New Church Start, pt 2

The original post on this topic was Tuesday, October 21st. For a complete background, read that post and the comments for that day.

Someone asked a very good question yesterday. "If other churches in our area are struggling with declining membership and financial problems, why not just help them instead of helping to start a new church?"

This is a good question and deserves some thoughtful answers.

First of all we have to understand why churches decline. Usually, decline begins when churches forget their mission and begin to be gripped by an inward focus. They work hard to sustain and maintain their identity and stop trying to reach the community. Usually, for a declining church to turn a corner and reach the community, they have to totally change their approach to outreach. Our human tendency says, "we have a great church, come join us, but you will have to learn to like it our way." Growing churches let go of traditions that do not work and reach out to the community with things that are relevant to the community, even setting aside their own preferences in order to win new people in the neighborhood. Without a clear outward focus, all churches will eventually decline and die. Once a church gets stuck in self preservation and focused inward, it is very difficult for that church to reload it's operating systems.

Secondly, I would tell you that the district and conference has done a ton to help declining churches. That is heavy on the minds of the Bishop, our District Superintendents and Conference Staff. Everyone is working to help churches become fruitful, to win people to Jesus Christ. They have offered seminars and consultants, and coaching and accountability groups. They have offered voluntary and mandatory training. They have offered mentors. They have created a Pastoral Leadership Development program. There are consultations and interventions available to help churches turn around. Sometimes, Praise God, these efforts help.

Thirdly, Woods Chapel has done a lot to help any church that we possibly can. Our pastor and some of our staff have travelled to other churches to offer training in creating a positive culture. I have, or your staff have been in Jefferson City, St. Joe, Independence, Warrenton, Grandview, Springfield, Blue Springs, and other places as well. We tell our story and offer our help. The other thing that we have worked hard to do is to build a climate of welcome. We want all pastors from all churches to feel welcome. We have built relationships with pastors all over the city and all over the conference. What we are doing is not just about Woods Chapel, but it is about the Kingdom of God and we are all in this together. We have also reached out to the seminary through an intern program. Every month, a seminary student has the opportunity to meet our staff, learn how we operate and get a feel for Woods Chapel culture and ideas. If any one has any other ideas on how we can be team players and reach out to churches in the area, I have time for a cup of coffee this week. Call me. This is a very important concept that I would love to explore further.

So, the odd thing is, that even though so many are tyring, many churches continue to decline. I know that Sue Watson from our conference office reads this blog and she may have better comments than mine, but I think that conference officials will tell you that they have targeted an area in Independence where there currently is no Methodist church. Also I believe they will tell you that if people were going to join the existing churches, they already would have done so. People like to join new things and they want to join something that has a positive vision, culture and outlook.

So, I think that is why they are interested in us helping to start a new church. I believe that they would tell you it is the best way to win disciples and grow the church.

Please continue to send in your comments and questions. This is an exciting opportunity for us and we need to have good dialogue about it.

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