If you can appreciate that situation, then you might be in a "Left-Behind Church." I picked up that term from a book by Ruth
Tucker that I'm reading: "Left Behind in a Megachurch World." Tucker is a professor of missiology at Calvin Theological Seminary. In this book she does a pretty good critique of the "success" idolatry of our culture that has captured the church. And she reviews the malaise that sets into ordinary churches because of the comparison with the "got everything" churches. Just chew on these quotes:If a church is not growing in numbers (according to the 'experts'), it must be revitalized...numerical growth is the goal, though it is often disguised in less stark terms such as church health, spiritual vitality, or dynamic ministry. In these (revitalization) books there is rarely any mention of the possibility of God working amid declining numbers.
Wal-Mart churches, like the stores, are not first and foremost concerned with people. They are concerned with numbers.
Ministers today face far greater expectations and pressures than did their counterparts in previous generations. Today ministers are compared to the superstars in their ranks.
The emphasis on church growth and success that pastors face in the ministry derives little authority from the Scriptures.
Well, I won't give you all of it, but I will say that she provides good background material to justify the statements I recorded above. But maybe those remarks will keep you thinking, do I evaluate my church by comparing it with other churches? Do I overlook God at work in "left-behind" places because I want to join the American dream of being in the success spotlight?
Do the turn-around programs and new church plants really help the Church discover/maintain a joyful passion for God, demonstrated in service to a hurting world? And if they don't, what will?
2 comments:
sounds like you have a great Christmas present for me!
That sounds very intersting. I am certainly not in a mega-church! I have seen my small membership congregation dwindle over the years to an even smaller membership church and it has caused me great concern at times. But what I have realized through all this is that membership numbers are one of the least important things we should concern ourselves with. We are an active and lively little church and we're seeking to live the Gospel as best we can. We reach out to the community in ways that would be laughable to our multi-thousand membership neighbors but I believe we do so with a passion and commitment that the mega-churches often envy.
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