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| Natural result of loss of invitation. |
When I drive through my town I see half a dozen churches for
sale. Buildings that once housed vital ministries, whose halls clamored with
children singing songs and altars filled with God-seeking people offering
heart-felt prayers are not virtually empty. What happened? One cause is that
some where along the path of the life-cycle of the church the anchor members,
those who have weathered the storm for the long haul, have quit inviting others
to worship with them. Three reasons come immediately to mind as to why our
people don’t invite: we don’t believe in the leadership; we don’t believe
in the mission; we don’t know anyone who is not, at least nominally,
“Christian.”
We don’t believe in the leadership. Ouch. This reason hits
right where it hurts. Amidst trying to design a myriad of effectiveness
matrices and forcing clergy accountability, we must realize that the first
reason people do not invite others into their churches is a failure of
confidence in the leadership of the church. Institutions of long memories, it
doesn’t even have to be a failure to trust the current leader, it could be a
situation long past that lingers in the subconscious of the membership. Once an
organization has lost trust in the leadership once, the rebuilding of that
trust can take years, even decades. Unfortunately with the aging population in
many of our churches we don’t have decades, we may not even have “years.” We
are the leaders of the church must model vulnerability and authenticity. That
means some will take cheap shots at you, some will blame you for their issues
and insecurities, but that is the price of leadership. We also, as leaders,
must lead and be constantly inviting people ourselves. If you haven’t invited
somebody to worship this week, don’t expect any of your worshippers to do so.
WE don’t believe in the mission. Whether we disregard
the “great commission” to go into all the world, or we don’t really believe
people are headed to a Christ-less eternity, or we don’t believe in their
local church to address either of the other two. If people do not believe in
the mission of the church, we won’t invite. Inviting somebody to church is
risky and if you don’t believe they really need Jesus or really need to be
involved in Christian community there is no reason to take the risk.
We don’t know anyone who is not “Christian.” The longer you
are a Christian, the more likely it is that all of your friends are Christian. It
is not that we don’t interact with those outside the faith in their daily
life, we just no longer “see” them or spend any time with them. We live in
a Christian bubble, self-contained and comfortable. Let’s face it, we tend to
associate most closely with people who are like us and who affirm us. We disassociate
with anyone who disagrees with us or has a different worldview.
How do we rebuild trust? How do we refine and refuel the
mission of the Church so people are re-engaged? How do we help the “see” the
people around them that need to hear the Story? A few insights will be offered in
the next blog but I’d also like to hear yours.
Consumed by the Call,
Marty
