Building a better sheep pen.
07-24-2008

Column 940, July 22, 2008

“Provoking Christian Insights” series



Part 40

Building a better sheep pen

I am not an ordained minister, in fact, I’m not much of a “preacher,” but I often see things that preachers often overlook, or tend to ignore. The other day I was talking to a pastor who was giving me some insight on the churches in my own area. One statement made me feel that there was a hasty generalization going around that wasn’t based on fact.



Basically what this pastor said was that “most of the older and mainline churches in our community aren’t growing except for ABC church, which has to build a new sanctuary and parking lot because they don’t have room for all the people coming to church.”



The statement, in and of itself, was true. ABC church was growing and continues to grow, while many of the older churches are stagnant or declining in size of membership. But, what he said next sort of threw me to disbelief. “You have an exceptionally good preacher there and a former evangelist and he does anything to bring folks in.”



My answer tossed the ball back into this pastor’s court. “All of the growth that you site is not just the work of the pastor,” I said, “but rather a lot of things working in this church’s favor,” I added. Going further, “this pastor is a great preacher, that’s true, but not the reason for the dramatic church growth alone. There is another factor, much stronger and more faith based,” I continued. “Most of the church growth comes from the young married and single Christians praying and sharing their faith. This might not seem possible in this day and age but it is very true.”



“Remember last year when we had the movie “Land of Giants” at our church? In the movie the coach prayed over the pews, and the church janitor prayed over the lockers, as did the coach. Prayers made a difference in the movie and also in our church attendance during and long after the third time we presented that movie. It wasn’t just the movie … it was the prayers,” I said emphatically. During this time the pastor barely preached.



“O.K.” said the pastor, “you have a big church and its just getting bigger. We can’t do that in a church that is continually shrinking,” he added.



I replied, “You know that I am familiar with you church and the others that you mention. I used to go to your church and believe the way you believe, but due to some personal issues I choose not to go there. I attend the big church because they don’t allow petty issues to get out of hand. Rumors are dealt with and the primary focus of the church is worship and teaching. On this I have to hand it to the pastor who has a heart for people and is interested in souls first.”



There’s more. My friend from a very fundamental church chimed in, “then why aren’t we growing? We do all the right things and we can’t seem to attract as many visitors and we are just down the street from you?”



“There’s nothing really wrong with your church as far as welcoming visitors,” I replied, “but it’s what you do with them when you get them,” I said. “This is not a judgment, but an observation. People I know that visited you church and didn’t come back said that your church was too strict, too correcting, and too apt to stay that way.”



“What do you mean?” he said.

“The other day I was talking about Christmas trees to a Lutheran lady. You jumped into the conversation and said … “We don’t allow Christmas trees in our church.” Most people looking for a church know more about Christmas trees then they do about church, especially your church. You are in such a big hurry to make a point that you didn’t realize that you had just turned them off as church prospects.



“You catch ‘em and we’ll clean ‘em” is a neat concept, but if you scrape them until there is nothing left of their family heritage what you have is essentially a form of brainwashing, and not belief by faith that we so much seek,” I concluded.



Picking nits is not a way to build churches nor is it a way to share Christ’s love to someone who doesn’t know Jesus.



So why is the big church growing?

The big church is growing because God is in the house. You might ask, “Is God not in our older church?” I pretty sure that He is there but often His Presence is not demonstrated to the degree that He is found elsewhere. But in a larger extent, if you can hold someone’s hand or hug them, you are blessed because you can offer God’s healing touch. People are looking for that.



I’m not impressed with the huge “feel good” mega churches on TV. God is a God to be worshipped as well as feared. In the local fast growing church, when conflicts come up, both internal and doctrinal, they are consulted with one another to get a clear sense of God’s truth. In the mega church you have to receive what is fed to you over the pulpit.



The big church continues to grow with people both leaving and new people coming in. The older church usually has more funerals than weddings the growing church is just the opposite. It’s like rolling a snowball down hill … the ball continues to grow with more snow. If you roll a snowball down a hill with little or no snow it soon is ground down to a small ice ball.



Can we get our older and smaller congregations growing? Yes you can, simply by loving people and encouraging them.



A pastor friend of mine in New York specializes in Interim pastorates. He knows quite a lot about churches. One of the churches he told me about had a membership that didn’t want to do anything. They weren’t growing and weren’t going to grow because no one would get off their hands an invite people to church or even serve in the church let alone give money.



He has another church that is excited about Jesus Christ and they may be old, but what they have in their hearts makes up for the younger pew sitters of his former church. “We’re going places,” he said. Both churches were in rapid decline after much growth following World War II. But, the new church is out looking and sharing. Their heads are up and they are smiling and truly thankful and blessed because they can and will, but most do not.



What’s in it for me?

We feel the strain of our times. Participation in all manner of activities is down because we ask the question “What’s in it for me?” What this means to most people is we won’t go out of our way and partly because we won’t let anyone tell us what to do. Like the parable of the rich young ruler we are willing to go to a point and then we draw a line. Often we don’t even know why we do this but we’ve seen others do the same thing. “You’re not getting me,” you say! You want to buy in at your own level, control what you do, and be willing to turn and run at the sign of the first thing that upsets you. Church can’t be that way.



We need each other!

If there is a moral to the story it is this. We individuals need each other in the local church, and we as a church body need to be gathered in love and unity. We need to be able to go to God’s house and find Him there. Our mission is to accomplish our mission of worship, discipleship, love and service. We help others … others help us … there is no finger pointing.



When we do this all of our churches will grow.



INSPIRATION “Let us now give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the day approaching, Hebrews 10:25.



Write: croneis@embarqmail.com