A New Reformation

Each year, there seem to be fewer people in the pews. It has become a problem that no only affects our congregation, but many traditional ‘main-line’ denominations: the decline in church attendance! 

Many of these churches are hurting financially due to the loss of membership, with some congregations, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, having been forced to close their doors! While this is not a new phenomenon, the loss of membership has increased recently, and this has many in the churches to asking “Why is this happening?” 

There are no easy answers, but it is important to understand some of the contributing factors, as this can help us find solutions. 

Among these factors are: 

• Scheduling youth sports and other events for Sunday mornings.
  • Sunday mornings used to be off-limits, but now time constraints, and the fact that many people do not go to church, have changed this practice.
  • Also, for many families, Sunday morning can be the only time during the week when they can just take it easy, and not have to get up and go, go, go.
• Negative images of the church in the Press and on Social Media.
  • The Clergy Abuse issues that have plagued many traditional churches, both protestant and Roman Catholic.
• Pundits, comedians and writers who have derided Christianity as being based on myth or “fairy tales”; and mock those who believe.
• The excesses shown by some “Mega-Church” leaders, who are perceived as taking advantage of the tax-exempt status of their churches, and have used contributions to line their own pockets.(Practices that will get you assigned to the 8th level of Hell.)
  • These abuses have led to a call to remove this status for all churches, which would be the nail in the coffin of those congregations that are trying to serve their communities while operating on a narrow margin. 
• The infusion of political rhetoric within some churches.
  • While this criticism is most often directed at Evangelicals, who have supported conservative values from pulpit, it happens on both the left and the right; however, it should be pointed out that there is a difference between seeking Social Justice and pushing a political agenda.
• Loss of trust:See points above. 
• Inconsistency of message:
  • Some still preach ‘Fire & Brimstone’, about an angry God, who causes bad things to happen in our lives as punishment or to teach us a lesson.
  • Others preach about the unconditional love of God, and forgiveness.
    • Both will often fall short of their message, because they are human beings; however, this can be confusing, and lead to accusations of hypocrisy.

• A lack of clergy.
  • It has become very difficult to attract new people to the clergy, in the most part due to competition from the corporate world, and the heavy burden of debt incurred by seminary studies. 
    • In addition, many younger people have grown up hearing faith being compared to believing in fairy tales, and other negativity regarding Christianity and those who follow it.

• Other: obviously there are many other reasons, such as those who seek different routes to faith and a connection with a Higher Power that works for them. There are also those who are excited by the livelier worship and the family atmosphere of many non–denominational churches. 

Perhaps it is that the traditional churches got used to their prominence in the community, and assumed that there would always be people to fill the pews. Maybe when some saw the decline, they accepted that times were changing, and that no matter what they did to change things, the results were inevitable? 

There are many factors behind the decline in attendance, and there is probably not a single root cause that could be identified, but maybe this is not all that important. What is important is to figure out what to do about this crisis.

There is a deep hunger for spirituality and for connection in our world, but this is a hunger that the church has failed to adequately meet, as many who have attended the traditional churches and left, reported that they felt uninspired and unengaged during worship…as if they were an audience rather than active participants.

So, one answer would be to get the congregation up and moving during worship; however, this is not necessarily an easy thing to do. If we try to encourage people to participate more, by getting up, singing more, or even (gasp) moving, we’d face a lot of push-back, mostly because we are not used to worshiping this way. 

Maybe we could take baby steps, as a way of easing congregation members into being more a part of the worship? We can strive to make the liturgy both more interactive and more relevant to parishioners’ lives. We could form a committee (we love those in the Lutheran Church) to review and adapt the liturgy to that congregation, and to make this an on-going process.  

We could get people to stand up more, by asking them to get out the pews and welcome each other on Sunday morning. During the sermon, the pastor can issue challenges to the congregation to get up and move, change seats, stretch, or help out with the message. 

Maybe we could ask for volunteers do the children’s sermon, or to share their own stories of faith in place of the sermon (with advanced notice of course). They would not even need to go to the pulpit, but could stay in their pew, with a hand-held microphone. 

These are just some suggestions, and whether they would work or not, the point is that in order to continue our ministry and mission to the community, we need to start thinking differently, to try new things, and not be married to “we have never done that before” any longer. 

The world doesn’t stand still, and neither does our relationship with God and each other, this is why doing what we have always done is not always the best course.

Instead, we need to have a new “Re-formation”! 

This can begin with taking an inventory, which would require us to look at where we have been, what has worked for us, and what has not. Then we can look at where we want to go as a congregation and how we want to meet the new challenges that are facing us.

We can also look at other churches, to see what is working well for them.

Many of the churches that are doing well have fostered a family atmosphere of support and care for each other, where the members feel invested in the life of the congregation, and where they can share (not just hear) in a message that speaks to their lives.

As Lutherans, we believe in the “Priesthood of All Believers”, meaning that living in the midst of God’s grace, we are all ministers, called to share the good news of God’s unconditional love both in the sanctuary, and beyond our walls, out into our community! As such we ARE all part of a larger family of faith, and like most families we can be dysfunctional at times…and this can leave to disagreements and divisions.

While division and argument seem to be in vogue right now, but they only pull us farther apart and the more polarized we become, the less we can accomplish, and we all lose.

One of the best ways to break down barriers and to find reconciliation, is by working together for a common cause…to make things better for everyone. We may not always follow the same path to get there, but I believe that we can all agree on where we want to wind up: living in a more peaceful, compassionate and prosperous (not just money) world! 

To achieve this goal, both the church leaders and the congregation need to work together to find solutions, and now would be a good time to start that process. We are already in a transitional period, and as such, are in the midst of changing who we are and how we worship…together! 

As people called to share the good news God’s love with the world, we can focus on what brings us all together, not on what separates us from each other. For in this sharing, there is reconciliation, and where there is reconciliation, there is growth! 

To Re-form the church is not going to be easy, and it may not necessarily work; it has been tried before. However, if we truly believe in our calling to be Christ to the world, we have to do something! 

We have to talk (and listen) to each other to find out what would make our worship more meaningful, to help us feel more invested. Then, we will need to talk to our community, our neighbors to find out what unmet needs they may have, and seek ways (together) to meet people where they are in terms of their faith journey. 

It is this unity that can help us re-form the church, and revitalize our ministry and message…because while no one person has all the answers, together we can find solutions.

Unity is not an unreachable dream, although getting there may not be easy (or pretty). The first step in working together is to meet each other right where we are, as we carry the light of God’s love with us, and that sharing that light we all people (regardless of how/if they worship) until it can fill every dark corner of our world with the hope that is needed so badly.