I turned 60, and we went on vacation…
We made a tour of the Gulf Coast region. Actually, not a good plan. We stayed in one place 2 nights, attended a wedding (spending 2 nights), and went to another place (spending 2 nights). Almost a week of vacation, and really spent 3 days doing something that was memorable… a short swim in the gulf, a wedding, and a museum, and the rest of the time, we spent driving. It sounded good on paper, but we missed the very aspect that vacation should be – spending time in rest and renewal.
It is always the decades that make you pause and reflect. I remember a line from one of my favorite movies – The Quartet. The characters were talking about their ailments, and the line came up – “Growing old is not for sissies!” I have been reminded of that a lot lately. I have been to the doctor 3 times in the last month or so.
We live our youth thinking we will live forever, and when we hit 40, we are reminded of how wrong we are. That vacation was tiring. We did a lot of driving.
However one of the things I saw on the road shook me, and I can’t get it out of my mind.
Went looking for a church where an acquaintance from years past was pastor. It was not too far out of our route on that trip. I thought it odd that the GPS was really vague where it would be. But it finally gave us an address. It is a small community, but we circled multiple times. Truth be told, we drove past the building three times before we found it. The reason that we missed it is because the sign had been changed to reflect its new tenant – the city hall and police station.
Another closed church! This is becoming far too common. The Louisiana church that I pastored while in college – nothing more than a foundation where the building once was. Another church in my town, gated, and all but the worship center is gone. And as you drive across rural America – there are churches aplenty that are boarded up, and abandoned.
All churches, like people have life cycles. There is the birthing stage, the growth like a child, the maturation, and the stagnation, and the decline. It is very hard for a church to interrupt one of the latter three stages and begin the growth curve again. There have been churches that have broken the cycle, but far too often that is the exception – not the rule.
I have preached in a lot of churches especially in the last few years. Most of the churches are small, and declining. Each prayer list published in the bulletin are a clue as to how the numbers are about to decline as members become ill and die. Most of these churches have not had a baptism in years – maybe even decades (far too often the baptistry is a storage closet for plastic altar flowers or Christmas decorations). They certainly have not seen an increase any other ways of new members. Most echo the statement that was made to me a few years ago by a church member where I was preaching, “We are old and small, and just holding on ’til Jesus comes.”
Their declining years have been of sitting down in the padded pew seat, and just go through the motions. And the words of John in the book of Revelation haunt me as I think about it.
15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.… 19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. Revelation 3:15-17, 19
The more we sit physically, our muscles atrophy. Resting, while it feels good, is not good for you. In fact, I have heard it said that sitting is the new smoking. I have been sedentary for most of my life, but at 56 I realized that I need to change my ways (you can read about that elsewhere on this site). I ran my first 5k, and at 57, I finished my first half-marathon. It would have been a lot easier if I had start at 26 or even 36, but I did not, and I paid for it in speed and stamina. but I did it. It was hard, and it took an intentional dedication to go out and train for that day or reckoning. And the same is true for the church.
It is going to take effort, and a willingness to do some things you have not done before. I had never gotten up at 5 am before to go for a run. But I did it 5 days a week. I had to do some things differently. I had adjust my sleep schedule and what I ate and drank. And church, you have got to do a lot of things differently as well. You will have to change your worship, your calendar, and your programs. You are going to try things that are going to have poor results, some with mediocre results, and some with great results. But you have to try new things.
No, it is not how you use to do it. But times are changed. Very few – and I mean VERY FEW are still driving the same car that they did back in the 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s. If you are, then you know that they are not reliable. Things are different today. We not only have color TV’s, but we have large flat panels of HD, with 100’s of channels coming into our house, a virtual library and resource center called the Internet, and mass communication methods called email, and everyone having their own personal phone number with a phone that is in their pocket or purse at all times. Back in the day, you had one TV, black and white, maybe color, a set of encyclopedias (maybe), a postman that actually carried hand-written letters, and a house phone for the entire household – and it may even be on a party line! Communication was monochromatic, slow, and minimal.
So many churches are singing the same songs that I sang 50+ years ago – and in a high key that is difficult. The accompaniment is via a piano, and maybe – maybe an organ. And we use a book that was copyrighted in the 70’s.
I did my first video blog (it is in a couple of places on this site), and I hope it will not be my last. But to create it, I had to learn about camera placement, lighting, sound, and talk to people like they are in the room with me, when in all honesty, there was nothing but a tripod. I did two or three dry runs, recording each one, and looking at it critically to see what worked and what did not. Then I had to sit at the computer and edit. I actually even have a B-roll, that has a different angle, and I will end up tossing that B-roll because I did not use it all (I don’t think it adds anything to the video quality).
I say that to demonstrate how we have to change. The church MUST change. If you don’t, you will be just another concrete slab with a sign out front that says that you were neither hot nor cold. I pray that we can turn from our indifference.