During my doctoral studies I was blessed to have Dr. Elmer Towns teach two of my classes. The first class I took under Dr. Towns was on prayer. The second was on doing church in the 21st century. Both classes deeply impacted my life and ministry.
In the second class Dr. Towns was discussing the walls every church builds. These walls intentionally or unintentionally keep people out of our churches. He emphasized that every church had such walls, and then stood up, went around the room and asked each student how high the walls were around their church. He made each of us answer giving him a number between one and ten. Some admitted the walls surrounding their churches were rather high. Once every student answered he told us to tear down those walls and use them to build bridges into the communities God had given us. I'll never forget that discussion.
What are some of the potential walls that can be built up in a church? One wall I often encountered was the lack of hospitality in the church. Serving 14 years in regional ministry I had the opportunity to be in a different church nearly every week. Some of those churches were very welcoming to their guests; others made it very obvious they didn't care if we were there or not. "The friendliest church" in town often proved to be friendly only to the insiders. Studies reveal that guests usually decide whether to return or not within a few minutes after arriving at a church, even before the service begins. That decision is made on how well the church is prepared to receive guests and how they are treated once they are there.
Another wall in some churches is the worship service itself. I'm not making a comment about traditional versus contemporary services because I've been in churches were both were very well done. Regardless of the style of worship, some churches are simply boring. The music is uninspired; the messages lack sound biblical content, and everyone present seems they wished they were somewhere else. Such services are unlikely to bring hope and transformation to anyone.
A significant wall I've written elsewhere about is the controllers who exist in most churches. These people see themselves as guardians of the faith, but the only thing they are guarding is their positions and power in the church. They often drive away people faster than the church can bring them in. Working with conflicted churches in the past has provided me with numerous horror stories of controllers allowed to build huge bridges that keep people away from the church. To tear down the walls they build the church must first remove these people from their positions of authority.
The final wall I'll mention in this post is the wall of negativity. Some churches are better known for what they are against than what they are for. Their pastors address their weekly rant on whatever made the news the preceding week. I have visited churches where the pastor raged against the congregation, and was later told that was a normal Sunday in that church. I admit there was a time in my early ministry when I realized I had become fairly negative in my preaching. I realized I could say everything I wanted to say in a positive way or a negative way and committed that from that time forward I would become more positive in my preaching. People get beat up by life all week; they don't need to come to church for another round.
Once these walls have existed for some time we don't notice them any longer, but those outside our churches do. And our churches become known for them. Tearing down walls is costly and time-consuming, but it is the right thing to do. What walls exist in your church? Identify then, tear them down and begin to build bridges into your communities to reach people for Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment