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Should We Celebrate When Church Die?

May 24, 2010

Churches die. That’s a fact. Yet, many of us have bought into the idea that our church was meant to last until Jesus comes. That is simply not the case. Too often churches struggling to stay alive pursue the search for the fountain of youth. Many believe that if they can’t find that fountain of youth, the doors will close and they will be considered a failure. While we may mourn the passing of a great work, I think we need to correct our ecclesiology.

Understand that there is a big difference between "church" with a small "c" and "Church" with a capital "C". The Church (capital C) is eternal and will never die. But, the local church (small c) is community of believers. Those involved in these local community of believers age, move away, and eventually die. Churches have life-cycles. Some last longer than others and some are churches for a season.

If a church closing is a failure, then all of the churches of Acts were miserable failures. Realize not one of them exists today. However, what we do have is the legacy they left. The churches of Acts were springboards, stopping off points in history for the spreading of the gospel. They served as the foundation for future works. Your church is proof of that. Your church exists today because the churches of Acts were sending bodies that did not think about self-preservation. Rather, they thoughts about the multiplication of the kingdom and the spreading of the good news.

    No church was intended to be around forever. The problem rests in the fact that many congregations see their church as a castle to protect, instead of a small part of God’s kingdom-building process. We are not called to be castle fortifiers, but kingdom builders. We need to come to terms with the fact that many of our churches will not last for another 15 years, but they might be a stepping stone in the history of God’s multiplying and spreading kingdom. Instead of fighting to keep a church on life-support, let’s celebrate what God has done. Let’s have proper funeral and throw a party for their faithfulness.

    Can you imagine what might happen if churches fighting to stay alive, where celebrated, closed and the assets where used to plant another vibrate, growing church? What kind of a legacy could that church leave for future generations?

    Why even talk about such a fatalistic issue? Why bring up such a difficult subject? Because the Church in America is in a severe crisis. Watch this video from David Olsen. If the video peaks your interest visit The American Church and order his book.

Posted 5/24/2010 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Three Big Questions

May 18, 2010

Posted 5/18/2010 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Changing Our Language

May 14, 2010

Churches operate through volunteers. That is a fact! If a church doesn't have a good base of volunteers to run its every day and weekly activities/ministries the church will not function well. This isn't simply true of the church, but also true of any non-profit organization, polictical campaign and para-church organizations.

Here is a question to ponder. While volunteerism is imporrtant, is it accomplishing what we intend for it to accomplish in the church? We ask people in the church to become volunteers so they can become servants in the church. In every organization of this kind th volunteer serves the organization. I know that some of you are wanting to push back here and say; "No! They serve God by serving the church." I'm not sure this is true.

We all believe in the giftedness of believers. We all understadn that the church is to help our people discover how God has created them to serve. We all believe that becoming a servant is crucial to the Christian life. But is serving the pinnacle of our calling as Christians? 1 Peter 2:5 "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Our volunteers are used to serve the church and help it's ministries function. That is not a bad thing, but is serving the church, the right direction to help our people find meaning? It is a means, but not the end.

Let me explain before I am crucified or burned at the stake. Our calling, as leaders, is to call our people to become missionaries, not volunteers. You may think; "That is just splitting hairs." But is it? Or use of language can be profound. Helping our people understand that the high calling of the Christian life is to become missionaries in their culture encompasses volunteerism, than vice-versa.

Bottom line is this. We need to call people to volunteer in the church, but within the framework of being a missionary in their community. Calling your people ministers or missionaries has much more meaning than calling someone a volunteer. Any organization cn have volunteers. We have missionaries. I think that the change of name can aid the change of our philosophy of ministry and release our people to become more than mere volunteers, serving the church. Rather, they become missionaries, serving their community.

Posted 5/14/2010 in Stephen Gray | 1 Comment - Add Comment