly in the middle of no where, and knowing we would be lucky to hit 20 people when the service started, but would more likely be around 13-15. This condition is rampant across the United States. There are thousands of Churches just like this everywhere.
We all drive past these same buildings every day. They sit empty most of the week and then on Sunday, only a handful of people remain and they are just staying because they remember when it was something it no longer is. They might have a brass plaque attached to the pew their family donated many years ago, or they remain on a long defunct and worthless committee that has not had a purpose in ages. The only committees these churches have that still meet are their finance committee and their pastoral search committee. All the rest are mostly in name only and have not met or done anything for longer than anyone can remember.
With this in mind, what will the Church in North America look like in 100 years.
This was my thought this morning and then I thought, "Shoot, 100 years is too far." The proverbial end of the Church in North America is more like less than 20 years away. Once those in their 60's and older right now have all died. If you do not believe me, this is exactly what happened in Europe already. The only difference between what happened in Europe already and what is currently almost done happening in Post-Christian America is they have nicer buildings in Europe, but they are just as empty as ours, even more so.
I decided to write down some thoughts and I suspect I am mostly right.
I asked myself how the Church in North America got to this point?
+ Some of the blame can be identified as greed. For example, many pastors have treated churches as way points on their climb to bigger churches and bigger pay checks. A lot of pastors have slowly eroded the power of the Church by treating it as a stepping stone to career success that follows the same trajectory of the business world. Our callings constantly seem to move us to bigger and better, isn't it strange how that works. Unfortunately, this is not a calling. It is greed masquerading as a call to go to something more and bigger and better.
Members are not exempt from this kind of greed either. Members have constantly hopped churches, seeking the new things, the new program, the new pastor, and the new, the new, the new. Every time a family leaves one church and goes to another because they have a better "insert program." This family weakened the church they left and probably left the next one too when they grew bored. Members often consider their membership akin to a country club and it could be moved as often as desired to serve whatever personal itch was happening at the time. This alone has resulted in most country churches becoming single age (older people) churches and have made it near impossible for the Church that remains to ever recover. It is only a matter of time until the last older member dies and the doors are closed.
Another area where greed has crushed the church is the shrinking size of the family. People are having fewer children and working more. This is by human design and the efefct of decades of manipulating society with a message of over-population and consumption. Families have more possessions and fewer smiles and joys in their homes. Over time this creates a downward spiral because most of these children leave home and Church and never come back, especially once they set foot on a college campus to learn their secular career.
+ Some of the blame can be placed on pride. In many instances pride has kept churches from changing. "We have never done it that way" and "We do not do it like that here" are some of the mantras that strangle Churches. Having done it at some point one way, does not mean it must always be done this way or even done at all. Unless you are talking about a Church. The music, the pews, the dates, the methodology of almost everything has become an idol and things cannot change. When this kind of stasis settles into a Church, it is only a matter of time before the doors are shut. New people cannot get in and a pastor who bumps up against it will quickly find himself fired and blamed for the decades of shrinkage.
+ Our church has become institutionalized. Similar to the problem with pride, the structures of the Church become permanent. Some will think a Church is not a real church without a specific type of building design and therefore permanency. Then as time passes, a committee is formed for one reason or another and then it becomes permanent. The body will eventually find themselves slaves to the building because they have to put on new roofs, new floors, new doors, yard maintenance, new pews and so many other things to keep the facility running and updated. Changing any of these things, like the type of music played on Sundays, becomes the last ditch effort to save the Church/church from dying an institutionalized death.
+ Our Churches have become professional. The creation of seminaries leads to a more educated and professional pastoral class. These men desire to be compensated with more money and benefits and at the same time to dedicate their day and time to ministry. They prefer not being bi-vocational because they want to spend all of their time focused on the ministry. They want to be considered professionals and paid accordingly.
Professionalism is also a byproduct of the Institutions we have formed because it takes greater expertise and time to manage all of the affairs of the Church when it gets big and has a large budget. This will generally result in a tiered professional class. The Senior Pastor, Executive Pastor, Education Pastor, Outreach Pastor, Youth Pastor, Old Aged Pastor, and Music Pastor and any other pastorasl position created over time. These are positions created out of the institution and by the seminaries to answer needs for churches that are big, but do nothing to advance the faith. I have on occasion considered them job placement/security for men with ministry degrees.
The single pastor led church is still very much in effect, but they are fighting for their lives as the other, larger, more well-oiled machines are constantly taking their members and adding them to their rolls. There is more sheep rustling then there is sheep creation because it is easier and costs less to get someone else's believer than it is to find, evangelize, and disciple a new believer.
The least enjoyable class I took in seminary involved managing all these structures. It was painful to read, discuss, and study how to make our churches run and look like secular business. We were taught how to form teams to take care of whatever needed taking care of. Making sure we knew how to properly write descriptions for the committees and job and positions within the church to make sure people were doing the things they were supposed to do and not other things someone else was already tasked with. In addition to these HR related topics, we covered budgeting and meetings and these are all adopted structures from the business world that have been imported into the Church and they are killing it and do not need to exist.
