“Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
The Decline of the American Church
There is a lot of talk about the decline of the church in the United States. Some people say that it has to do with cultural changes. It is no longer politically expedient to be a Christian, so the people who aren't serious about Jesus simply don't identify themselves as Christians anymore. In their view, the church isn't so much declining as refining. That might be true. Another group seems to think that there really is a drop-off. People are either leaving the faith or never coming to faith in the first place. The population might be growing, but the church isn't.
Regardless of what's really happening, there is no question that the American church isn't really growing. Something is wrong.
It is hard for a lot of pastors and church people to acknowledge it. There are still a few megachurches (mostly in the Bible belt) that are huge and still growing. When we talk about the decline of the church in America, some of us want to stay in denial and say, "We can't be losing ground, because megachurch!" This is usually followed with an argument about how we need to be more like those megachurches, which usually means treating church like a business. They want to spend more on Executive Pastors (CEOs), Senior Pastors (Celebrity Endorsements), and anything that will draw people (building, worship leader, programs, etc.).
When it doesn't work, half the people talk about how we didn't spend enough or work the business model enough. The other half talks about how we shouldn't try new things. Stick to organs and hymns and complain about how wicked the world is that they don't want to come to church.
When it does work, we pad the system and hope that nobody get's caught in a sex or money scandal. Stress incurs over the inevitable slump that big churches find themselves in. Ten million dollar buildings don't draw people long enough to pay off the debts they incur.
Honest Questions
It gets worse when people start asking really honest questions. If megachurches are the only churches growing, we have a real problem. This is because very few churches can become "mega". Finances, geography, education, and a host of other factors have to align just right for a church to grow like that. It doesn't happen much, and when it does, it tends to be temporary. You can't exactly start a megachurch in an area stricken with poverty.
This brings up another issue. Big churches cost big money. Sure, they can reach more people, but they cost a lot more and tend to attract middle class and upper middle class people. What about the gospel for all people? What about Matthew 25:31ff? What about sustainability?
This is not an anti-big church post, though it may be close to it. I have worked in a big church and saw God do great things through it. Don't go throwing rocks at big churches just because we want a scapegoat for the shrinkage of the American church.
When I was in a big church, it was the only thing I saw working. There were two alternatives in my view: join a dying old church or join a growing contemporary church. I'll take the latter any day.
However, as I mentioned in a previous post, simply making church cooler only works to bring church people back around. It doesn't do much to reach people who have no connection with Jesus.
Most American Pastors Mean Well
Put yourself in the shoes of the average American pastor. He went to school long enough to be a lawyer, incurring almost as much debt. Then he stepped into a ministry model that is centuries old, doing everything he was taught to do with a great love for God and a great love for people. He has to feed his family, so he listens to every pastor that found a way to spread the gospel while still staying afloat financially. He struggles every day to pay his mortgage, the church's mortgage, his student loans, and repairs on his used car. He cares deeply about spreading the gospel and feels like He's failing at it every day. He'd like to give to missions or plant a church, but he has bills staring him down.
This is why a lot of churches with great intentions have plans to grow big and plant churches on the money they take in. Their intentions are great, but they fall into the trap of keeping the machine alive. By the time you pay for the growing staff salaries, the lease on the building, the sound system, the programs, and everything else, there isn't much left for church planting.
We've made the exception (megachurches) the rule and tried to be like something most of us aren't.
Everyone is left discouraged.
The answer to the decline of the American church can't be better business practices.
Illegal, Under-Financed, Under-Educated, and Growing Like Crazy
I am weary of hearing about the Church losing ground in the West while simultaneously hearing about churches focusing on everything but the gospel. In China and Vietnam, the church is booming. They have very little money and very little safety, but the good news spreads like wildfire.
Even in Syria an Saudi Arabia where you can be martyred for loving Jesus, the gospel spreads. Trained pastors are few and far between. Yet, Jesus is made known. I want to be like them.
Here are a few principles to draw from them:
- Decentralized. They don't bring people to church; they take the church to people. In Vietnam, they meet in houses and small buildings (I know of a chain of small, one room churches along the Ho Chi Minh trail). When someone from another town Trusts Jesus, the church plants a house church there. They don't ask them to travel long distances to get to church. They establish gospel outposts wherever they can.
- Gospel. They don't waste time debating the nuances of nonessential theology. They don't have programs for every age group or affinity. They make disciples. They tell people of the saving work of Jesus, and invite people to follow Him. Disciples make disciples.
- Multiplication. The goal isn't bigger churches; the goal is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). As Peyton Jones says, the Church isn't supposed to grow big; it's supposed to grow out. It isn't about a big pastor that everyone comes to hear; it's about multiple disciple-makers making more disciples. The roles of teacher, shepherd, prophet, evangelist, missionary/apostle pop up in house churches everywhere.
Restoration Church is about to take our next steps in becoming more like the Vietnamese church.
Our Church is a little different from the churches you are probably familiar with. We don't have a building or very many staff, and we don't do very much that seems "churchy." We exist solely to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters.
We started just one year ago. We have met in a house for our primary gathering. Just past our one year anniversary we will plant another house church. I'll go plant as our current house church will be led by people who didn't go to seminary. Just like our current house church, we will start off praying and building relationships. The gospel will be lived and shared. People will Trust Jesus.
Then, in another year we plan to plant another house church as the first house church plants again. We will keep making disciples until Jesus comes back.
Who's with us?
