The challenge for denominations Part 3

In this third article in this series of denominational challenges I want to address the need to look at the education and training we use to prepare persons for pastoral ministry. In the past we have relied on our seminaries to address these training needs. We had our denominational seminaries and we trusted them to equip our pastors according to the theological beliefs and polities of our denomination. That worked OK for a long time until people started seeking theological education and training from outside our denominational seminaries. It also didn't work very well when smaller churches called individuals who had no theological or ministry training at all.

A few years ago I was amused when one of the churches in the region I served called to complain about their new pastor. Although I had given them names of some people who might have been interested in serving their church, they called a person from outside our denomination who, according to my knowledge, had no theological training at all. I attended a meeting of some of the leaders in the church who told me their new pastor didn't do things "like Baptists." I shrugged my shoulders and responded that was because he wasn't a Baptist, a fact they knew when they asked him to be their pastor. I also reminded them they did not get his name from me.

I was licensed to preach by my church in 1979. I contacted our denominational leader and offered to fill in for vacationing pastors or to fill the pulpit for churches who might need someone to speak. I received a letter a couple of weeks later saying as soon as I finished seminary he would be glad to help me find a church. I had never attended college much less seminary. He was telling me to put my life on hold for seven years to go to school and then he would see what he could do. That didn't happen! I found a church myself where I spent the next 20 years serving as a bivocational pastor. During that time I did graduate from a Bible college and earned a bachelor degree from a nearby university, but I wasn't going to jump through his hoops before I began to fulfill my calling from God.

As smaller churches struggle to find trained pastors to lead their churches denominations need to step in and offer the training these individuals need. Many regions and denominations now do offer such training, but too many still do not. The quality of the training varies widely from area to area as well. If we want our churches to be healthy and strong denominations and regions need to provide the training for their pastoral and lay leaders to help them.

Improved education is not needed just for our smaller churches. As a denominational leader I saw plenty of pastors with MDiv degrees who were not equipped for pastoral ministry. Some may have been well prepared to do theological research, but they were inadequately prepared for pastoral ministry. Some had limited social skills, some struggled to preach coherent messages, some lacked adequate theological understanding, and others needed more training in other areas.

I began my pastoral ministry in 1981. Now in 2021 I am serving as a Transitional Pastor. Believe me when I say ministry has changed much in the past 40 years. The challenges I see facing pastors today are much different than they were when I began my ministry. I can only imagine what changes we'll see in the next 40 years. Yet, much of the seminary education being offered hasn't changed much. The church often lags behind the rest of society when it comes to change, and I'm concerned that our preparation of ministers is also lagging behind.

I would encourage denominations to begin serious conversations with leading seminaries to discuss how they can work together to better prepare persons for the ministry challenges the 21st century will bring. It is not going to be healthy for denominations to work in one area of the church world and seminaries work in another area. They need to come together to develop the best possible education for their future leaders. By doing this they will best serve tomorrow's churches.

The challenge for denominations Part 2

 In my previous post on this topic I addressed the challenge denominations face in developing relationships with their smaller churches. If they fail to develop and maintain such relationships they will continue to see these churches leave the denomination or continue to remain members but without any active involvement in denominational life.

Today I want to address another common issue I often heard as a regional denominational leader. That is the issue of Scriptural integrity. As denominations face a variety of social challenges in today's society they create policy statements regarding these social issues that many of their churches feel are unbiblical. These issues range from same-sex marriage to homosexual relationships to gender dysphoria issues to women in ministry to abortion and a host of other social justice and public policies. Some denominations make clear policy statements regarding these issues while others seem to want to straddle the fence on them. Still others have an endless stream of study groups assigned to study the issue and report back at a later date. The fence straddlers and the study groups are often more frustrating to the churches than the denominations that make a clear statement of where they stand on these issues.

I have long believed that denominations need to state clear beliefs on these various social issues so their churches know where they stand. Quit straddling the fence trying to appease everyone. That satisfied nobody. Clearly say what you believe and then churches can decide whether to remain or leave. This avoids the problem of a slow death by attrition, and it avoids the problem of churches dividing because members tire of the uncertainty of supporting a denomination they aren't sure believes what they believe.

How many study groups does it take to decide where a denomination stands on a particular issue? How many years do such study groups need to take to issue a statement to the wider denomination? I have sometimes wondered if such study groups were created and given a time line to report back that was sufficient to allow certain denominational leaders to retire before the report was finalized. Yes, you can call me cynical if you want.

Some denominations have taken a public stand on these issues, and their churches know that stand. They are then free to decide whether to remain in that denomination or not. While I may or may not agree with the stands these denominational always take, I appreciate their willingness to state what they believe. At least they have the courage of their convictions, and I appreciate that in anyone and in any organization. It should be noted that many of the denominations that have taken more progressive (liberal) stands are experiencing decline in membership due to the membership declines in their churches. Those denominations that have taken more conservative stands regarding these social issues are the denominations that continue to grow in size and influence.

