Adrenaline and the Fight for
Survival
The struggle for the survival of
the church is often directly connected to the need
for money. An unfortunate result of our American
style of church development, is that money and church
activities are integrally connected to one another.
We can fathom no other means of accomplishing church
life, than that which takes money to perform. Something
is wrong with this model, and something is impotent
in our Christianity, if it requires money to make
it work, but that is the struggle American church
growth patterns have set. It takes money to reach
people the way we have done it, and it takes people
to raise money.
Because we live in this tension
between attendance and money, the church is often
in, what feels like, a life and death struggle for
existence. Every Sunday morning seems critical,
and every offering is a cry for a miracle of the
financial kind.
What has happened to our Christianity,
when the most common plea for a miracle is a prayer
for money, to supply the needs of the ministry?
May God have mercy on our way of doing church, because
the people of the land certainly have seen the holes
in our spirituality.
The small church, more than others,
may struggle through each offering, and the adrenaline
may surge in a sad hope for survival, but this same
small church may yet be the last, great hope for
American Christianity, before we turn the corner
and become an institution which can not afford the
poor, can not preach the simple Gospel to neighbors
without spending millions, and can not reach our
generation without expensive programs.
So that I may not be misunderstood,
let me make myself clear. I am not saying that a
church should not take offerings, and I am not saying
that church should have nothing to do with money.
What I am saying is this: American Church life and
money are bound together like Jacob Marley and his
rattling chains. Unless we free ourselves to preach
a free Gospel, we will find ourselves powerless
in future generations, that is assuming we are not
powerless already.
Getting Beyond the Adrenaline
Factor
As Pastors and leaders in church
life, we must learn to rise above the adrenaline
factor, if we are ever going to teach the people
who follow us to do the same. Getting excited and
hearing from God are not the same thing, and we
have need of distinguishing the difference.
Bruce and Darlene Winans are a couple
of whom I am most proud. The the years we walked
together at Church on the Coast (CotC) in Carlsbad,
CA, helped set the stage for their ministry of church
revitalization which they have now begun.
As they walked through the seasons
of church life in Southern Maryland, they would
e-mail questions, with a desire to discover wise
counsel. I have included a couple of my responses
below. In typical e-mail fashion, the letters are
terse, and lacking proper grammar at times, but
I believe that they will help to illustrate the
need to break beyond the adrenaline factor.
In this first letter, Bruce has
written, asking about the wisdom of signing a lease
for small facility which would seat about 75 people.
The church he pastored was renting a school, and
a number of visitors (who never returned) had recently
remarked about the need for a more permanent facility.
Beyond the visitor response, the people in the church
were feeling "burnt-out," and the common
reason they gave was the Sunday morning set up in
the school facility. Here was my response:
Hey Bruce,
Sounds interesting - the site you
have identified, that is. Here's my thoughts:
Been there, done that. It might
not be all it appears to be.
50-75 are low numbers to be paying
out $2000 a month. Remember CotC was only putting
out $600, and we had about that many people. You
could find yourself in a financial bind which traps
you in that building longer than you want to be
there - shades of the Lutheran Building? Just over
$2000 was our output there, and we were hurtin'!
What people say when they visit
(i.e. "too bad you don't have your own church building")
may not be full disclosure of their feelings. Remember,
they won't be fully honest about what they think
of your services. They will probably give you pat
answers. "Too bad you don't have your own church
building" could mean, "small churches are hokey,
they do hokey things, and appear disorganized and
unprofessional." Of course, they think a building
would fix that, so they say "Too bad you don't have
your own building." In this case, the solution may
not be a building, but tightening up the service
- less dead air, quick transitions, and communicating
every strange new thing you do in the service. Remember
how everyone laughed each time I said, "We're going
to do something a little bit different today." Much
comfort and direction was established by that one
repeated line.
Being burnt out may not be the result
of setting up. The people may need something else
- like, a little rest from being stretched into
new things, some ministry times when you and Dar
just pray over them.... Just as the visitor may
give you a pat answer for what they feel about the
service, the congregation may give you a pat answer
as to what they think they need to get over the
hump. A building could be a band-aid for a cold
- a fine solution for a different problem.
I am not saying this because I am
anti-building, but because I have been here before,
and it wasn't the answer at the time. My greatest
concern is the numbers who could fit vs. the monthly
cost. Now, this may actually be the season for such
a move, but all of the above still applies. Walk
carefully here.
One thing you must remember, there
is an awkward season of learning open church life.
There is even a time when we feel comfortable doing
it, but others don't see us as fully comfortable
(like an awkward teenager). Only later do we breakout
into a place where we make others feel comfortable
with our style. I saw this at CotC, (although they
are struggling with it anew, as Steve and Joann
gain their footing) and we broke through to a place
in which people saw our style as a new exciting
thing, rather than an "interesting" thing.
I would try to read this season
a little deeper. Don't let the building mentality
blind you to what may be real issues. If people
are captivated by the services, they will come if
you meet in the park - well, maybe not in January.
:-)
Thoughts off the top,
Phil
This next letter, is in response
to Bruce's growing frustration in the apathy of
some church members. God appeared to have been speaking
to the church about it being a time to rise up,
and serve Him with zeal, but the response of the
congregation to the exhortation was not fully evident.
This kind of frustration can often
begin with the feeling, that not enough is happening
in the church. Numerical growth should happen quicker,
people should rise to leadership sooner, and ministry
to the community should be more frequent.
Bruce made the comment, that, "God
was moving in the church, but the people didn't
'get it' yet." These words rang a warning to
me. They spoke of possible attraction to the adrenaline
styled Christianity, which would lead to shallowness
in church life.
In hopes of staving off any potentially
growing desperation, I wrote the following (once
again, cryptic) letter:
Bruce,
I thought that I would respond,
while you were still thinking. Your comment was
that God was moving in the church, but the people
didn't get it yet.
How is that possible? Remember Church
101? Our first lesson: The church is the people.
My observation is this: 1) God has
not moved as you think He has yet, or 2) He is moving,
but not at the pace you think He is.
In church life, if the people are
not moving, then neither is God moving in the church.
That is, if we use the term "moving" in the generally
understood reference to revival, which in itself
is a precarious place to attempt to live.
Remember, we walked with S. through
this same kind of thinking. It was frustrating to
hear that God was always doing great things, and
to see something different. Don't get caught in
that trap. I have a general rule about this kind
thing. I talk small about what God is doing in the
church, but I help the church to discover what it
is He is doing in them, and then let them talk about
it. Otherwise, we will sound like one of those TV
evangelism commercials. Talk humble, and help the
people to think big.
I believe that God is moving and
speaking in your gatherings. But, you must remember
that the church can not be moved upon without the
people responding. If they respond slow, then God
is moving slow. If you run ahead, you may sabotage
what God is doing, because the people were not ready.
Remember, they are needing to learn
things, which it may have taken us years to learn.
You may have to give them some time as well.
Welcome to the big leagues bro.
:-)
With deepest affection, and bunches
of pride in you,
brother Phil
