I have been thinking a lot recently of why people move from church to church (especially after reading this article: "Dissatisfaction, yearning make churchgoers switch" -USATODAY.com).
You know what I am talking about, we call it shuffling the deck, or rearranging the chairs. It is the biggest way that churches grow, people swapping churches and going to shop for a new one (we need to grow more from conversation that just people swapping churches) .Church shopping is a double edged sworded. We feel the loss when people leave our church to go looking elsewhere, and we are blessed when people visit our church for the first time. But what really gets my boxers in a bunch is the frequency that people change churches. People seem to change churches as often as they change their underwear.
1. Are there good reasons to move on from your church and look elsewhere? Yes, there of course good reasons to have to move on to another church. Our denomination, the PCA, came out of moving out from the mainline denomination. Issues of doctrine and theology motived men to form another denomination. But here was the key, they weren't capricious about it. They were sober minded, prayerful and working painstakingly to make sure it could work to stay before they pulled the trigger on leaving. This is just one example, and I know that there are many good, and thoughful reasons to have to move on to another church. I don't want to draw up a list of what they are, because the reasons for leaving a church can be much more complicated that just one list.
2. Ultimately the issue isn't that people may need to move on, it is the manner that do so. We are treating the church like a commodity. It isn't somthing to be consummed. The church is a family, it is a place where we belong. Can church get difficult sometimes? Sure, we are all big sinners and we bump up against and ding one another. Can church sometimes fail to meet our expections. Sure it does. But too often we complain that this church or that church isn't meeting our needs. The church isn't in the business of meeting your needs. Christ is! If you see something that needs to improve or change, then roll up your slevles and dig in. We are way too passive, waiting to receive and consume from the church without being willing to actively engage in the ministry of the church ourself. Can the church or someone in the church, like ME, offend you or rub you wrong? You bet, and so make sure to work it out. don't just flee. That might be the first impulse. But if all you do is do flee, you are going to carry that baggage into the next place you land. If you don't resolve stuff and just flee, then ultimately nothing will change.
Often times within our church, we call our body a covenant community. It is a covenant community, because of God's grace and faithfulness to His people. He is our God and we are His people. But it is also a covenant community, because of our bond with one another. In Christ, we are united by the same Spirit. We are bound together. We are a family. Let us be committed as such and treat one another as family, not as a commodity.
Technorati Tags: Church, Ministry, Trends
You know what I am talking about, we call it shuffling the deck, or rearranging the chairs. It is the biggest way that churches grow, people swapping churches and going to shop for a new one (we need to grow more from conversation that just people swapping churches) .Church shopping is a double edged sworded. We feel the loss when people leave our church to go looking elsewhere, and we are blessed when people visit our church for the first time. But what really gets my boxers in a bunch is the frequency that people change churches. People seem to change churches as often as they change their underwear.
1. Are there good reasons to move on from your church and look elsewhere? Yes, there of course good reasons to have to move on to another church. Our denomination, the PCA, came out of moving out from the mainline denomination. Issues of doctrine and theology motived men to form another denomination. But here was the key, they weren't capricious about it. They were sober minded, prayerful and working painstakingly to make sure it could work to stay before they pulled the trigger on leaving. This is just one example, and I know that there are many good, and thoughful reasons to have to move on to another church. I don't want to draw up a list of what they are, because the reasons for leaving a church can be much more complicated that just one list.
2. Ultimately the issue isn't that people may need to move on, it is the manner that do so. We are treating the church like a commodity. It isn't somthing to be consummed. The church is a family, it is a place where we belong. Can church get difficult sometimes? Sure, we are all big sinners and we bump up against and ding one another. Can church sometimes fail to meet our expections. Sure it does. But too often we complain that this church or that church isn't meeting our needs. The church isn't in the business of meeting your needs. Christ is! If you see something that needs to improve or change, then roll up your slevles and dig in. We are way too passive, waiting to receive and consume from the church without being willing to actively engage in the ministry of the church ourself. Can the church or someone in the church, like ME, offend you or rub you wrong? You bet, and so make sure to work it out. don't just flee. That might be the first impulse. But if all you do is do flee, you are going to carry that baggage into the next place you land. If you don't resolve stuff and just flee, then ultimately nothing will change.
Often times within our church, we call our body a covenant community. It is a covenant community, because of God's grace and faithfulness to His people. He is our God and we are His people. But it is also a covenant community, because of our bond with one another. In Christ, we are united by the same Spirit. We are bound together. We are a family. Let us be committed as such and treat one another as family, not as a commodity.
Technorati Tags: Church, Ministry, Trends
2 comments:
I was thinking about your post, and it came to me that part of the reason people find it so easy to "church shop" is that we make it to easy to come and go in the church. Our membership classes take a Saturday morning, we don't require them to gain any theological knowledge, and are as nonconfrontaional as possible, because we are afraid we will lose them.
In my experience, people who have to work toward becoming a member of something, tend to stay longer and by more loyal to the entity.
And once a part of the church, they need to be shown steps to becoming a better member. This is not just telling them to serve more or whatever, but something more. Waht that is or could be I don't know.
But I think of my time in the boy Scouts or college. All of the knowledge I attained I had to work for and os I find myself immensely loyal to the institution that gave it to me, almost to a fault.
Are we giving people an church to be loyal too, or are we so interested in being a universal church appealing to all seekers that we stop requiring any effort from members or attendees?
These are some random thoughts, but it something that bothers me a lot too, how people can be so disloyal.
However, churches want to blame the fecklessness of people, but fail to pull the log out of their own eye.
After all, igf I have no reason to be loyal or something to be loyal to (more specific than God or Jesus, as all churches are loyal there) why would I feel any reason to stay?
I do agree, that people need to give some skin into the game.
Also, you are touching on issues of discipleship, in helping people grow.
So I don't agree with anything you have said. But I think that the issues are very systemic. We are so captured by the individualistic and consumeristic culture, that it influences and changes how we are and behave as a People of God.
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