Wow.
After re-reading this chapter, that word kept on coming into my mouth. Wow. Simply, wow.
McNeal pulls no punches right from the get-go. As he said in his introduction to this book, his goal is to provoke and to frame conversations that lead to action, to risk, to rediscovery of mission. If his goal was to provoke, he hit his mark!
Each chapter of The Present Future is titled by what McNeal calls "new realities". So, chapter one begins with New Reality Number One: The Collapse of the Church Culture. If one reading the book wondered what McNeal meant by that, they only needed to look at the first paragraph in order to understand. The first paragraph starts out in this way:
The current church culture in North America is on life support. It is living off the work, money and energy of previous generations from a previous world order.
Provoking. McNeal then goes on to describe how much the world has really changed in the past thirty years or more, and how the church has refused to change with the world. McNeal is worried about the future of the church - he is not proclaiming the death of the church, but the "collapse of the unique culture in North America that has come to be called 'church'"
He goes on to say this:
In reality, the church culture in North America is a vestige of the original movement, an institutional expression of religion that is in part a civil religion and in part a club where religious people can hang out with other people whose politics, worldview and lifestyle match theirs.
and
As he hung on the cross, Jesus probably never thought that the impact of his sacrifice would be reduced to an invitation for people to join and to support an institution.
The collapse of the church culture can be demonstrated simply through demographic research. If you read those Barna books or even Gallup polls, you may be encouraged to find out that over fifty percent of the American population goes to church on a weekly basis.
They are wrong.
New research (church attendance numbers in different cities vs. population of those cities) suggest that Americans might be lying about their churchgoing habits. After several months of research, the actual number of weekly churchgoing American folks hovers around 26 percent. And the further you go down the generational food chain, the lower the percentage each succeeding generation goes to church (in other words, the senior citizens' attendance numbers are much higher than those of my generation, known as generation X).
McNeal adds some humor to this chapter by saying: "Armed with this information, of course, churches are launching an all-out effort to reach Generation X-ers. I wish! Most churches have written them off, waiting for them to grow up and learn to like what the church has to offer."
Humorous, but absolutely true. He also talks about a growing number of people who are leaving the institutional church, but not leaving Jesus. "(They) are leaving the church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith."
In each chapter, McNeal gives the wrong question that churches are asking, and then what the right question is that they should be asking. This chapter's wrong question is this: How do we do church better? He then talks about all the different methods that churches have used recently in order to make their church better. First it was the church and lay renewal movement. Then the emphasis switched to church growth. Then it changed to church health. He says this: "An entire industry has been spawned to help churches do whatever it is they decide to do..the suggestions are plentiful: offer small groups, contemporize your worship, market your service, focus on customer service, create a spiritual experience, become seeker-friendly, create a high-expectation member culture, purify the church from bad doctrine, return the church to the basics..."
Listen to what he says next, and tell me this doesn't cut to the heart: "All this actually anesthetizes the pain of loss. It offers a way to stay busy and preoccupied with methodological pursuits while not facing the hard truth: none of this seems to be making much of a difference."
Both ministry staff members and church members have suffered from this pursuit of "improving the church". For the "clergy", they are now expected to be managers, strategic planners, fundraisers, expert communicators, chief vision developers, ministry entrepreneurs, spiritual gurus, architectural consultants and more. I don't remember any Bible college class that prepared me for those different tasks, let me tell you. For the church member, "they feel like they have been sold a bill of goods. They were promised that if they would be a good church member, if they would discover their gifts, or join a small group, sign up for a church ministry...they would experience a full and meaningful life...the faithful, maybe silently or not so silently, wonder when their ticket is going to be punched, when they are going to experience the changed life they've been promised and expected to experience at church. In North America, these people have been led to believe that their Christian life is all about the church, so this failure of the church not only creates doubt about the church, it also leads them to all kinds of doubt about God and their relationship with Him."
The effort to fix the church misses the point. As he says in this chapter: You can build the perfect church - and they still won't come. Who are they? Unchurched people. "They do not wake up every day wondering what church they can make successful."
McNeil ends this section by saying: Church leaders seem unable to grasp this simple implication of the new world - people outside the church think church is for church people, not for them...the pursuit of the wrong question will continue to turn the wheel of the church industry, but it will do little to expand the kingdom of God. The need of the North American church is not a methodological fix. It is much more profound. The church needs a mission fix.
Next post: What is the tough/right question?
7 comments:
I may just go buy this book instead of borrowing it. So far this looks like a really good read. His thoughts are right on target.
As I was reading your thoughts I begin to think about how people are even turned off by the word 'church' b/c of experiences in the past. If I remember correctly Jesus says in the Great Commission: Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you....
Have we missed the action word GO in our churches today? That doesn't mean make churches a 'country club' that are so sticky sweet that we end up making them fly traps. I am all for fellowship but our mission field is 'out there'. Meeting people where they are in the real world. Not pounding them over the head with a Bible and telling them to go to church.
God has really been changing my thoughts on things that I have grown up being conditioned to believe in.
I believe that we as parents need to take the responsibility to raise our children learning basic truths of scripture through the church. This is vital but I also believe they need to keep touch with the real world in order to prepare themselves to GO into the world some day. We must take on that responsibility as parents.
Anyway, good thoughts Adam.
I'm readiing another book - The Externally Focused Church - that you would be interested in reading as well. It's more practical than The Present Future.
That's what I want ..the practical book Words are fine but unless you have action with those words it means nothing I agree that we need to go and reach out to unchurched..that's easier said than done ..most of them have been hurt..they're not open to what you have to say..and you have to give your time to develop that relationship and that trust and know it doesn't happen overnight for most people
The best outreach, in my opinion, can be boiled down to two words: serve others.
Amen bro - Amen! That was Jesus' life. Lead by example. The answer to the question remains in the life of Jesus. His examples and His patterns. Those everyday situations for Him. The more you read and understand His life (I mean study :0))... the more you will understand the 'how to'. I'm not a prime example of leading millions to Christ but I do have a mission field in my own home, my extended family, my friends and the people I meet.
Some of us are called to minister to millions, most of us are called to minister right where we are. That's where I have to meet God and let Him use me. What I've found is that others will see an unshakeable peace in you if God is truly working through you to reach them.
Interested to hear the author's accessment.
Well, I'll work on part two of chapter one tonight. :^)
The gist of that other book I'm reading - The Externally Focused Church - is that a church's emphasis should be on getting involved in the community by serving it rather than expecting the community to come to us. I think that will be the next book I tackle in my blog - but one book at a time! What's interesting is that although I don't know the author of the book, I have been to his church several times and was good friends with the youth ministers who were there (one is now working for Christ in Youth, the other is a senior pastor of a church in Kansas).
You're right anonymous - as a church staff member myself, I can honestly say that although I would like to spend time outside of the church - I would really like to do so - my commitments at church keep me from doing so time-wise and still being able to enjoy my family.
Two of my goals this year, I believe, are directly related to me wanting to do ministry outside of the church - one is to figure out a way to start an arts festival weekend in the town where our church meets, and the other is to start a band made up of worship team members that does stuff in the community music-wise.
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