In 10 Years: Not the Church We Know

We’re in a swirl of rapid change. In the last 10 years the church in America has seen more rapid change than in the entire century before.

What people believe, how they exercise their faith, and how they interact with the established church–or not–are all undergoing significant change. Where is this juggernaut of change taking us? A Christian think tank, LifelongFaith Associates, has been tracking spiritual shifts in America, and has observed 13 trends that will drive change in the next 10 years. I’ll preview the first three trends from the group’s Faith Formation 2020 study.

Trend 1. Declining participation in Christian churches. The study states that current trends indicate 85% of Americans will be staying away from worshipping God at church by 2020.

Trend 2. Growth in the “no religious affiliation” category. “The number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990, rising from 8% to 15%,” according to the report.

Trend 3. Becoming more “spiritual” and less “religious.” A growing segment of the population does not want to become involved in churches.

The study goes on to consider some possible outcomes if these trends continue. You can see the entire report here: http://bit.ly/c9Xcxb

This study, and many others, beckon us to look just 10 years ahead and consider how the church will need to adapt in order to effectively serve and impact our culture. As I’ve talked with church leaders across the country, the thinking seems to circle around one of three mindsets:

1. “We need to work harder.” These folks seem to think things will get better if we just do more of what we’re already doing. Or some think we just need to do what we’re doing, but do it better. But the pace of change is outpacing their ability to peddle faster.

2. “I can make it to retirement.” These leaders realize their ministry needs significant transformation, but they don’t have the vision, energy or appetite for risk that is required. So they’re coasting, hoping they can hang on long enough to hand off the future to someone else.

3. “We need to try some entirely new directions.” These leaders are willing to step out in faith to really refresh their ministry with new approaches. I’ve been energized to get to know many of these pioneers who have stepped up to join the network of Lifetree Cafe operators. Lifetree is a “conversation cafe” that helps today’s culture connect everyday life issues with faith in Christ. http://lifetreecafe.com/

In these times of rapid change, God’s message is as relevant as ever. But how we deliver that message will need to change–if we wish to see the church also be relevant in 2020.

Selling an Unfriendly Church

Imagine assigning yourself the task of writing an article opposing friendliness in church. Well, an editor of an old and fading Christian publication recently took on that assignment with breath-taking cynicism.

The writer attacked an earlier Group Publishing survey on the public’s opinions on the friendliness of churches. While acknowledging that the church has lost “cultural cache” in the last century, he wrote that the losses may be occurring because “too many churches strive to be perceived as friendly.”

He also wrote: “I don’t want a pastor pal—a chatty, affable, smiling, glad-handing cleric who becomes friends with everyone he meets.” He went on to opine that Jesus was “not friendly.”

Upon reading this piece, a friend of mine said, “Hmmm. #1: Love God. #2: Love others as yourself. Friendliness is a symptom of love.” Nicely said.

I’m afraid the unfriendly editor has confused the means with the end. The goal is not friendliness for friendliness’ sake. The goal is to bring people into a growing relationship with Christ. So, how do we best go about that? Will the church and its ministers see better results if we’re friendly—or unfriendly?

For me, I’ll side with Jesus, the one who said, “I no longer call you servants. Instead, I have called you friends.”

The Waste & Redundancy of Sermon Prep

Right about now, some 300,000 preachers are preparing 300,000 different sermons for church services around the country. Stop and think about that for a moment. Does this make sense?

I have three questions:
1. Does the country possess 300,000 excellent writers who are capable of writing 52 outstanding scripts every year? (That’s over 15 million new literary pieces per year.)
2. Are the 300,000 congregations so different that they require a customized sermon that is entirely different from every other congregation?
3. If we started over today with a network of churches from coast to coast, would we deem it necessary to craft a different sermon for all 300,000 locations every week?

Imagine if the movie business operated in a similar fashion. What if every local movie theater felt the need to write and produce its own original films every week? Does every neighborhood possess excellent screenwriters capable of turning out 52 great scripts per year?

Sometimes people say, “But only our preacher knows how to preach to the unique needs of our congregation.” Would that type of we-are-totally-unique thinking also hold true for your community’s tastes for movies, books, television and thousands of other products?

Every week 300,000 preachers spend an average of 20 hours per week preparing original manuscripts. What if we found a more efficient use for those 6 million hours of labor per week? What if most of those preachers used the scripts of gifted writers, and redeployed their 6 million hours to direct face-to-face ministry? Imagine how God might use those reclaimed hours to touch lives.

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Small is the New Big

Trend tracker and author Faith Popcorn sees this decade dawning with a “frown on all things big.” The anti-big swing reflects a souring on big corporations and organizations.

