A Terrifying Thought
So what if all the decline our congregations and denominations have experienced in recent decades has little to do with a failure of leadership (what congregational leaders fear) or changes in theological or political stances (what more conservative church leaders assert) or a degenerate or disinterested generation of believers (what people in the pew too often feel) or with any of the other things we usually attribute it to. What if the decline is simply the result of a massive cultural shift? That is, what if we now live in a world where the emerging generation a) has tons of options for ways to think about and make sense of their lives, b) has way less time for things that don’t feel purposeful or worthwhile, and c) (and as a result of a and b) just don’t do things because their parents did but instead only commit to things that make a tangible difference in the world, both theirs and the world around them?
I guess another way of putting this is, what if our congregations are set up – in terms of things like “membership” and “pledges” and church council committees, and “new member” classes and “friendship pads” and scripted worship services filled with sixteenth-century music – to respond to the needs of those who came of age in the fifties, sixties, and seventies but have little to offer millennials? In other words, what if the way we do church just doesn’t make much sense to the youngest third of our population? What then?
I find this to be a terrifying thought. Mostly because I think it might be true.
David, I think you are spot on! It is terrifying and will challenge us to go well past our comfort zones. We will need to completely re-think how to “do church,” and live out the great commission. Its going to take MUCH more than putting up video screens and doing “contemporary” worship.
And what if, in an effort to attract young people (who may or may not come), we alienate the faithful older congregants?
I can’t help but agree with you Mary. As good as the arguments are, and need is to attract younger people, we cannot forget everyone else. I understand the need to to attract and keep the younger third. However, do we really feel comfortable in saying, that people seeking Christ in their middle or golden years, can go find a different place to worship, a place they feel more comfortable? Do we abandon one group to attrach another?
David, “yes” to both your questions, with the caveat that we don’t “abandon” folks–there will be many places they can find comfort. And there will always be some worshiping centers labeled Traditional today and Niche tomorrow. Call it evolution of faith and critique none of its expressions. Let all find their own way for God to become the force in their reality. Just stay out of each others’ way and let God guide our future.
Two questions: Who’s “we”, and how do you define faithfulness? If “we” is just the leaders, and we’re doing church for the people in the pews, then there’s a big danger of alienation. If “we” includes older congregants who care about the future of the church and are willing to reach out and learn a few new ways of communicating, then it’s a different situation. That also gets into the question of faithfulness. For the longest time, we’ve thought that faithfulness to the institution is faithfulness to God. But when institutional practices and tradition stand in the way of living out God’s call, then faithfulness calls us to change our practices and institutions. If I remember correctly, there was a guy who said that a few hundred years back and really shook things up. Martin somebody?
I belong to the generation between Boomers and Millenials. Funny how we are no longer even named. I am being faithful pastor to the the very few remaining Builder Generation (GI generation) and the handful of Silent Generation who are two scared to accept the changes around them – so there will be a place for them to worship as they are comfortable; at least until they are gone.
I believe your thought is indeed true, but rather than being terrifying, I find it freeing. Now we can finally be free to become the church Christ intended for us to be. A church that is not about membership, music style and doing things they way they’ve always been done, but instead is focused on making disciples who make disciples. If we learn to see the church as who we are and use it as a training center to invite people to become who Christ created us to be, we will no longer worry about relevance or importance. We need to listen to the people who have not found meaning and purpose in the church and invite them to to discover a life of incredible meaning and purpose as they learn to live out their new identity in Christ. Imagine what would happen if we put into practice the truth that we are God’s dearly loved children, called to go out and represent our Dad in the world. Imagine the possibilities of praying “your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” and then focusing our lives and our ministries around specific ways of answering that prayer through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit. This is an incredibly exciting time to be the Church!
I, too, find this freeing and hope filled. What if as we listen to younger generations we find meaning for older members even when they didn’t know anything was missing? And in the process also help dissatisfied members, like me, who have been hanging in there despite IMMENSE frustration all these years. It’s not about tricking the younger generation into joining us, it is about finding deeper meaning, greater opportunity to love one another, etc. I also wish we wouldn’t even mention the music anymore. It wasn’t about the music when I was a teenager and twenty or thirty years later it still is not about the music.
If our attempts to build God’s kingdom more on earth and to reach out to people who are not currently involved in God/faith/church cause “faithful older congregants” to feel alienated, then I’m sure they will find another church that will help them feel comfortable. If we aren’t willing to try new things, change and adapt, we will surely die. Were there any people Jesus or the prophets were afraid to alienate?
In my mind, there’s no what if to it. It IS happening and most of us are stuck in paradigms that will become coffins for the church as we know it. A question occurs to me. Is this frightening or is it an opportunity for a new birth? Like Dan (see his earlier reply) these shifts bring with them a freedom, and maybe more to the point an urgency. Old forms crumbling will by necessity send us into a healthy survival mode and refocus us on the kind of core and purpose filled matters that first claimed us. This is a good thing.