The denominations that seem to want to satisfy everyone by not stating a clear position on many of the social issues are also in decline. Personally, I think that is as it should be. Just like most people enjoy hot coffee and hot tea or iced coffee and iced tea but do not like either to be lukewarm, people do not like lukewarm theological beliefs either. Like the Lord told the church at Laodicea, "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. (Rev. 3: 16)"

Most Christians want to belong to a church that believes something and stands for something. They seek churches that have theological integrity, and if a church lacks that they will leave it and seek one that does. Many churches feel the same way about the denomination to which they belong. If they believe that denomination abandons its theological beliefs, they will leave that denomination for one that holds to the beliefs they share or become independent.

As we move further into the 21st century it becomes more imperative that denominations take a firm stand on what it believes about the various social and theological challenges it faces. Your churches deserve that. We are facing a turbulent future and without a sound theological foundation we are going to be buffeted by the winds of dozens of social issues.

The challenge for denominations Part 1

 For years many have been saying the time for denominations is over. They point to the decline in most denominations and the fact that many churches are abandoning their denominational names. There has certainly been an exodus from denominational life for many churches, and this is likely to continue unless the denominations figure out how to respond to the concerns their churches have about the direction of their denominations.

I have been a denominational pastor since entering the ministry in 1981. I served as a regional denominational leader for 14 years. During that time I heard many of the concerns of our churches and saw several withdraw from our denomination over those concerns. Some of those concerns I shared myself. Other concerns were based on half-truths and a misunderstanding of denominational polity and policies. I found that many churches and church leaders read headlines without reading the entire article or look for things that easily fit into their personal agendas. It's like preaching a text without the context. Doing so makes it easy to prove just about any point you want.

Having said this, denominations are facing tough times. Perhaps some will disappear from the American landscape in the next few years. Others will struggle to survive and become must less than they once were. The struggle will be much worse for those who refuse to address the concerns their churches and church leaders have.

Because of my work with smaller churches and bivocational pastors one of the most common concerns I hear is that denominations care little for these churches and leaders. Because the smaller churches and bivocational pastors feel neglected and ignored by their denominations they, in turn, have little or nothing to do with the denomination. They may remain a member in name only, but they do nothing to support the work and ministry of the denomination. They give nothing to denominational missions or ministry.  Many of these churches refuse to even fill out the annual reports their denominations may require. As a result of this sense of abandonment, as many as one-third of the churches affiliated with a denomination may have no relationship with that denomination.

II would remind denominational leaders that there is only one thing you can offer your churches they cannot get from para-church organizations or from other sources, and that is relationship. They can purchase materials and literature from a variety of sources. They can support independent missionaries. They can seek pastoral candidates from seminaries and online. They can get everything they need to continue their ministry from many places. The only thing their denomination can offer them they cannot get elsewhere is a relationship with the people in that denomination. If they feel abandoned or ignored by their denominational and regional leadership do not be surprised if they refuse to support the denomination and region.

If denominational leaders read this post and wonder what they can do to create such a relationship, that is a good indicator that such a relationship does not currently exist. Otherwise, you would not have to wonder what to do to have such a relationship. It is probably past time that you look at your denominational calendars and see how much time you are giving to your smaller churches and their leaders. How many training events are you offering that specifically address their issues and challenges? How much are you investing in that training? How many speakers from these churches do you use in your annual and biennial meetings? How many of these leaders do you use to lead workshops? What resources do you provide that speak to the smaller church?

It takes time to rebuild a relationship that has been allowed to be ignored so don't expect instant results. One regional leader told me a few years ago he was glad I told him to not be disappointed if few people came for his first small church leadership training event, because few people did attend. I had reminded him that it had been so long since his district had done anything for small church leaders that it would take time to build up that relationship. It will likely be true for you as well, but it you want to rebuild the relationship between your denomination and its smaller churches it will be time well spent.

A broken nation

 Growing up in the 1950s and 60s we kept hearing that we were making a better world for ourselves and future generations. That optimistic thought did not come to pass. As a nation we haven't been as divided as we are today since the Civil War. We don't just disagree with people who hold different opinions; we seek to destroy them. We see this played out today in Congress with the current impeachment proceedings. Every day more and more of our freedoms are taken from us all in the guise of national security or health reasons. Our children continue to fall behind those in other countries educationally. Our moral standards have fallen to all time lows. The cancel culture threatens anyone who holds any opinion the elite considers politically incorrect. Prejudice, racism, domestic abuse and injustices continues to be prevalent throughout our nation. Alcohol abuse, drug usage, violence, depression and suicide continue to skyrocket.

As I have written many times in this blog, everything rises and falls on leadership. It has been said that a nation gets the leadership it deserves, and this is true. We have few national political office holders today who are interested in the welfare of our nation. You'll notice I didn't call them leaders. They are interested in satisfying their base supporters and financial donors, not in the best interest of the nation as a whole. While there are exceptions in both parties, these exceptions are few. They focus more on grandstanding before the television cameras than on trying to solve the problems facing our nation. Unfortunately, we keep re-electing them to office.

As tempting as it is to blame all our problems on our political office holders, and these people do need to be replaced, the real answer to our national problems is spiritual. We have abandoned the teachings of Scripture as it relates to morality, justice, and love for one another. We have become a nation that now calls good evil and evil good. We pass laws that legalize that which God calls evil and silence anyone who challenges those laws. Until our nation returns to following  God and the standards of living His Word teaches we will remain a broken nation.

In the past when our nation was in peril God sent forth a Great Awakening. It has happened twice in our nation's history. There are been lesser revivals that also occurred in our nation. Each of these came because the church took seriously the mandate of 2 Chronicles 7:14 and began to repent of its sins and seek the face of God. Will that happen now, or will we continue to move further away from God and closer to total chaos? Perhaps the question should be, can this happen again since so many churches and denominations have chosen to follow the politically-correct crowd and abandon the teachings of Scripture themselves? Will you join me in praying for our broken nation that we might once again become one nation under God?

When your Internet is slow

I started on the Internet when we still used dial-up modems. I think my first Internet provider had 3-4 phone numbers we could use to connect. It worked fine during the day, but when kids got home from school you could forget getting online until around 10:30 PM or later. They later began to add more numbers, but getting online was always tricky until the dial-up system went away.

Today, most of us are used to instant Internet connections. Modem speeds continue to increase making our computers operate faster and faster...until they don't. Like me, I'm sure you've sat in front of your computer at times watching the little clock moving ever so slowly as it tried to connect you to the site you wanted and growing more and more frustrated by the minute having to wait. That frustration only increases when you get the dreaded message "Not Responding."

We are not a people who enjoys waiting. We want instant coffee, instant entertainment, instant gratification and instant answers to prayer. The first three are often possible, but the fourth one is out of our control. We can pray our prayers, but God decides if and when He will answer them. Seldom is His timing the same as ours.

I doubt that I am the only believer who becomes frustrated when God does not answer his prayers as quickly and completely as I want. Some Christians have told me that is their biggest frustration in Christianity. As their prayers seem to go unanswered they begin to wonder about God's love for them or His ability to intercede on their behalf. Some may even question their own salvation.

Explaining everything God does is impossible. If I could do that I would be God, and I'm not. God is the one with perfect omniscience, not us. He alone knows what is best for us long-term, and sometimes the things we think we want would do us more harm in the future. In His perfect love for us, He sometimes says no to our requests. At other times He delays His answer so we will be better prepared to receive it.

While we may not always trust our Internet provider, we can trust God's heart and His love for us. When the answers to our prayers are delayed just know He is working out the best possible answer that will benefit us and others the most.

What do people want from a church?

 At various times churches will conduct surveys to help them determine possible next steps. Such surveys are common when the church is seeking a new pastor or considering building a new facility. They might conduct a survey when thinking about starting a new, significant ministry, Sometimes a church will do a survey just to check how people feel about the church and the direction in which it's going. But, who does the church typically survey? Often, it's the members of the church, and that's a problem.

When we ask the preferences of just our existing members we are ignoring the people we are supposed to reach out to. Even worse, we are perpetuating the way things already are because it's our most loyal members who are most likely to respond to these surveys. This helps ensure that we maintain an inward focus on pleasing our existing members rather than developing an outward focus that would better enable us to reach the unchurched.

How many churches truly know how people in their community think about their church? How many know what unchurched people might want in a church or what a church could do that might appeal to them? In a pastor's conference I led a few years ago I challenged the attendees with these questions. One pastor asked how he could find out what the people in his community wanted or needed from his church. I suggested he ask them.

Specific needs would be different in different communities, but broad-based studies have identified some things that many unchurched people want in a church.

• They want a church that actually believes something. Surveys consistently point out that there is no need for a church to water down the Gospel in an effort to reach people. They want a church that believes something, proclaims something and stands for something.
• They want a safe place for their children to receive religious and spiritual instruction. Churches cannot overemphasize the safety and security of its nursery and children's ministries to today's parents.
• They want a church that is welcoming to all people. Younger generations are much more racially inclusive than older generations have been, and they want to see that in a church they might attend. Singles, single parents, the elderly, persons from different economic levels all want to know if they will be made to feel welcomed to attend.
• They want to see women in leadership. The glass ceiling has been shattered in most areas of life but not always in the church. 
• They want to see the church involved in the community. They are not interested in joining an organization for the sake of joining. They want to be involved in things that make a difference in people's lives and will not be interested in a church whose focus is strictly inward.
• They want churches that address real life's challenges. They are not particularly interested in the history of the Hittites, but they are very interested in how to improve their marriage or help a child suffering from depression.

 There are many very good books that explore this in more detail that I would suggest you read. Like I said above, people in your community may have more specific things they are seeking in a church. The only way to find that out is to begin asking.