Jun

13

The Present Future—Part 2

June 13, 2007 |

The Present Future

For an introduction to this series, go to here

New Reality Number One: The Collapse of the Church Culture

“The current church culture in North America is on life support. It is living off the work, money, and energy of previous generations from a previous world order. The plug will be pulled wither when the money runs out (80 percent of the money given to congregations comes from people aged fifty-five and older) or when the remaining three-fourths of a generation who are institutional loyalists dies off or both.”

“Please don’t hear what I’m not saying. The death of the church culture as we know it will not be the death of the church. The church Jesus founded is good; it is right. The church established by Jesus will survive until he returns. The imminent demised under discussion is the collapse of the unique culture in North America that has come to be call “church.” This church has become confused with biblical Christianity, both inside the church and out. in reality, the church culture in North America is a vestige of the original movement, an institutional expression of religion that is in part civil religion and in part a club where religious people can hang out with other people whose politics, worldview, and lifestyle match theirs.”

The percentage of Americans who claim to attend church each week has hovered at about 40 to 43 percent for 30 years. But a study conducted by the University of Maryland in the late 1990s pegged church attendance at closer to 26 percent. Question: Does your town even have room in all the churches for 40 percent of the population?

Even in the attendance estimates that people report, church attendance drops with age, with 52 percent of the builders (those born before 1946) and seniors reporting attendance to 36 percent of Gen Xers.

“Dawson McAlister, national youth ministry specialist, reports that 90 percent of kids active in high school youth groups do not go to church by the time they are sophomores in college.”

“The American culture no longer props up the church the way it did, no longer automatically accepts the church as a player at the table in public life.”

Wrong Question: How do we Do Church Better?

“Church activity is a poor substitute for genuine spirituality.”

“We don’t have much evidence to support the assumption that all this church activity has produced more mature followers of Jesus. It has produced many tired, burned out members who find that their lived mimic the lives and dilemmas of people in the culture who don’t pay all the church rent.”

“Evangelism in this worlview is about churching the unchurched, not connect people to Jesus. It focuses on cleaning people us, changing their behavior so Christians (translation: church people) can be more comfortable around them.”

“People outside the church think church is for church people, not for them.”

Tough Question: How do we Deconvert from Churchianity to Christianity?

“Although intrigue with institutional religion is down, interest in spirituality is up… There is a spiritual awakening occurring in America. However, it is not informed by Christian theology, and it’s not happening in the church.”

“People in the nonchurch culture don’t associate Jesus with the church. In their mind, the church is a club for religious people where club members can celebrate their traditions and hang out with others who share common thinking and lifestyles. They do not automatically thing of the church as championing the cause of poor people or healing the sick or serving people.”

Yahweh rescued the Hebrews so they could partner with him in his redemptive mission in the world… they were to tell the whole world about God and convince the world of this love for them. Unfortunately Israel never quite grasped that their ‘chosen’ status was for the sale of the mission. The salvation [of Jesus] had come to them so they could pass it on to others… The North American is suffering from severe mission amnesia. It has forgotten why it exists.”

“If the church refuses its misisional assignment, God will do it another way. The church has, and he is.”

“The movement Jesus initiated has power because it had at its core a personal life-transforming experience.”


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