Several years ago, when I was actively working in campus ministry, I attended a conference at Douglas John Hall was the headliner (yes, it was quite like a rock concert of great thinkers). When he came to the stage, he stood silently for a moment before he said, “This is the age of the humiliation of Christendom.” I shall never forget that his thesis concerned returning to our roots as a movement and eschewing the institution we have become, with all its trappings and authority. I, for one, do not believe Homo sapiens is capable at this moment of our development to successfully accomplish, but I think we should seize every opportunity to try, and to try to leave a next generation something other–something better–than an institution. Perhaps we could help restart a movement of motivated and changed persons. You know–the Commonwealth of Heaven.
Thanks for sharing your nightmare and mine David, just in time for Halloween! Caught once again between the New Wine and the preference for the Old wine.
Dr. Lose,
I agree with your thoughts regarding denominational and congregational decline. It’s been going on for years. Preaching and teaching which engages worshipers in a meaningful way and helps us make sense of our lives by connecting with the source of life, would help a lot. That plus fresh music and old music done in fresh ways may help us want to relate to God and one another.
Thanks for this. It seems axiomatic to me, to be honest.
And it being true – seems to fit why myself and millennial colleagues are challenged leading traditional churches. We clearly see the need and where our congregations aren’t meeting it, yet structures are set up for maintenance rather than death leading to resurrection.
We must be willing to “bet the farm,” and try dramatically new methods, rather than continuing to spend massive resources on outdated systems that don’t meet many peoples’ needs, even those of elder generations.
Bang On! A quote from Seth Godin,
“Tribes started as self-defending groups of wanderers. It didn’t take long, though, for them to claim a special truth, for them to insulate themselves from an ever-changing world.
In a modern, connected era, successful tribes can’t thrive for long by cutting themselves off from the engines that drive our culture and economy. What they can do is engage with and attract members who aren’t there because the tribe is right and everyone else is wrong, but instead, the modern tribe quite simply says, “you are welcome here, we like you, people like us are part of a thing like this, we’ll watch your back.” It turns out that this is enough.”
This approach would include the room to serve both the older members and the millennials. We can still change it but good luck trying to explain that one. Millennials do not see value in what the church has to offer. I was born in 1944 and share their perspective after having gone to (aka struggled with) church my whole life. Everybody wants to acknowledge the decline (two new pastors graduating in our synod when approximately twenty are needed) but nobody in my arena wants to pursue meaningful change in a meaningful time frame. I don’t get it, and I am divorcing myself from the frustration of trying to help change it. Last one out turn off the lights.
I’m fairly new to the ministry (6 years), but I keep getting the feeling I’m working in a “dying industry”. My denomination leadership (which I won’t name) seems to be in panic-mode; having more meetings, requiring more reports, demanding innovation and boldness- though only within certain parameters.
It reminds me of when my brother worked for a large NY bank during an economic downturn. The managers knew layoffs of management were coming, and so they started “managing” a lot more to demonstrate their value- which meant more and more meetings upon meetings, until the work pretty much ground to a halt.
With the church, I think we need more honesty about where we are in the “life cycle”; not give up, but work with joy instead of desperation, confident that God’s Kingdom will go on, the Church will continue- though likely in some very new form.
David, I hope you’ll follow up with some further thoughts on this topic. Any church leader in America is having this same terrifying thought. Without further conversation, I fear it just paralyzes us. The follow up question might be, “What are we going to do about it?” I preached a sermon this week entitled, Building Bridges with Those Who Have Left Church Behind. This week, we have about 200 people in small groups discussing this topic. I will be following up with groups tomorrow to get some feedback about what they discussed. I am hopeful that God’s people are confident enough in God’s promises to come up with some ways that will move us beyond paralysis.
Thanks for your continued efforts to raise our sites and confront brutal facts, as we seek to move forward in faith.
One more thought . . . Perhaps we better not assume that we definitively know what the different generations want in the way of church or worship. The ELCA church that I attend offers both traditional and praise services. You will see a huge mix of ages at both styles of worship. Many young people prefer the more traditional music and liturgy; many older folks prefer the more contemporary style. We are blessed to be able to offer something for most everyone.
I see terrifying thought, Dr. Lose, and I’ll raise you. My terrifying thought is – what if the Spirit has moved to more willing hearts? Or what if we are the endeavor that fails because it is not of God?
When I think that, I recall the promise of baptism and double-down on Jesus. The church, no matter the style of her wedding dress, is still and always the Bride of Christ.
My other comment, to those who say we should leave people to other churches that can give them palliative care, let us not give up on our elders. In them is wisdom we can’t live without and in them is courage we can’t imagine. They faced far more frightening realities than an empty pew. They understand more about real sacrifice than those of my generations (I’m smack in between the Xers and the millenials) could begin to understand. Perhaps this challenge is what they need to find meaning and purpose in their later years.