Every once and a while an idea pops into my head that I just can't shake. It keeps me up at night. It consumes my waking hours. It turns around and around in my head. It shows up in my dreams. It starts coming up in more and more conversations. I pray that God would just get rid of this idea because I know a lot of church people are not going to like what I have to say.
This doesn't happen to me often. When it does, it's usually because I need to get this out of my head and into the world. Because I always find that I'm never alone. Others have been wrestling with the exact same idea.
I don't put this out to be confrontational or to cause division. I write this as a simple man who loves Jesus, who trusts in the teachings of Scripture, who tries hard to listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance, and who has been pastoring a local church for 14 years.
What Started It
Recently I heard the current COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the Christian Church compared to the Babylonian exile. This was when the people of Isreal were driven from their lands and taken into captivity by Babylon. While far from their home and their Temple, they lamented and cried out to God that they were unable to praise the Lord in this foreign land. Their exile was compared to the church's exile from our buildings and our cries to return to our well-loved ways of worship.
I resonate with this idea of similarity between Israel's exile and what we are experiencing - but not as a cry to return to the way we ran church in February 2020. You see, the people of Israel were sent into exile because of their idolatry. I strongly have to wonder if God has used this pandemic to force to take a good, hard look at our modern-day idolatry - our worship service.
Let me unpack this.
Stuff We Don't Like to Admit
There are some hard truths that we as church leaders are all very well aware of. We've known about this for years. Before COVID this is what consumed so much of our time as leaders:
- In 2019 it was estimated that over 60% of students who grew up regularly attending church stopped attending after high school.
- Since 2015 we have been reading how Millenials are leaving the church in ever-increasing numbers.
- In 2019 it is estimated that 9000 churches closed their doors here in Canada (long before COVID).
- Most churches in North America have either plateaued or are in decline when it comes to regular attendance.
- Most churches in North American haven't seen a single person come to faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour.
- Most churches that have seen growth are growing because more Christians are attending their service.
Now, we can debate the numbers here... but we just gotta be honest as leaders. We all know the heart of this is true. We've been working on this for years trying to figure out what to do about it! It's why we read books on church revitalization. It's why we go to conferences and seminars. It's why we try to improve our preaching. It's why we change the style of music.
COVID forced every single one of our churches to look at our ministry with new eyes and try new ways. Some ideas were better than others. It was an exciting time of learning and growing, and seeking God.
But that didn't last. Just as churches were beginning to see some impact on people outside our regular attenders, we reopened the doors to our churches with a long list of COVID guidelines and regulations.
The energy used to think creatively in a new environment was quickly gobbled up by hand sanitizer, registration lists, seat spacing, and cleaning protocols.
And why did we shift this energy? To return as quickly as possible to our worship services. The exact same ones producing the results mentioned above.
A Look at our Methods
What if God was actually teaching us something? What if God is actually preparing his church for something new? What if God's heart is to see people reached that our ministries just haven't been successful at reaching? What if reformation is happening again, not over theology, but methodology? What if the only way we'd have eyes to see what God was doing was to have God shut our church doors for a good, long while?
What if our love for our worship service has become an idol? What if our rush to return to what we love, desire and will fight the government over, is actually the distraction of what God wants us to see?
Jesus said his mission on earth was to seek and save the lost. Jesus called his followers to be fishers of men. I can't help but wonder if the worship of our worship turns us instead into thinking that the mission is to simply care for the fish we already have by burning ourselves out maintaining the aquarium.
I love the worship services at my church! I love gathering weekly with my church family to praise God together. I love preaching to a room filled with faces I know and care about.
But more than pleasing Christians, more than following the party-line, more than doing ministry in a way that I love, I want God's will to be done here in my city! I want to see God truly do immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine through his power at work in the church.
A Conversation
I realize this is a difficult topic. I know every time I've had to deal with an idol in my heart it has been really hard. Just because it's difficult, doesn't mean we shouldn't have the conversation.
Many churches are seeing incredible harvest results in this season by taking a hard look at their methods of ministry. Online discipleship, smaller gatherings, intentional leadership development.
A mentor of mine once said: "If you want to reach people no one is reaching, you need to do things that one is doing. But to do things that no one is doing, you have to stop doing what everyone is doing."
Easily said. Not easily done.
My hope and my prayer are that we would see a huge amount of people come to faith in Jesus. And this would happen because the church lived out God's plans for her. We smash any idols we may have, return to God,
I may be a lone voice crying out in the wilderness on this. Or maybe, just maybe, you're feeling this too! If so, let's continue the conversation.
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