Church Advice from Evangelicals needed

[Luke_1989]

First off, this is going to be long, so prepare yourselves. Second, the issue thankfully isn't inner turmoil, although we had some issues a couple years ago (the angry people mostly left).

The story of my church has probably been told 1000 times by other similar churches, and we are trying to avoid the fate of many. My church is based in small town of 3000 in Nebraska, and we have been slowly declining for 25 years and are now nearing the point where we will no longer be able to reverse the trend. This story, as I said, is taking place in most small towns across the US.

I've just been asked by our church board to draft a plan for revitalization. (I'm a 22 year old college student and have no leadership positions but recently I've kind of become the "ideas guy" in our church). I'm not exactly the ideal guy for the job in that I'm not all that religious (great attendance, lousy spiritual life) and more theologically liberal than the church at large. In any case, if I don't do it, no one else will, and the church will probably die. While I have some significant differences with the evangelical churches theologically, one fact is irrefutable: your churches are growing, and the mainlines would give their left leg to break even.

Here are some basic facts on my individual congregation:
We are members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a very liberal denomination. We're suffering from what many rural churches are: liberal denominational seminaries generate liberal, religious pluralists who come and spectacularly fail in conservative rural churches. While I'm no fundamentalist, I feel like chucking a pew Bible at the pastor whenever he utters yet another useless platitude about our "spiritual walk with our friend Jesus." In any case, since I was born, church attendance has declined from around 120 a week to around 40. We have been in search and call for a new minister (exclusively within the DOC denomination) for nearly 3 years now. The church has no debt, financial reserves of about $150,000, has an annual budget of about $50,000 (I've been told we can pay a pastor around $35,000 including benefits), and we own a parsonage. The active congregation is quite old, with 5 active members being between 18-49 (3 of those being me and my siblings). We have youth Sunday school for all age groups, although very few children. We have an adult Sunday School/Bible Study class for an hour after church. It has around 12 members. We also own and operate the only Christian preschool in town. It has around 40 children enrolled.

That's all the relevant background I can think of, here are the ideas I have so far:

1. The Disciples of Christ have a very congregationalist polity, and we are allowed to go outside the denomination in our pastor search. It is my feeling that we should do this. Our most popular guest preachers have been fundamentalist evangelicals, and most mainline pastors won't stand behind the Bible anymore, so I feel we should move in that direction (young, energetic pastor with an evangelical background). Denomination suggestions are welcome.

2. Get involved in the community. This is tricky with older folks, but we can still host community socials, participate in good cause fundraisers etc.

3. Revive our membership committee and make sure we are a welcoming church to newcomers.

4. Switch worship style from traditional to mixed, ditch our awful hymnals (its Doxology actually ends "Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost"), and possibly invest in a projector and screen, although I'm not sure about the logistics in our church.

Those are the ideas that initially came to mind for me. I desperately want this church to survive, and I don't think we're beyond the point of no return, but there's no denying we're in trouble. I'd like for people to take a look at my ideas, see if they're any good, and add anything else you might find useful. Oh, and one last point, leaving the denomination (however flawed it may be) is not an option. Denominational loyalty is quite high, although I think I have talked the pulpit committee into abandoning the DoC in house search (final decision is tomorrow night).

EDIT: After rereading this, it kinda sounds like I'm only interested in numbers. That is not the case. I want a church that unapologetically preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ, a church that brings people to faith in Christ, and a church that makes the community a better place. Sure, these things will most likely lead to membership increases. If it is God's will, we will prosper, but first we need to rebuild a church that is worthy of serving Him.

I look forward to your comments. Thanks very much!

-Luke

 

[Hentenza]

Hi Luke,

My first comment is going to probably sound negative to you but is not intended to be that way. Liberal theology breeds relativism and immature Christians. The gospel is not about what makes anyone feel good but about convicting the soul. One can not mature in the faith if the "truth" is relative, consequently, my first suggestion is to embrace the truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture. Believers that understand scripture both spiritually and apologetically will grow and feel confident about their faith. This breeds participation in the church and a loving church.

