Church traditions

 Unless your church is a new church startup, it has a number of traditions that have served it well over the years. Even new churches will sometimes reflect the traditions the new church planter knew in former churches. Some of these traditions serve the church well and should be maintained. Others may need to be replaced if we are to reach a new generation of people.

It's important to remember that church traditions arose because they became convenient ways of doing things when the tradition was started. Chances are, they replaced older traditions that no longer worked well in a new culture. It is even more likely that the new ways of doing things were resisted by some who wanted to continue with their older traditions. Now, the traditions that replaced the older traditions are considered sacrosanct by the current membership despite the fact they are now a hindrance to the church.

Several years ago a rural church discussed paving their parking lot. Some in the church resisted believing that the gravel parking lot was sufficient. The pastor reminded them that before the gravel was added years earlier, the parking lot was dirt. This was fine when many of the members rode buggies and horses to church, but it became a problem when most of the membership started driving cars. Who wanted to get stuck in a muddy church parking lot? Today, the expectations of people, and especially the younger people churches claim to want to reach, expect better facilities. Who wants to walk through a muddy, or snow-covered, church parking lot when they don't have to do? They don't when they shop at their favorite stores. As an added example, the pastor reminded the congregation that it had only been a few decades ago that the church replaced their outhouse with an indoor restroom. He asked if anyone wanted to return to the outhouse. The church voted to blacktop the parking lot. Over the next couple of years it had to add additional parking because their lot had filled up.

What traditions does your church have that no longer add value to the church and may be limiting your growth? I can almost guarantee your church has them. Will it be easy to eliminate them? Probably not, but it will be necessary if you are to reach a new generation of people for Jesus Christ. 

Read through the Bible in 2025

 I want to invite you to read through the Bible with me in 2025. Some years I do this as part of my devotional reading each morning. Most Christians have never read through the Bible in a year and don't believe it is possible. I've done it dozens of times. All a person has to do is read three chapters a day, and by the end of the year you will have read through the entire Bible. I realize that some chapters are rather lengthy, such as Psalm 119, and you may not even read through that chapter in one sitting. But, others Psalms are short, and I will read more than three chapters when I get to them.

One thing I do is to buy a new version of the Bible when I read through the Bible in a year. This has resulted in me having quite a few versions of the Bible in my library, but it gives me a fresh perspective on the Bible as I read through it. I just ordered my new Bible this morning to be sure I have it when January 1 rolls around.

The version I ordered is the ESV which is one of the few newer translations I do not already have in my library. It comes highly recommended by pastors and scholars. Some years I have chosen to not read a translation but a paraphrase simply to read the Scriptures in a different format. One time I chose The Message which was an interesting read that year. I do not study from paraphrases, that is done with translations of the Bible, but occasionally reading paraphrases will give the reader new insights into what the passage is saying.

Some find reading difficult. For those individuals I recommend getting an audio version of the Bible you can listen to. There are many Bible apps available at no cost for your smartphone or iPad you can get and listen to the Scriptures.

This does not take the place of Bible study. You are not engaging in an in-depth study of the Bible; you are reading it. Chances are, you will read passages you've never read before. God may be disturbing. One lady who accepted the challenge told me she wasn't sure she could finish it because of God's actions in some sections of the Old Testament. I encouraged her to continue reading. Other passages you may have read before will give you new insights as you read them again. God will begin to show you things you had never seen before in your previous readings.

I hope you will join me in reading through the Bible in 2025. I believe doing so will help anyone grow in their faith.

 

Are we wasting our time?

 I recently read a blot post written by someone I respect as a Christian leader. He has challenged me for years to think differently about the church. I've quoted him in some of my books. In his blog he stated his belief that 60-70 percent of pastors are wasting their time serving churches that have no chance of long-term survival. He correctly noted that 80-85 percent of churches in America are plateaued or dying, and many of them will not survive. I personally believe that the majority of those churches are dying, not plateaued. He does not believe that most of those churches will survive long term. Unfortunately, I've come to agree with him.

Several years ago when I served on regional staff in our denomination I would not have agreed with him. I was convinced that with the right pastoral leadership almost any church could be turned around. I now realize that, short of a miracle from God, some of these churches had no chance of survival. They had gone too far down the decline side of the bell curve. They had zero interest in outreach or discipleship. Their only goal was survival. Since then, some of those churches have closed their doors while others continue to hang on by a fingernail waiting for the miracle pastor who can save their church.

It hurts me to say this, but perhaps this church leader is right. Maybe a lot of pastors are wasting their time trying to save something that died a long time ago. While pastors spend their days putting out fires and seeking ways to serve their shrinking congregations, multitudes are dying without Christ. The Great Commission and the Great Commandment are ignored while we try to soothe the ruffled feathers of a patriarch in the church. Too many churches are trying to find the funds to remodel their kitchen while they have nothing in the budget for evangelism and discipleship.

My DMin project was coaching bivocational ministers for greater ministry effectiveness. In one coaching session with a pastor he had questions about an upcoming baptism. Since he seemed so concerned about the details I commented that he seemed very nervous about the baptism and asked why. He responded he wanted it to go well because it was the first baptism in that church in 50 years. I had to wonder what the previous pastors had done while serving that church. Perhaps they had wasted their time and the opportunities to present Jesus Christ to their community.

But, here was a young pastor who was not wasting his time. In our next coaching session he reported the baptism went well. After the service, the congregation marched down to a river bordering their town and baptized the person there. The parade of the congregation was noticed by some people in the community who followed them. They were able to hear the pastor explain the purpose and symbolism of baptism and witness the baptism itself. Several people heard the gospel that day without ever attending the church service. I do not know the long-term outcome of that baptism, but this young pastor sowed some powerful evangelistic seeds that day.

The church leader I quoted earlier would have probably looked at that small church that had gone 50 years without a baptism and determined the church had no chance of survival and any pastor who went there was wasting his or her time. Maybe we should not be so quick to judge that, and maybe that's not our call to make. After all, if God calls a person to serve a church He must have a purpose in doing so.

I realize there are some churches that will not survive. Churches close their doors every week. At some point, denominations and church leaders need to allow them to end their ministries and stop artificially propping them up. At the same time, there are some struggling churches who only need a pastor with a God-given vision to turn them around. Such pastors will not be wasting their time serving in that church. It will take time to pass that vision on to the congregation, and it will take time to implement the vision, but it will be time well spent. It will not be wasted.