Approximately 100 churches in North America close their doors each week. Many of these are smaller churches. For years, they have watched their congregations grow smaller and grayer. Income dropped as the attendance decreased. It became increasingly more difficult to find pastoral leadership. Often, savings accumulated over the years was depleted in an effort to keep the doors open as long as possible. Eventually, the lights were turned off for the last time.
The question that must be asked is: why? Why did the church have to close? One report I've read is that a minimum of 50 percent of the people in every county in the United States is unchurched, and in some counties it can be as high as 90 percent. We now know that the United States is the largest English-speaking mission field in the world surpassed only by India and China. Churches do not close due to a lack of work that needs to be done; they close because they have lost their vision for ministry.
When a church's primary focus is on survival and not mission it is well on the road towards closing. God never intended His church to be concerned about surviving. The church is called to mission, and if a church has no mission beyond survival it has ceased being a church. It may be an organization that meets weekly to sing songs, pray and hear a message, but it is no longer a church.
Many struggling churches may not have to go more than a mile from their building to find enough unchurched people to double their membership. The problem is that they do not know the people who live within a mile of the church. The larger problem is that those people do not know that church exists.
Back when I first began serving as a regional minister I was scheduled to meet a pastor search team from one of our churches. The small church was located in a rural area. Other than an initial sign on the highway, there were no signs directing anyone to the church. This was before GPS devices were common. I was hopelessly lost and even stopped at two houses to ask if they could direct me to the church. Neither family was familiar with the church. It was now dark, and I was already a half-hour late for the meeting. I decided to turn around the first place I found and try to find my way back home. The place I found to turn around in was the church parking lot. That church was no more than a mile from either of the houses I had stopped for directions!
Your church is in the midst of a growing mission field, but those individuals are not going to come to you. For too long, we've unlocked the doors of our church buildings on Sunday morning and said, "Y'all come." Nobody came. The Great Commission tells the church that we are to GO into the world and tell people about Jesus. In order to do that, we've got to connect with our mission field, build relationships with them, and earn the right to tell them about our Lord.
How can you best do that in 2024? I encourage you to discuss that in your next leadership meetings.
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