Relevance and the church

A large percentage of Americans believe that the presence of a church is a good thing for a community. Half says the church is a "very favorable" thing in a community while another 30 percent says it's "somewhat favorable." But, what do they mean about favorable?

In Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks You're Irrelevant and Extreme the authors report on a 2014 study commissioned by World Vision in Australia. A majority of people surveyed thought the church should be involved in issues such as protecting children and human rights. However only 25 percent of those responding thought being an active member of a church could help them with their spiritual lives or enhance their connection with the community. The authors concluded, "In other words, the value of a church is, for many, theoretical rather than personal. Church is good. For other people." The same attitude is prevalent among many Americans.

A critical challenge facing the church in America is demonstrating to people the relevance of the church and, even more importantly, the relevance of the Gospel. A large number of people believe we are answering questions no one is asking any longer. They view the church as out of touch with the culture as it exists today, and in many cases they are right.

One mistake some church leaders now make is they misunderstand what it means to be relevant. They think relevance is about having smoke machines and rock bands in their worship services and espresso machines in their lobbies. This is not what people want from the church. They want a church that is addressing real issues both in its teaching and in its actions.

The authors of the book studied churches in Scotland and found several factors that determined whether a church was growing or stagnant. One of those factors was that nine out of ten pastors of the growing churches said they taught from the Bible in a systematic or expository manner. Among the non-growing churches only a third of the pastors preached in that manner. When people are challenged with the Scriptures, they may not always agree with what is being taught, but it forces them to think through what they are hearing. When these biblically-based messages are addressing life as it is in the 21st century the church is well on its way to becoming relevant.

As important as sound teaching is, it is not enough. There must also be actions that correspond to the teaching. The church must show the world that it cares about people, even those with whom they may disagree. If a church takes a stand against abortion does it then offer alternatives? Does it have a ministry to support unwed mothers or families who would struggle supporting a child? Is it actively encouraging adoptions? What is the church doing to address the drug epidemic found in every community today? How does it embrace those whose lifestyles we may not agree with?

James taught us that "Faith without works is dead." There are many in our world today looking at the church's works. They want to see if our actions match our words. Until they do, those outside the church will not be interested in much of what we have to say.

Staying true to our mission

It is no secret that many view the church today as irrelevant to life in the twenty-first century. Fewer people attend worship services. The number of people who state they have no religious affiliation continues to grow. The values and morals traditionally taught by the church are dismissed by a large percentage of our population, including many within the church. Our nation is spiraling downward in many respects, and it does not appear the church has any answers. If we try to give biblical answers to those problems the response is often to shout us down.

Why has the church lost its ability to influence society? Why do so many see us as irrelevant? No doubt, there are many reasons. One is that, for many people, their view of the church and its teachings are based on what they see on television. If the only thing I knew about the church and the teachings of Jesus was what I saw on TV I probably wouldn't believe any of it either. The false teachings heard on many of these shows (I can't call them worship services) and the flamboyant lifestyles enjoyed by the ministers would quickly turn me off. Somehow I could not make the connection between what is seen and taught there and the life Jesus lived and taught.

Another reason might be that the church has tried so hard to be relevant that we became irrelevant in the process. Somehow we equated relevance with showmanship. We thought if we brought in smoke machines, rock music, huge video screens, and wore jeans with holes in them we would connect with the younger crowd. Rather than providing a worship service we wanted to be entertaining.

In Jim and Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians the Christian Jim takes Casper, an atheist, to visit some of the largest and best known churches in America. They talk with some of the leaders and attend their worship services. After attending the church they debrief the experience. Nothing Casper experiences convinces him the Christian message is true. He is not impressed with the services and most of the messages. They all come up short of what he thought they should be if people truly believed the message of Christianity.

Perhaps the reason many view the church as irrelevant is that we have abandoned our mission. Before Christ ascended into heaven He told us that we were to evangelize the world, leading people to faith in Christ and helping them grow as disciples. Rather than doing that we have instead attacked those with whom we disagree,  built great monuments to ourselves in which to "worship God," pursued political alliances to advance our agenda, and compromised the Gospel so as not to alienate people.

As I travel the countryside I see many small buildings boarded up that once housed churches. They closed as people sought something more than what these small churches could offer. Whenever I see these buildings I often think of the lives changed in those simple churches where the Gospel was proclaimed and people experienced true community. No comforts. No frills. Often, just a piano in the corner and a preacher behind a simple, wooden pulpit proclaiming the message of hope found in the Gospels. And people responded turning their lives over to Jesus Christ.

If the church wants to become relevant once again it must return to the mission God has given it. We don't need to be entertained; we need to worship. We don't need the Gospel changed to not alienate people; we need it preached without compromise so that people's lives can be changed. We don't need wealth, prestige, and political power to do the work God has given us; we need the power of the Holy Spirit permeating our lives and our churches. If we have that we won't need to worry about being relevant.

The irrelevant church

Last Friday I mentioned I was re-reading The Intentional Church: Moving From Church Success to Community Transformation by Randy Pope. He shared an example of what happens when a church becomes irrelevant to its culture. He writes

"Imagine with me that the most progressively and contemporary church you know was miraculously and entirely transplanted to Mongolia. Assume the people were supernaturally given the language of the Mongolian people, yet the music, programs, dress, and customs of the congregation remained unchanged. What would we expect to find fifty years later? We would probably find a tiny remnant group waiting to die off. We see the same condition in many churches in America today - churches that are out of touch with their culture and totally ineffective as a mission. Even their role as healthy, nurturing spiritual homes has been gradually replaced by a nostalgic repetition of old formulas that no longer affect the daily lives of the few who do attend." (Page 153)

I don't think it can be stated any better than that. We do not need to wonder why younger generations are ignoring the church today as so many do. We should not be surprised that many of our churches are growing older and smaller and that a significant number of them close their doors every week. Rip van Winkle could have walked out of many of our churches, fallen asleep, and woke up 20 years later to return to the church and find everything was the same as before.

In 1981 I began a 20 year pastorate in a small church in the community in which I live. From 2001 until 2015 I served in a judicatory role from which I retired. About three months ago I began serving as the Transitional Pastor of another church in the same community as my previous pastorate. Although it is the same community, the ministry needs are much different now than when I left the pastorate 15 years ago.

Churches are not called to minister in ways with which they are familiar or in ways they may prefer. The church is challenged to understand the culture of the community it is serving and develop ministries that address the needs of that culture. To do less is to become irrelevant to that culture. Too many churches are trying to answer questions no one is asking today and ignoring the real needs that exist around them.

It's time we stopped being satisfied with being a church and begin to see ourselves as mission stations placed in a culture that I sometimes refer to as a "rapidly emerging pagan culture." Most people today, even many within the church, do not share the same Christian values many of us were raised to believe. To assume they do is to, again, become irrelevant.

The Gospel is as relevant today as it was in the first century. The church is as needed today as it has ever been, but only if it is going to minister to people in a way that addresses real needs. The Great Commission remains binding upon the church, but it cannot fulfill that task if it is not speaking to people where they live.

Just as it is important to properly exegete the Scriptures, it is important to properly exegete our society if we wish to minister to it. Let's make 2017 the year we do that.