Iceberg Bumps for the American Church

Walter Hurst recalled, “No one was very much alarmed, but knew we had struck

"Nothing to worry about folks.  Just a bump!"

something."  It was April 14, 1912 and the ship on which he served was the RMS Titanic.  Captain Smith had stated in an interview that modern ship construction had moved ships beyond the point where a ship floundering was even a possibility.    His statements lead many people to believe that the Titanic was unsinkable.  So, when the Titanic struck an iceberg many of the passengers and crew believed that it was nothing to worry about; it was just a little bump, something to be ignored.

So, here are ten iceberg bumps that I believe represent meaningful warnings that the American church is facing catastrophic crisis, which must be addressed.  (Disclaimer: this is not intended to be a detailed description but a generalized overview and will not apply equally to all churches or fellowships)

1. The church on spin cycle.  Living in a society of positive thinking, many churches have made a priority of putting a positive spin on things.  The most glaring example may have been J. Herbert Nelson, II Presbyterian Church USA.  Facing the loss of 89,893 members in 2016 (1728 a week) he claimed, “We are not dying. We are Reforming.”  I heard one mega-church pastor say, “We don’t want no stinking thinking.”   Churches have developed an attitude of self-congratulation rather than honest self-assessment.    The day after Easter, for example, churches will brag about the great day they had, numbers, eggs hidden and other meaningless data.  While ignoring the overall health and evangelistic effort of the church.
2. We are not maturing we are just getting old.  Currently, the average age of attendees for Christian denominations is 53 and getting older.  In about twenty years this will spell disaster.  Our best efforts at a “youth movement” has failed.   We have for the most part been unable to engage young adults with the heroic challenge of a life of a disciple.  By the way, the national median age is 46.  And the median age for Mormons, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, and Agnostics are all below this median age. 
3. It is just us and we can keep it that way.  The church is completely comfortable with an utter lack of evangelism.  Church growth and evangelism are not the same thing.  While evangelism is about lost people becoming followers of Christ, Church growth, more often than not, is about moving Christians from one congregation to another.  It has been suggested that the average church has four additions by conversions for every 100 people attending worship.  My personal opinion is that this projection is radically over estimated. 
4. The shift of Bible Colleges turning into Liberal arts schools. Want to trigger people?  This is a great way to set off debates, indeed arguments.  No one will ever deny that we need to have Christian businessmen, councilors, etc.  However, in pursuit of students many colleges that were established for the purpose of training ministers, missionaries and other career specific Christian workers have shifted their emphasis toward a more general, educational, career field.  We may soon find a shortage of quality ministers to lead our congregations.
5. A related iceberg bump is the escalating cost of education for ministers.  The cost of a minister’s education has over the last several years escalated dramatically.  Ministry has never been about great income but the student debt-potential income equation may lead some ministry students to pursue other careers.
6. The rise of clergy killers.  Few preachers have not been the victim of or know someone who has been a victim of a clergy killer. Churches will often times take the easy way out and let a minster go rather than confront a dysfunctional clergy killer.  This is often a power or money-motivated decision.  The result empowers the worst rogue sheep in the congregation. 
7. The loss of understanding of the meaning worship. Worship Wars are universally conflicts over styles of music.  We have mistaken our style preference for worship. This loss is especially evident in the loss of meaningful content about communion or the Lord’s Supper.
8. Comfort and Frivolity  The wealthiest church in history (the American church) is bank rolling its own comfort and frivolity while spending little to reach a lost and hopeless world.  It is estimated that about 1% of all spending by American churches is directed to foreign missions.  If God is the source of our material blessings and we are using those blessing for our own luxury and satisfaction can God’s revocation of those blessings be long restrained?
9. The financial structure of the church especially related to debt.  While the occasion of church foreclosure has decreased in the last four years the church is way too comfortable with debt.  The interest that churches in America are paying on loans is leeching off kingdom resources.  We are trading long-term effectiveness for short- term flash. 
10. The inability to lovingly and effectively confront sin.  We have resorted to trying to pass laws about moral issues rather than praying, loving, and seeking heart change.  During the age of The Moral Majority, The Christian Coalition, etc. we witnessed a gigantic effort to turn the tide of moral decay by law, election and political action.  It was, in the long term, utterly ineffective.  We are pretty good at yelling at people about their sins-we are not very good at humble service.  Eph. 6:5-6, Col 3:22, I Tim. 6:1 and Titus 2:9 seem to indicate that Christian slaves have an obligation to obey their masters, even if they are not Christians.  If I am a baker and I have a gay customer order a cake am I obligated to act as a slave?  I fear the Christian community has focused on "our rights", "civil authority" and an attitude of “self -righteousness", rather than humble service.  I had the privilege to attend the wedding of a former prostitute who has become one of the most dynamic disciples of Jesus I have ever met.  The wedding theme was "From ashes to glory".   She was lead by love, grace and humble service not by having someone yell at her about her sins.

No one wants to say the baby is ugly.  No one wants to tell the emperor he is naked.  No one wants to admit that the church in America is not just in trouble, but in a catastrophe. We in the church may be feeling bumps that we are ignoring and there may be grave implications.  Perhaps this is alarmist, but then again, Laurence Gonzales was teased about being an alarmist and reading too much when he refused to fly to a bookseller’s convention.  Gonzales had recently been researching and writing about the safety issues associated with the DC 10.  When he learned that the flight to the convention was aboard a DC 10 he refused to go.  On takeoff this DC 10 lost an engine and crashed killing everyone on board. Alarmists are not always overreacting. 

To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.  I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  “Wake up!  Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.