My second suggestion is to offer both a traditional and a mixed service which will help you gauge the trend in your area. For example, the younger folks will probably prefer the mixed service over the traditional while the old folks might prefer the traditional over the mixed. The pastor only needs to prepare one sermon and deliver it in both services.

As far as your thoughts, number one might just be a matter of finding the right pastor within your denomination. Going outside of your denomination should only be the last resort.

Number two is always a good idea. In my church, which also has a fair amount of older folks, the older folks are very involved in community drives, edification, visitation, etc. The younger folks tend to get more involved in hands on ministries like the widows ministry where they do house and car repairs for the widows and the poor, community interaction like food and clothes drives, etc. Your church should proactively make the members aware of different ministry opportunities (website or just a visible cork board) and seek volunteers from both within the congregation and through friends of the congregants. Our church even has intradenominational community efforts by inviting other denominations in the area to participate.

Committees can get stale and/or individual members have divergent views and goals. This is always a touchy subject but unfortunately a necessary one. The church goals should be clear so that all can work towards the same goal.

Lastly, you should examine yourself to determine why you consider your spiritual life to be lacking. You certainly sound like a caring individual with your heart in the right place. You and your congregation will be in my prayers.

May the lord bless you and give you wisdom, patience, and His love in this time of uncertainty.

 

[Luke_1989]

Hi Luke,

My first comment is going to probably sound negative to you but is not intended to be that way. Liberal theology breeds relativism and immature Christians. The gospel is not about what makes anyone feel good but about convicting the soul. One can not mature in the faith if the "truth" is relative, consequently, my first suggestion is to embrace the truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture. Believers that understand scripture both spiritually and apologetically will grow and feel confident about their faith. This breeds participation in the church and a loving church.

I agree. I tend to hold some heterodox beliefs, but my job in this is to in part find a pastor that fits the beliefs of the church at large (which is very much old fashioned orthodox Christianity), not push what I think on everyone else.

My second suggestion is to offer both a traditional and a mixed service which will help you gauge the trend in your area. For example, the younger folks will probably prefer the mixed service over the traditional while the old folks might prefer the traditional over the mixed. The pastor only needs to prepare one sermon and deliver it in both services.

This could work eventually, but honestly I think we're too small right now. Some Sundays we only have 35 people in our pews with just the one service. I definitely think we need to mix elements of contemporary with traditional to maximize appeal, but to be honest, I don't see how two services could work right now.

As far as your thoughts, number one might just be a matter of finding the right pastor within your denomination. Going outside of your denomination should only be the last resort.

You may have missed that I mentioned that we've been in search and call within our denomination for 3 years in August. Our pulpit committee recognizes that if we get this hire wrong, it's probably curtains for our church, so they've been pretty picky. We've had a couple near misses, but still 3 years with no pastor is a long, long time. It should also be stated that our seminaries have become deeply flawed theologically. Our seminaries willingly educate and graduate ministers for the Unitarian Universalist Association and regularly deny the need for Christ's saving grace for example. Tonight I was granted permission to pursue resumes of candidates outside the denomination in addition to continuing in the DOC, and I intend to do so.

Number two is always a good idea. In my church, which also has a fair amount of older folks, the older folks are very involved in community drives, edification, visitation, etc. The younger folks tend to get more involved in hands on ministries like the widows ministry where they do house and car repairs for the widows and the poor, community interaction like food and clothes drives, etc. Your church should proactively make the members aware of different ministry opportunities (website or just a visible cork board) and seek volunteers from both within the congregation and through friends of the congregants. Our church even has intradenominational community efforts by inviting other denominations in the area to participate.

Thanks, those are good points. We have a good working relationship with our town's Presbyterian Church, so that is probably a good starting point. Getting our members to draft their friends into our community activities is a good idea as well.

Committees can get stale and/or individual members have divergent views and goals. This is always a touchy subject but unfortunately a necessary one. The church goals should be clear so that all can work towards the same goal.

