the life cycle of First Church

Once upon a time a group felt called to start a church.  They were passionate about their desire to create a fellowship where they could find Christian friends, raise their children in the faith, and win others to Christ.  They worked tirelessly to provide programs and invite others to join them.  After struggling for a few years, they finally built a building and settled in. 

After a while, they had reached enough people to pay the bills and run the programs so the folks began to take a Sabbath from their mission.  Sure there were spurts of mission activity or passion around some program or cause, but for the most part, their view of their church had changed from a passionate desire to win others for Christ to an attitude of rest.  They became consumers.  For most of the next thirty years things went well.  Year after year, Lent and Advent came and went.  Children grew up and were confirmed.  Some moved away.  Some were buried.  As time went on, baptisms became fewer and further between.  The church starting hosting more and more funerals. 

One day someone noticed that the church no longer had any young people.  The very group that they were when they started, the passionate 20 and 30 year olds, were no longer present at First Church.  In fact, as they looked around, they began to realize that the core of the congregation was now having grandchildren. 

This problem was discussed at board meetings over the next 10 years.  Some suggested that the church hire some younger staff.  Some suggested that worship styles be changed to reach younger people.  Ultimately the suggestions were all rejected because the status quo had set in and no one wanted to disrupt their community, which had become quite comfortable for the original visionaries, now in their sixties and seventys.

All of us know churches that this happens to.  If you look closely at Woods Chapel, you can already see a bit of it at work.  This is the fate of every church that puts its own comfort before the mission of reaching others.  Churches that continue to thrive need a healthy focus on winning the next generation, even if it means creating an atmosphere that younger folks prefer, and I tolerate for the sake of reaching them.

I have heard folks my age ask "so does that mean that people my age don't matter?"  Of course not.  Everyone matters.  But if we do not work to take steps to reach the next generation, we will simply ride the wave of our comfort, as many churches have, to their demise. 

Effective decisions require that the congregation never rest for very long.  Our brand can never be consigned to one generation.  We must continue to morph.  We cannot simply invite young folks to join our church – we must allow them to shape the church.  Without new visions, without new passion, the handwriting is on the wall.

May you, may I, may we as Christ followers, always be willing to take the steps needed to reach others for Christ.

It’s a beautiful day in God’s world, be sure to see the good.