The First Step...

It would seem to me that if we are to get serious about this business of growing churches, we must at least admit that there is a problem. Say it with me, “The first step towards dealing with a problem is admitting there is a problem.”

I recognize that this is difficult. It is difficult for my own church to accept. But for my church, which has outperformed the denomination by declining over 55% vs 33 % in the last 18 years, the facts are the facts. And no amount of happy talk will change that. Still people cling to the things that have defined our congregation from the beginning as if doing more of the same will somehow, miraculously, generate a different result.

It’s not that the people in my church are foolish. Actually, they are a very smart and well educated group of folks. It’s that the world in which they founded and grew this church, well, that world doesn’t exist anymore.*

We’ve all read the books that talk about post-modernism and church growth and ten easay steps to mega church success. I’ve read tons about how new churches are doing new things. I’ve been to several and loved how they do what they do. But from where I’m standing, as a local pastor in a once healthy and now declining DOC church, they really don’t have a lot to tell me.

So I got to wondering, from where will my help come?

From God says the psalmist, and I don’t disagree…but how will God present that help?

This congregation has been studied to death. Generally, regionally and locally. We’ve paid our money and we’ve gotten the reports, but the same thing always seems to happen.

Nothing.

So it occurred to me that we might be approaching this thing all wrong. Taking a page out of the Martha Grace Reese playbook, I thought that instead of having people study us, what if we could study other churches? Find a few examples of a great church that was in our position and rebounded and see what we could learn? Surely we could find God's hand moving there?

It turns out this is easier said than done....



* Post modernism, blah, blah, blah – here’s a real world example. When the neighborhood around my church was built in the 1950’s, a guy (and it was a guy) with a high school education and a good job could afford a house here. It was mostly middle managers, low–end professionals and upper-end tradesmen. Nowadays, average house price is over $500,000 and that represents a steep discount in this market. To even qualify for that loan in this market your household annual income would have to be over $180,000 .

This means that the people who are moving into this neighborhood, and who moved in over the past decade, these people are usually high-end professionals; doctors, lawyers and top-tier sales folks. These people are different than the people who founded and still run this church. They have different expectations about say, for instance, facilities or music. Not better, not worse, but different. Almost one under the age of 70 in my congregation lives in this neighborhood.

We are a neighborhood church that is cut off from the neighborhood by the vagaries of the California real estate market.

Presenting...the Present.

It would seem that at this point in the life of the church that we are awash in what I like to call “happy talk.” You know what I’m talking about? Somebody in church asks “How are you?” And you say “fine”

… right after you just severed a limb.

Does your church talk “happy talk?” Churches do this all the time. We tell ourselves that everything is ok, we’re doing just great. Sure, we’re down a little in attendance, but this is just a part of the new normal. And really what’s up with numbers anyways?

Yes, numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they do tell a story. Here's a story:

In 1990* there were 1,043,943 church members in DOC churches. There were also 681,246 participating members and 327,459 in worship on a Sunday. By 2008 it looks a bit different: 681,480 members, 435, 070 participating members, and 221,600 in worship. Roughly, that’s a 35% decline in membership; a 36% decline in participating members; and a 32% decline in worship attendance. All in the last two decades.

We’ve lost a third. What story does that tell? And worse yet, it would seem that most of our churches are aging rapidly so this trend is likely to accelerate.

There are those who will say “But Michael, it’s not all about numbers, we’re growing spiritually.”

Ok.

You’re getting spiritually fulfilled. Yay, you. Meanwhile the numbers show that the church as a whole is slowly and inexorably declining. You, 1 – Body of Christ, 0.

For those of us charged with growing a congregation so that it might be a witness for Christ to another generation of people, these numbers are something of a problem. I also have the feeling that if we were, as a people, truly spiritually growing - then the numbers wouldn't actually be declining.



*No significance here, the ‘91 yearbook was on my desk.

The Story I Want to Tell

Church has always been deeply meaningful to me. But I have to be really clear about what I mean by that. As a kid “church” was CYF summer camp in the Pacific Southwest Region. And “church” was the youth group at my home church.

As an adult I watched as the good and close friends I had made as a kid, with one or two exceptions, drift away from the church. I watched their churches close. After years of serving in the “youth ghetto”* of the church, I entered the main life of the church and found myself lost. This is not that unusual a story. But it’s not the story I want to tell.

Unlike so many of my friends I got lucky and found a place within the mainstream of the church. I even went to seminary and became a local church pastor.

Now I find myself in the position of having to lead a congregation whose average age is nearly double my own. These are great people. But the inescapable truth of this congregation is that they once were three times the size. In the year that I’ve been here I’ve done 8 funerals and one Church family wedding, which was a second and third wedding for the couple.

Now, this is a great church – we are making budget, even in this economy – but the cold hard reality of this church is, if we don’t do something to grow in the next few years, 5 at most, we will be forced to make plans for our own closure. One or two bad flu seasons and we’re toast. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. But that is also not the story I want to tell.

The story I want to tell is the story of those churches that are successfully transitioning. I want to celebrate the wins and learn from them. In my mind it all starts with being honest about the present…

*I was a Youth Sponsor, then a Youth Director; Camp Counselor then Camp Director.

Something of an Introduction

So, maybe you’re frustrated. I know that I am. You love the big “C” Church, but the little “c” congregation, well that’s a little harder to explain. You have this sense that maybe there might be more to this whole Christian thing than showing up for worship, maybe attending some meetings, then getting on with your week.

And maybe you’ve cheated a little. You’ve gone to your friend’s church, your neighbor’s church and found, well, that is was fun. It made your heart sing. You were right at home. Right up until the preacher opened his mouth. And then it made your heart sink.

Yeah, me too.

It’s a tricky thing being a Disciple these days. With a few exceptions, those of us who still go to church find ourselves in churches that are in various states of decline. Don’t get me wrong – there are great DoC Churches out there, big and small. I was raised in one, I’ve served another one. But for each one of those, there are several more that are struggling, dying or closing.

And here’s the thing, I'm in theoretically in charge and I don’t know what to do about it.