Why Have We Stopped Growing?

Some argue that the total membership within Churches of Christ in the United States is declining. With no denominational structure to keep the data it is very difficult to say for certain; however, Mac Lynn keeps good records on us and he says, “The numbers are so close, that it is almost too close to call. I think we’re at least safe in saying that the numbers are plateaued.” (Christian Chronicle, June 3, 2002). Whether we’re declining or at a plateau may be debatable; what is crystal clear is that we are no longer growing.

Between 1945 and 1965 the number of congregations of Churches of Christ in the United States nearly doubled. Between 1965 and 1990 our growth slowed considerably. Since 1990 we have experienced the plateau that Lynn talks about.

In the 1980’s the Southern Baptist Convention set a goal of planting 3 new congregations per day worldwide during the decade of the 90’s. They completely revamped their missions approach and set to work. At the end of the decade they discovered that they had actually planted 5 new congregations per day for a total of some 18,000 new congregations worldwide. An estimate for Churches of Christ during that same period reveals that we planted 300 new congregations in the United States with 2 out of every 3 of those being the result of church splits rather than a design for intentionally planting new churches.

Theories abound as to why we have stopped growing. Mine is that we have lost our sense of identity. We no longer attack the denominations because we don’t want the terrible reputation and un-Christ-like disposition that goes along with that. But, we’ve also stopped presenting the distinctive nature of the church to the world. And, we’ve raised up an entire generation that does not know how to make disciples of Jesus Christ (or even think that it’s an integral part of faithful discipleship).

I pray that this generation can recapture the zeal for presenting Christ to a dying world without resurrecting the mean-spirited attitude that came with attacking denominational Christianity. As a fellowship, our survival is at stake.

More important, the lives of human beings are at stake.

 

The Blogging Life

This Blog of mine received 378 hits this week (August 2-8, 2009). That’s almost four times normal. I often wonder how my ramblings come across to people who simply stumble across my dementia and try to make sense out of it.

I assumed that the increase in activity on this Blog this week was a result of the spiritual attack we’ve experienced at church and my response to it. I have been wondering if there is any way to turn what appears to be a lose-lose into a win-win for the Cause.

It turns out that much of the activity on the blog is attributable to a guy I prosecuted in 1991. He placed an ad on the Craig List seeking pen pals from prison. Someone issued a warning that they should read my blog post on his background before getting too involved with him. That generated quite a bit of traffic last week.

But, my post on, Is the Church in Trouble,  generated some traffic too and for that I am thankful. At least people are thinking about and, hopefully, praying for, the condition of the Institutional Church in North America.

When the spiritual attack came to our Body, in the form of a Spirit-filled Deacon resigning and telling us he does not sense the presence of God among us (or at least an openness on our part to follow the presence and leading of God among us), I dug out an old Proposal that I have tinkered with from time to time for about 8 years–ever since I left the mission field and returned to life in the Institutional Church in North America. I don’t hold much hope that the Proposal will be received this time any differently than the last time I proposed it to an established church, but I must try.

To my surprise, many people have asked to see a copy of the Proposal. Instead of sending it to each person who asked, I’ve decided to simply upload it here and allow anyone who is interested to download it and read it at his or her leisure. You can click on the link above entitled, A Church Planting Proposal and read away. I need to go in and update some of the information – some of the resources I list have moved, etc. but, frankly, I don’t have the energy to update something that is simply going to take up more space on my computer and on the computers of others who don’t have the ability to carry out such a radical Proposal.

When I returned from the mission field in 2001 I had just completed another project that I had been working on for several years: The Year of Equipping. It was (still is) a one-year plan to help new converts enter into the Kingdom of God. It has seven Modules or Stations:

• Station 1: Welcome Aboard.
• Station 2: A Commitment to Growth.
• Station 3: An Introduction to the Kingdom’s Lifestyle.
• Station 4: An Introduction to the Kingdom’s Values.
• Station 5: A Deeper Look at the Kingdom’s Values.
• Station 6: An Introduction to the Kingdom’s Messiah.
• Station 7: An Introduction to the Kingdom’s Teacher.

I submitted it to every Publisher within Churches of Christ and received a rejection letter from each one, except one: 21st Century Christian. From them I received a phone call. In that call I was told, “The material is excellent Bob, well written, well laid-out, just excellent. There is just one problem: there is no market for it. There is not enough disciple making going on within Churches of Christ to make the project financially viable. We have no new converts. The material, as conceived, simply has no place within the Brotherhood.”

Well, as you can imagine, that was a tough blow to absorb. And, now that I look back on my rocky attempt to minister in and to the North American Church over the last eight and one-half years, it set the trajectory for my gradual descent into the often unhealthy attitude that I now live with almost every day of my life.

But, I don’t need to bore you with that. The point is that this Proposal to Plant New Churches, in New Places, for New People is my humble offering to the A Capella Churches of Christ to say, “Hey. We do not have to simply fizzle out into the oblivion of irrelevant nit picking over church issues that do not matter eternally. God is alive – as alive today as He was on the Day of Pentecost. He is still at work and He is still willing to use knuckleheads like me and you to accomplish His Eternal Purpose on the earth. We simply have to wake up, pay attention, and join Him in what He is already doing all around us.”

This Proposal to plant new churches with the Spirit-filled people whom God is sending our way (as opposed to allowing them to sit on the pews for a few months, grow desperate in their Holy Discontent with the way we are “doing church” in North America, and drift off into the sunset or, worse, be slaughtered by the Powers and Principalities so obviously hacking away at our poor culture) is not THE ANSWER to our woes. I recognize that. There is no single answer to our dilemma, unless, of course that answer is, “Jesus.” (But, just how we act on that as a practical “answer” to the dilemma is the million-dollar question with which church leaders wrestle day in and day out.)

No, this Proposal is not THE answer. It is, rather, a suggestion of one way to turn lose-lose scenarios into win-win situations. I’ve wrestled with it for eight years now – tweaking it, revising it, praying over it. I still say it will work. It does not need someone to bankroll it with a wad of money; it needs someone to believe in God’s power and to step up and say to God’s people, “Let’s quit fighting against God; let’s join Him in what He is doing on the earth.”

You read it and see what you think. I do know that it is “working” in several settings all across North America.

By working I mean that new churches are being established that are able to engage this crazy culture where it is: steeped in unemployment, divorce, drug addiction, homosexuality, and a host of other social ills. Of course, by “working” I do not mean that these new churches are always able to maintain healthy relationships with the Mainline Church. Too many times what happens is these new startup churches are being tossed to the wolves by the Mother Church. They are seen as a threat to the status quo rather than the natural by-product of what God is doing to get His Word into a new and often terrifying culture in North America.

And for that, my heart aches. It really does. My heart aches and my spirit cries within me. Sometimes, like Sunday when I stood up and tried to say something useful to God’s people, my flesh will barely allow me to move forward in any meaningful way.

No question about it: as God’s People we are in the Wilderness. Exiles wandering in the hostile, barren Wilderness. May God help us draw near to Him.