Denominational challenges and decline

I just read an article about the challenges facing the United Methodist Church. Due to changes that have occurred in that denomination in recent years a growing number of churches are seeking to leave the UMC. Some are finding the process fairly simple while others are encountering huge roadblocks placed there by their bishops. Some churches are being forced to give the denomination up to 50% of their property's value in order to leave.

The problems for the denomination does not stop with the number of churches seeking to leave the denomination. They, like most denominations, are also facing declining memberships in many of their churches. Many in their congregations are older. As they pass away or become unable to be active, the finances of the church are impacted and so is that of the denomination. UMC leadership will have to make tough decisions in the next few years about how to best respond to these challenges.

Of course, this is true for most denominations. They are finding they are in a vicious circle of decline. Declining church membership and a growing discontent among some with the policies the denominations have adopted on certain social issues means less money flowing into the denomination  and its judicatories. This results in reduced staffing and fewer resources being provided to the churches which results in less connection with the local church which leads to even further reduced funding. New denominational groups are springing up that seem a better fit for some churches who become willing to abandon their historic relationship with their denomination to be part of what the new groups are doing, and this leads to a greater loss of member churches and their financial support.

Much of this could have been avoided if the denominations had not strayed from clear biblical teaching on these social issues, but unless there is a major reversal in policies, which is highly unlikely to happen, it's too late to dwell on that now. The decline is likely to continue until the denominations are a shell of what they once were if they even exist at all. My concern is for the impact this has for the spread of the Gospel message, the local churches and the missionaries connected to these denominations.

There are issues with which I do not agree with my denomination, and I was a judicatory leader in this denomination for 14 years. But I am able to work through those because my focus is on preaching the Word of God. As a Baptist the denomination has little impact or influence on my ability to minister or the ministry of the church I serve. I am also blessed by serving in a judicatory whose leadership has always been supportive and whose policies I fully endorse. While that might not be the case in other denominations, it is true in the one in which I serve. I also want to be able to continue to support the wonderful work our missionaries are doing around the world.

Only God knows what the future will be for our current denominations or if they even have a future. My suggestion to pastors is to be faithful in preaching the Word of God regardless of what happens with denominations and continue to support the good work of your missionaries. Many of them are caught in the middle of all this without it being their fault. 

So, whose tent is the biggest?

 The story goes that two tent evangelists in the mid-1900s got into a public argument as to who had the biggest tent. It was finally decided that each would measure their tent when it was discovered that both tents were the same size. One had been measuring their tent from the outside while the other had been measuring his from the inside.

After 40+ plus years in ministry I have seen a number of pastors jealous of other pastors and what other churches were doing. This often happens when a church's ministry begins reaching larger numbers of people. Pastors of these churches are often accused of "sheep stealing" or having questionable theology. These pastors and the churches they serve may find they are attacked by other pastors, and the reason for these attacks may be no more than jealousy.

This past week at the national convention of the SBC Rick Warren was given an opportunity to speak to the delegates regarding his church's decision to ordain women to the ministry, a grave sin in the eyes of much of the SBC. I read many of the comments on Twitter from pastors in attendance, many of whom had little good to say about Warren or the church he served for over 40 years. He was accused of being weak on theology, of being egotistical and being the primary reason evangelicalism is under attack today. I found many of the comments to be little more than jealousy of the success he and his church has enjoyed over the years. I really think what was behind many of the complaints was that his tent was bigger than those of his critics.

Ministry is not a competition. Our battle is not to be between churches but between the forces of evil and the work God has called us to do. If a soul is saved, who cares what church or pastor was used by God to reach that individual. Rick Warren was gifted and called by God to serve a much larger church than I could ever pastor, and I praise God for the work that he and the church has done. I spent 20 years pastoring a rural church that never grew beyond about 55 people, and I praise God for the opportunity to serve that church. Since then I've been given the opportunity to serve in a denominational role and as a Transitional Pastor of two churches a little larger than the one I pastored. Not once have I ever been critical of another church because it was larger than the ones I was serving.

I've said for a long time that too many pastors never fully unpack their boxes when they move. Almost as soon as they arrive at their new church they are looking to see what larger churches might be soon opening up. They're looking for the larger tent and, dare I say it, the larger salary package that goes with it. I have to wonder how the Kingdom of God would be if those of us called to ministry would see our current place of ministry as God's calling on our lives. Rather than seeking a larger tent, maybe we should see that we have been called to this place "for such a time as this."