I realize that it is a very bold
statement to say, “Thom Rainer is rarely mistaken but I believe in this case he
was.” In September of last year, he
wrote an article entitled FIVE REASONS WHY CHURCHES ARE DYING AND DECLINING FASTER TODAY. After a brief introduction he listed five
reasons churches are in decline and why it is much more difficult to grow
churches than in past generations. Here
are the five reasons he suggests that contribute to the decline of American
churches:
1.
Cultural Christianity is declining rapidly.
2.
The exit of the Builder generation.
3.
Migration from rural areas and small towns to the cities.
4.
Faster church transfers.
5.
Slow response to change as change accelerates all around us.
I do not disagree with Mr. Rainer that each of these has had a
profound impact on Sunday morning church attendance. All of these represent dramatic change in the
reality of the life and culture of the church.
But none of them, alone or in combination is the reason the church is in
decline.
I believe the decline of the church has a much more dangerous
root problem and if we do not address this root problem the American church
will go the way of the church in Europe.
Unless we make a radical course correction we may witness the end of American
Christianity. What is this change we
must make? What is the course correction
that we have to adopt?
The Big Picture
Dr. Michael Householder has surveyed Christians around the
world, from Cuba and Central America to Russia and Myanmar. He has talked to Christian leaders who came
to faith in traditional, American, church settings, to mission stations in
remote villages. Here is his single
question he has asked the over 4,600 leaders he has taught, “When you became a
Christian did anyone disciple you?” Out
of 4,600 Christians 111 answered yes.
That represents a whopping 2.4%.
A couple of generations ago we made a subtle substitution that
has had a disastrous, long-term impact on the church. We have replaced a Biblical concept for a
highly marketable one. In this
marketable concept were the seeds of our demise. When we got this wrong everything else began
to drift toward our demise. We replaced the
Biblical command of Jesus, “Follow Me” with the more palatable invitation to
“Accept Jesus”. Stop for a moment right now,
open your concordance (online or book) and find where the Scripture tells us to
“accept” Jesus. Now look up the word
“disciple”. Now, look up the phrase
“Follow Me”. What results did you find?
For several generations the church has used a non-biblical
concept for what it means to become a Christian: accepting Jesus and His gift
of eternal life. Jesus never asked for
that, nor did the apostles teach that.
Jesus said, “Follow Me.” For the
last few generations we have not made disciples. We have asked people to “Accept Jesus as
Savior”. In a context of cultural
Christianity, many of these new “acceptees” stayed in the church. But they never grew strong in their
faith. We adjusted down the expectation
from being a disciple to being a church member.
We can see symptoms of that lowered expectation in any one of several measurables. Things a disciple would do out of love for
their master become optional if they are members of a church. (Consistency of
attendance, Bible study/reading, giving, serving, etc.)
As the grip of cultural Christianity became tighter we attempted
to reshape the faith and worship to be more attractive. We became first “sensitive” and then “driven”
by the wishes of those we wanted to reach. We promised more and downplayed the
demands of being a disciple. We have
come to the point where some would tell you that you can have everything you
want on earth, by naming and claiming it, and heaven besides; all that is asked
is that you give God some seed money and really, really believe, and that you
claim your blessing out loud. The call
to discipleship is unheard.
The absence of discipleship is not limited to Word of Faith
congregations. Saying a prayer and raising
a hand at a mass meeting a disciple does not make. There is no Biblical precedent for such
sloppy believe-ism. Even churches that
practice baptisms often do nothing more than hand the saturated candidate a
towel. While still dripping they are
told they need to attend services regularly or get involved, but there is
almost never a concerted effort to disciple.
The church growth movement did much to raise the standards of churches
in a great many ways. It was obvious in
a more secular society if the church was going to attract larger crowds it had
to make changes. But Jesus never said attract
large crowds. His command was to make
disciples.
Disciples are not mass-produced.
They are not made in batched groups.
They are never created in a flash and wow moment. Disciples are made over time; it took Jesus
three years to mint His first group. Disciples
are formed in small gatherings like two (on the road to Emmaus), three (Peter,
James, and John), or a dozen. Some might
say that on the day of Pentecost 3,000 were baptized; so large group
discipleship has it precedents. Let’s
not forget that those 3,000 had almost certainly had extensive exposure to
Jesus over the preceding months. Please
notice what happened with those 3,000 next; they met daily with apostolic
teaching, shared meals, and wealthy members liquidated their assets so that
everyone could have their livelihood funded.
The biblical pattern associated with the 3,000 on Pentecost is unmatched
in the contemporary church. I am not
anti-large church. But I am passionately
opposed to churches of any size substituting our cultural expectation for the
Divine command to make disciples.
I am a firm believer in the 5% + 15% +80% rule, proposed by Dr.
Householder. This rule says 5% of
churches can be innovators and develop fully effective tools and systems on
their own. About 15% of churches can adopt existing tools and systems and
formulate them to make them their own and use them effectively. The remaining 80% of churches need to use
tools and systems that are provided for them.
Every church needs to determine into which category it belongs and begin
working to make disciples.
It is my conviction that within a generation the church in
America will be a shadow of its current self unless we shift from being focused
on our own wants and wishes and become focused on making disciples. Part of me is afraid it is too late; that we
in the American church have passed a point of no return. I have been wrong often. I hope I am again.
I would be remiss if I did not offer a solution. If you need to develop a disciple-making ministry
in your church I would like to suggest that you contact Dr. Mike Householder. mikerhouseholder@gmail.com Let me offer a disclaimer
here. I am not being compensated in
anyway by Dr. Householder or his ministry for this endorsement. I simply believe that it is the time to
restore the biblical practice of making disciples.
You can follow this link to purchase his materials.
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