CM Edge

Hey,

I’ve looked at both articles today. On Monday, I also watched the news report on ABC World News which highlighted the same report.

I think the trend is going to be a rapid one and like the economy, we may see a “recession” in faith. What is the cause for these trends? Well, I can’t be sure, nor can I pretend to know – but I do know that for all of the recent church’s tryings, it seems that people are feeling misplaced.

Also of note, most of these statistics are based on denominational settings and I think many people are leaving denominations regularly. I can’t remember the blog just now, but somewhere I read that multi-site churches are becoming essentially the new idea of denominations. Rather than a large corporate national church denomination, people are choosing local multi-sites – finding community in the local community that is being established. It’s large enough to be accommodating and each campus is small enough to find an easy fit. I’m not sure how those are taken into consideration here. For this conversation, let’s assume it’s a non-issue and people are leaving faith at a rapid rate.

We can try to find reasons. 1) I think the general mood of our nation is one of a global striving. People are tired of divisions, and let’s be honest – “religion” separates people. Yes, they find community there, but they are being cut off too. 2) I think that war, economy, woes of governmental uncertainty – these aren’t recent things but they have been stirring for a long time. 3) Faith means I’m not in control, and we like to be in control as humans, even though we can’t be. But why give up what we think we have?

We can talk about reasons all day – and we won’t get anywhere unless we ask specific people specifically. Everyone has an excuse to not attend church but how good are we at promoting the Christ of the church to override those excuses? I think people no longer want to see Christianity which preaches without action. We have a power to turn the world upside down, and inside out, and yet it’s still round and some are quite content with that.

This means also the church needs to rethink what we are doing. We have a lot of (for lack of a better term right now) gimmicks. We are “trendy” and “relevant” and as much as we try to stay with culture we are failing to create it. How do we then reach kids of parents who are going to be unchurched?

In some ways, this is the opportunity to wipe the slate clean for people. If you could talk to a family with no preconcieved ideas or past experiences about what faith in Christ is, about what a church experience is like, what would you say to them? What would you present to them? A steeple and stained glass? No – it’s not about a building. An invite to a six week series on Sex is Great in Marriage? No – they had sex outside of marriage, you are going to say that wasn’t great?

What about an emphasis on family? What about offering them the only true HOPE there is, that you don’t even have to endure a long political campaign for? You don’t even have to wait for an end to a war or a spike in the market. What if we told them that HOPE isn’t about the stuff around you, but about the person inside you. What if we said that they could have a peace that they could raise their kids to be wise in a crazy world, that they can make a difference in a person’s life, and they can find a Love like none other and body of people that genuinely care for each other.

We can offer families hope, even when they are seemingly gone from us. We can impact children by reaching to parents and we can reach parents by advocating their children.

We can reach people by being people, but people with a heart of compassion like Christ had.

The numbers, these statistics, are mind-boggling when it seems like there has been such strides in the last few years of churches growing and being effective, and reaching cities, and states, and countries.

So, the response can be one of two ways: 1) That’s so discouraging. Let’s keep trying what we are doing, I mean these statistics may not reflect the most recent growth we are seeing. OR 2) We have to pray for wisdom, guidance, and the means to be more effective in what Christ would have us do. Let’s reach them by serving them. Let’s do what years and years of hypocrisy, political intrusion (seemingly) and misguided messages failed to do – Let’s BE the church.

For us as children’s ministers it means we have to lock in what we are doing and approach it from a lifetime perspective. What I mean is we have to redefine what “child” to mean “person” and realize that we are not investing in a “child” we are investing in a “person” who will grow up to be an adult. We will speak to these people in a kids language, through creativity, humor, interaction, education, etc – and we will reach them – but we must partner with them for life. It means that Lead Pastors need to embrace Children’s Ministers, and CM need to embrace Student Ministers, and everyone needs a comprehensive plan for a PERSON’s life in Christ. If we have 40 hours a year, what for 12 years are we going to teach a person? What are we going to teach a family? What are we going to do when they explore the world that is now populated with people who are 15% less inclined to believe in God?

Let’s evaluate what we are doing, let’s see what is working and what isn’t. Are we investing too much in things that don’t matter? Are we duplicating what the world is offering, or giving something new? Are we simply “church-ifying” programs that our community is doing well, and thus missing opportunity to influence our communities? Are we spending too much time worrying about the color of our newest relevant logo?

What are we doing? What can we cut? What can we do better?

I haven’t answered a question – just generated more – but since I have not planned it all out yet – I am still processing through this.

Sorry for the length – it was a brain dump I know! :)