+Reformed Theology is a poison within the Church. The determinism of the philosophy and the misreading of Scripture by the Reformed is killing faithfulness. Why should a person exhibit a drop of faith if God picked them despite themselves and there was nothing they could do about it? They were either picked or they were not. This philosophy will kill a Church dead and drive people away, yet it has slipped in the door and stayed way past its stinking point.
With all of these and I am sure there are more, but I only had about fifteen minutes. Can the slide into oblivion be stopped in North America? Or, are we doomed to look like Europe, only more ugly? The other side of this question is, if we can stop it, should we? Has this Roman Structure of church done enough damage and it is finally time to stop the press and seek a new way to be faithful Christians?
I prefer the descriptions of the early church in Acts for what a "church" is supposed to look like and do. A Church worships together, fasts together, prays together, fellowships together, and evangelizes its community together and spends time discipling one another in how to be more Christ-like. This is what a successful "church" looks likes and what it does. I will also admit, none of those early Churches still exist either. They died with their generation usually or in response to religious wars that changed the landscape around them.
This description does not capture the sentiment of many churches anymore. Most churches are doing some of those things, but scant few are doing all of them. Not to mention what percentage of tithes and offerings should go towards salary, the buildings, and missions? You see, even asking that question shows the level of depravity that has settled inside the Church. Does a Church even need a building? Does it needs a hired and professional pastor? Does it need to support missions financially or does it need to engage in them persononally?
This got me thinking. Now you may be wondering if I had all of these thoughts this morning in the 15 minutes I had alone in the sanctuary and the answer is yes. However I have been thinking about this very thing since the early 2000's and it became much more front and center when I enrolled in seminary more than ten years ago. You see, I wanted to leave the professional world of employment and have 100% of my pay come from a Church. I wanted to leave the secular world behind and dedicate all of my time to God and ministry.
The problem was, I could not figure out how to free myself from the secular world and derive all of my income from ministry, without furthering these very things I was certain and confident were the things killing the Church. I spent three years in seminary trying to figure out how to leave the secular world and be a professional Christian, without realizing the very idea of a professional Christian is secular by its nature.
How could I solve this issue? I wish I did not have to type this following sentence. I was not smart enough or brave enough to figure out my own way, so I became part of the problem after spending one year post seminary trying to figure out another way, even though I knew the Roman Model of church was broken and there was very little worth keeping in it.
What is God's plan?
Does God want us squeezing out a little bit of time during the week to dedicate to Him, or does God want everything in return for redemption? God does not want scraps. He demands it all. Our redemption is not free, we just do not pay the cost. It was born by another. We receive it as a free gift through faith, but we did not shed our blood or buy it. So does God desire to see church buildings emptied and believers scattered and more isolated? In a way, yes I think He does,
Here is what I think God wants for his children. He wants moms and dads to fulfill their roles with their family. He wants moms and dads placing Jesus first in their childrens lives and then raising them this way. I am confident God does not want Christians living the same rotten lives as the secular world that is always chasing the next big thing and more zero's in the bank account. God wants our faith to be a living breathing thing we exercise every single day and if that requires our lives to change in order to reflect this, than that is our duty.
The problem is, I do not believe most Christians want this. They want redemption, but they also want the world. They want a big house, nice vehicles, high quality foods, and vacations and a promised retirement of comfort at the end. Most people want to cut a check to their local Church and then for that money to buy all the trappings of faith executed by others. Most people want the Roman Model to continue and thankfully, mercifully, God is killing it and letting it die by withholding the Holy Spirit from most gatherings. God is witholding his blessings from these institutions because they serve themselves and seldom serve Him.
So what do I think we are heading towards?
I think we are heading to a landscape that will be littered with former church buildings. These buildings will either rot in place because pride will not allow them to be sold and repurposed or they will be turned into something else useful to a mercantilist economy. What about the Christians? I think for a period they will consolidate at ever larger buildings as a continuation of this failed model but eventually, many will grow tired of this alacarte faith.
I think what makes the most sense is for families to focus on faith within themselves. For moms and dads to teach their children and then periodically these people gather with other believers. Say once a quarter the believers in one area will come together and they will have multiple guest speakers and it will look much more like a biblical festival. Then the families will return home and practice their faith like together. There will be few buildings. There will be few paid pastors and there will be little need for any of the institutional trappings because they are not needed.
I think the church is about to experience a great rebound by losing itself. But it will be real and God will matter and people will take their faith serious. Perhaps a professional class of speakers will travel on a never ending circuit or perhaps men will stand up and take their place within God's ordered creation and lead. I do not know. I just know what is happening right now is not going to stop, but God's power to redeem is not diminished.