The End?
I spend a lot of time reading and studying church trends. I just love it! Maybe it's because of my computer background. In that field, if you don't stay up to date on all the latest changes to technology and its usage in people's lives, you can find yourself out of a job real quick!
For example, I have been out of my computer career for 14 years. About 4 years ago I had lunch with one of my former bosses. We had a great time catching up on our families and all that is going on in our lives. I then learned something that shouldn't have been shocking but it did surprise me. Every, and I actually mean EVERY, single line of code that I programmed in my time at that company was gone. EVERYTHING had been replaced by newer, more advanced systems and programs.
In ten years, all of my hard work, all of the overtime, all of the missed meals and weekends with my family, MEANT NOTHING. It was all gone. The End! Game over!
What does this have to do with church trends? Well, think about the average church. Does that church still pretty much do exactly the same things it has done for the past 14 years? 20 years? 30 years? While the community around them has radically changed in every area of life, the average church probably hasn't changed all that much.
Now, some would say that's a good thing. The church is timeless and shouldn't change!
The problem with that thought is we've just learned thanks to COVID-19 that that isn't true.
Here in Canada, in mid-March, 2020, every church and pastor that I know rapidly had to embrace change! It was completely forced upon them! For some, it was literally a change or die situation. Small churches and church plants saw their finances plunge, which required massive changes to how offerings were collected to stay on top of their financial commitments.
Carey Nieuwhof calls crisis an accelerator! In just a few short weeks, the Canadian church dropped all of our current methods in order to continue the message of Jesus!
Because that is what matters! The Message is timeless! The methods are not. Let me say that one more time so that it sinks in.
The Message is timeless! The methods are not.
Because of this massive shift in such a short period, change that was already starting to happen suddenly accelerated! I think the change was so slow that that most of us didn't notice it. But it happened.
The End of Cultural Christianity?
For years as I have met with my church leaders, and pretty much anyone else who will listen to me, I have felt that the cultural christian church in Canada will be going away. The cultural Christian is something that is discussed a lot, but doesn't tend to get much attention in how to deal with it as pastors.
If you're not familiar with the term, here is the definition from Wikipedia:
Cultural Christians are deists, pantheists, agnostics, and atheists who adhere to Christian values and appreciate Christian culture. This kind of identification may be due to various factors, such as family background, personal experiences, and the social and cultural environment in which they grew up.
The church which is full of Cultural Christians, those who love the tradition, do it out of habit or just like the values of the Christian faith isn't actually filled with the power that the Bible teaches us in in the church.
My favourite verse in the New Testament is one that I pray nearly every day. In Ephesians 3:20, the Apostle Paul writes:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
That power is CRUCIAL for the work of God in the world. And doesn't exists in the cultural christian. Why? because there isn't a true surrender and turning from sin. There isn't a true giving of oneself to the Lordship of Jesus. It is lacking in repentance.
As I've study church trends over the past 14 years, I have seen two things happening in the church.
First, some churches intentionally embrace a cultural christian mindset in order to try to attract more people to come back to their churches. We see leaders changing the message in order to keep the methods they have loved for so long.
The second group, are taking a hard look at the methods and wondering if the methods that they love are actually causing people to not here the message. The leaders lay down what they love and what they are comfortable with in order to see more people hear the message of Jesus' love and forgiveness.
In both of these cases, we actually see the same thing happen, at least from my observations. A decline in Cultural Christians!
Why is that? Because our country doesn't need Cultural Christians. Canada needs Jesus! The true power of the love of God expressed in Gospel. This message and power is the ultimate equalizer between all people. All have sinned and all fall short and all can be forgiven. Not by anything we do, but all by the love and mercy of God.
Next Phase?
As our churches begin to reopen and we see attendance dropping across provinces and denominations, I can't help but ask myself, are we witnessing the end of Cultural Christian in Canada? Did COVID-19 just accelerate this for us that now it is very apparent?
That's what I'm thinking.
I'm also thinking how that impacts ministry in our churches. Cultural Christianity tends to feed into a consumer mindset. Church attendance for they get. If this trend continues we will see more passionate Christians more concerned with being engaged with the mission of Jesus, ready to serve in the global work of getting the message out there!
That could be big shift in a lot of the work that we do as pastors and leaders.
And I for one, REALLY welcome it!
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