This is a good point. Our rather ambitious board chairman had inserts in last Sunday's bulletin about our church's "mission" (he's an ex-Marine). He invited everyone to fill out the forms and turn them in this Sunday, and we'll use that as a launching point for a churchwide dialogue on what our church's purpose and goals will be. We lack an identity right now, and I credit our board chair for recognizing that and taking action to fix it.

Lastly, you should examine yourself to determine why you consider your spiritual life to be lacking. You certainly sound like a caring individual with your heart in the right place. You and your congregation will be in my prayers.

May the lord bless you and give you wisdom, patience, and His love in this time of uncertainty.

Believe me when I say I don't brush off my own personal faith. It's just that faith has never come easily to me (I never believed in Santa Claus, for example). I'm always very careful not to state my views in front of anyone else. I think religion and faith is a wonderful, productive thing for most people. I just don't have much of it.

I thank you for your advice and your prayers. I am in need of it, and I deeply appreciate your council.

 

[mswift]

Hi Luke,

Can I suggest using my website 54321.co it has an auto playing video of the gospel. Makes it really easy to evangelise and bring people to Christ. I pray that it will help your church.

Cheers,
Murray from New Zealand

 

[miamited]

Hi Luke,

I'm afraid that if your fellowship is out of touch with the truth of the Scriptures there really isn't any need to salvage it. The first thing you will need to do is come out of the 'liberal' theology and get into the 'God's word is the truth' and it does convict us in how we are to live. Otherwise, you and whoever has asked you to do this, is just wanting to build a bigger social club.

Evangelical fellowships are growing, for the most part, because God is in it. Jesus has already promised that the gates of hell shall not come against his church. The problem is whether or not your fellowship is a part of 'his church'. Acceptance of homosexuality as just a normal but different way of life is not a teaching that God is interested in honoring with the power and strength of His Son's church. Acceptance of everybody just do what you want and live like you like, but be sure and be here on Sunday morning is not a teaching that God is interested in honoring in His Son's church. Yes, you will find some 'liberal' denominations that have fairly large followings and this just confirms what Jesus said that there will be wolves among the sheep. So, my first advice is that to grow as a fellowship of God's people, then you have to desire to become God's people.

God bless you.
In Christ, Ted

 

[MercyGrace]

I want a church that unapologetically preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ, a church that brings people to faith in Christ, and a church that makes the community a better place. Sure, these things will most likely lead to membership increases. If it is God's will, we will prosper, but first we need to rebuild a church that is worthy of serving Him.

I appreciate this!

After three years and with the understanding that the pastors from your denomination tend to be much more liberal than the rural congregations they're sent to, it does sound as if a pastor from outside the denomination would be wise.

You mentioned that the wrong pastor might kill off the church, but the right pastor might revitalize it! It certainly can be discouraging to visitors to come to a church and not see a pastor there. It might make them reluctant to commit because they don't know what the new pastor would be like.

Getting a vision is important. It's hard for small churches (and mine is around 50 right now so I know!), but if you can find ONE common goal or uniting element or project it might invigorate people. Vision casting can be hard though and of course the new pastor may have a vision himself that he will want to rally people around.

I agree that doing two services is not really feasible with a church your size. Also two services CAN cause disunity and divisiveness. It would be better if you could change the format, structure, and style of the worship service somewhat. Change can be scary, but I've seen some older folks who are so determined to revive their church that they are willing to give up some of their personal preferences for the overall health of the church. We successfully integrated newer choruses and praise songs at our church: we sang hymns as well as praise & worship music. We used piano and organ, but also added in whatever instruments our members played - trumpet, violin, flute, etc. Some folks were reluctant about guitars, however, and drums were absolutely forbidden. We were willing to compromise on the drums, as long as we were singing joyfully and whole-heartedly. (I can really bang out enthusiastic accompaniment on the piano! lol)

An overhead projector is wonderful - not only for new songs but also for the more traditional words of certain hymns that get "modernized" and "sanitized" often to the displeasure of older folks and traditionalists. You don't have to use the bad hymnal if you have a screen. You are supposed to pay a copyrite fee for using the newer praise and worship songs (I forget the actual name of it), but my husband told me that it's less for smaller churches and you pay once for the whole year.

