There's a cultural and economic storm underway. Unless we respond to this coming tsunami, churches like mine will soon be as rare as printed newspapers, landline phones, and brick-and-mortar bookstores.
Churches like mine—small to mid-size denominational churches with a mortgage and a pastoral salary in a large metropolitan area—will start disappearing in the next couple of decades. Sorry to be the bearer of ill tidings. But it's happening.
Churches don't need to be more cool. They need to be more real.
Fifteen years ago, my church was less healthy than it is today. It had half the attendance it has today. But we could afford to pay our mortgage, upkeep on the building, and two full-time salaries, while giving a good percentage to missions and funding all the ministries.
Today we have double the attendance, more volunteers, and a healthier mission and ministry. But we have to do more with less every year. Why? Here are three reasons.
1. People's financial realities have changed. We've gone from one person's salary paying the family's bills, to both spouses needing to work. And now we're heading into an era in which each adult in the household will need more than one source of income. This reality is already hitting highly populated areas like mine.
2. What people are willing to give to has changed. People no longer want to give their increasingly hard earned money to pay for our salaries or mortgages. But they will give to causes they care about.
3. How people relate to god and the church has changed. People used to trust churches until given a reason not to. Now they don't trust us until we prove that we're worthy of it.
What Won't Save Our Churches
Church growth. Not every church is destined to become big, not even in large population centers, because not everyone wants to attend a large church. The answer is to become a healthier and smarter small church.
Teaching on giving. We can teach on giving until we're hoarse, but members won't give if we're not showing them good stewardship of what they're giving. They may be more right on this than we are. Poor giving by church congregations may be a lesser sin than poor stewardship by church leaders.
Being relevant. There are more "cool" churches now, and I'm okay with that. But we don't need churches to be more relevant. We need them to be more real, more contextual and, dare I say it, more counter-cultural. Coolness won't last.
What Might Save Our Churches
Pay off the mortgage. Churches with debt won't last. Extravagant buildings and programs must give way to practical methods under strong budgetary stewardship.
Bivocational pastoring. The apostle Paul was bivocational. Most pastors in history and today globally are bivocational. But here they're still looked at as not-quite-pastors. That has to change. Not as many churches will be able to afford the luxury of the full-time pastor.
Partnering with other churches. The go-it-alone church won't make it. No, this is not about denominations. Many churches within denominations are still going it alone, while many nondenominational churches have healthy partnerships with other churches. We need each other.
It's not all bad news. Whether or not our churches survive in their current form or a new one, the church will survive. And individual churches that see the writing on the wall, and make the necessary changes, will not just survive, but thrive.
The trend may actually force the church towards a more sustainable, possibly even more biblical, model. One where there's less dependence on buildings and professional clergy and more dependence on genuine community, discipleship, and direct reliance on God.
Karl Vaters is pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, California.
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