Sometimes older folks can't see the overhead well so whoever puts the words on the screen needs to use a clear font, a large type size, and simple background. Of course, the logistics of the church building may make the whole point moot.

As another poster said, the Gospel of Christ - His death and resurrection and His power to save - must be the foundation of any change. A church built on any foundation but Christ is not building on a solid rock but on shifting sands.

May God guide and direct your church and bless you for your willing heart and dedication.

 

[Episaw]

Hi Luke,

just so as you know where I am coming from, I have a theological degree and three University degrees. I have a personal library of over 1,000 books and for the last five years I have been doing a study of church history, starting with the New Testament Church (NTC) and including the church of today. My gifting in the body of Christ is prophetic teaching given by anointing through prophetic utterance and rebuilding that which has seen better days.

None of this has been said to boost my ego, please let me add, only so that you know this is not just someone giving their opinion which is as good as the next persons.

Your church as it is is finished. The writing is already on the wall because you have chosen to exclude God from what you are doing. I know this because you are doing things that are not sanctioned in scripture.

All your ideas are only going to re-arrange the deckchairs on the Titanic.

So let's analyse the situation. You want another pastor to come and run the church. Wrong. In the NTC pastors did not run churches. Elders chosen from the local congregation did and they were not paid. If you want God to revive your church, appoint local Elders, not a pastor.

You will not find purpose built temples in the NTC. They met in homes under the spiritual direction of lay leadership. Close your building down and turn it into something that can be used to serve the community, like a community centre. At the same time you can make it available to any christian group for meetings and fellowship of any kind. Don't impose a theological standard for them to be acceptable. i.e. no pentes.

Use the centre yourself for informal, house like meetings for fellowship, teaching, prayer and meals. Today, this is the sort of meeting that unbelievers will come to. Forget the religious ritual of singing, communion, sermons and the like as it turns people off.

Ditch the Sunday morning ritual. That is way past its use by date and is a sacred cow that needs to be killed off. Keep going with it and you will sink without a trace. If people leave because you close it down, good. They won't be any use to you as you start to build his church not yours.

Activate the priesthood of ALL believers by getting everyone to do something. Let people share from their own walk with the Lord. That will be more dynamic than boring sermons which most of the time change no one.

Accept the fact that it is His church and not yours. That means you will have to listen to him to get your instructions.

One thing that is definite. You will have to ditch your liberal theology as it questions the autheticity of the Word of God.

In the last couple of years, it is obvious that the churches that are failing and that is 99% of them are not listening to God. They are running their own show.

Those who are determined to follow scripture not tradition are leaving the religious to find reality in the homes, just as the NTC did. In the USA, they are leaving in their millions every year.

In India there is a church that meets in homes that has 100,000 members.

When the church stops listening to God and it has, he brings in a new expression of church. It is the church in the home now as he intended it to be all along.

You can go along with what God is doing or die a death. The choice is yours. If you choose your own way, he is not going to miss you as there are plenty who are following his directions.

 

[lismore]

'Love one another'

If people are loved they will come.

 

[doulos Christos]

Wow! talk about overload. It's pretty simple. PREACH THE GOSPEL!

 

[kmdickinson]

Hi there,

Might I recommend that the entire church get together and pray over this. You lead the prayer. Something along these Lines:
"Father, we have strayed from the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that is sinful and we repent of this and submit ourselves to you. Fill our Church with the Holy Spirit in such a way that the unsaved and apostate believers will have a genuine want and awakening. Please guide us in our search. Amen"
Of course, you having more facts of your congregation you can add details to your prayer. And don't forget fasting!
And no matter what happens, do not take responsibility upon yourself for success or failure of this endeavor. If your church preaches and teaches the Gospel, the results are left to God.
One last note: If any new pastor that is interviewd mentions anything along the lines of admiring the Purpose Driven Church model, end the interview right there and show him the door.

Yours in Christ, Jesus