We’ve detected evidence of this feeling toward churches as well. We heard it when we polled non-church-goers. They’re less interested in the Super Churches of yesterday. They say they’d more likely be drawn to a smaller faith community. That would go along with Faith Popcorn’s observation of a “desire to connect on a deeper level.”

This yearning helped shape our design for Lifetree Cafe. It’s a nationally licensed venue that seats no more than 50. People hear stories and converse with friends around small tables. They explore intriguing life issues–from a spiritual perspective. They’re connecting on a “deeper level” that could never happen in an auditorium filled with 500 or 5000 people.

In 2010, think small.

www.lifetreecafe.com

What People Say About Sunday Morning

On any given Sunday, most people aren’t in church. How come?

You can guess and surmise. But I wanted to hear it straight. So I went out on a Sunday morning and asked people on the sidewalk why they weren’t in church. Here’s a summary of what they said:

• “Weekends are a time for family. Sunday is the only morning we get to be together.”
• “Church was passive, where they preached TO you, rather than listen.”
• “It’s a one-way discussion. There’s no room for people to talk back.”
• “They just want to be the best church around. Everybody wants to be bigger and better than the other churches. I don’t think that’s what the church should be about.”

So what do you think? How should we respond? We could conclude these people have faulty perceptions–and we could try some new image campaigns. Or, we could listen and reconsider how we’re attempting to encourage the greatest relationship in the world.

It’s a new year . . . and a new opportunity to be remarkable.

http://lifetreecafe.com/

Will "Christmas Christians" Come Back?

Will the CEOs give your church the infusion you think? Many churches make great efforts and spend lots of time and treasure to attract the CEOs–those Christmas and Easter Only people. For some churches, Christmas and Easter events are considered prime outreach opportunities.

But are they?

Researcher George Barna found that just 13% of those who “normally avoid church” would consider attending a church event at Christmastime. He said, “In past decades there was an assumption that the holidays were a time when outsiders might explore church life.  These days, however, churches and other religious institutions are not seen as safe or value-adding places by most outsiders.  They see little reason to attend seasonal events, especially since those events often highlight their outsider status.”

When these church avoiders do attend, do they come back? Most churches’ attendance figures indicate these seasonal events are not leading to real growth.

Here’s the disconnect. A relationship with a church (and a relationship with God) isn’t a one-time transaction. It’s a process. Outreach efforts based on one-time events have little chance of producing long-lasting results.

My friend Lee Sparks just wrote an article on this phenomenon and what to do about it.  Email me at tschultz@lifetreecafe.com and I’ll send you a copy.

Present In Body Only (The PIBOs)

They quietly walk into church, say little, look a bit detached, and leave quickly when the service concludes.

These church attendees are Present In Body Only. They may be counted as members of a church’s flock, but their hearts, minds and souls are not engaged by what’s happening at church. They are among the legion of church attendees who, according to George Barna, never experience God at church. They attend out of a sense of duty, or to accompany a family member, or simply out of habit. For PIBOs, the church worship experience—even at grandly produced services—is a spiritual yawn. The worship recipe (half upfront monologue and half sing-along) in use at churches small and large  does not stir the PIBOs.

Many church leaders may not recognize these people as PIBOs–or care that their hearts and minds are not in the room.  Because PIBOs satisfy the score that leaders track–head count–they serve their purpose just as they are.

In these days of declining church attendance, the PIBOs give us one more reason to question how we’re taking the Good News to today’s changing culture. No one is looking for religion. But they’re very curious about a real relationship with God.

William Paul Young, author of “The Shack” talked about the emptiness of religion in this week’s Lifetree Cafe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6bBxUGfmIE

http://lifetreecafe.com/

 

Church for Your Ears Only

Nationally, about 17% of the American population attends church services weekly, according to the American Church Research Project. In this blog I’ve been spotlighting some characteristics of this shrinking audience.

Today we look at the 5th characteristic–today’s loyal church goers tend to be Auditory learners. They take in and remember primarily through their ears. The contemporary church service suits them because it’s predominately an auditory experience. Simply put, Christian church services are approximately half lecture, and half sing-along. And increasingly, sing-along has become less singing along and more listening along.

So, does this predominately auditory approach give us hope for reversing the trend of shrinking church participation? Well, research shows that 30 percent or less of the population is made up of auditory learners. Most of the population processes information and thoughts primarily in other ways. They tend to tune out when asked to endure a presentation that implies they should sit still and listen.

I suspect that many if not most clergy are themselves auditory learners. Because auditory presentations work for them they assume auditory presentations work for everyone. That’s a dangerous assumption.

The five characteristics I’ve described–Audience-oriented, Anonymous, Authority-centered, Academic, and Auditory–help to describe today’s loyal church goers. For the past hundred years the church has shaped its worship times to appeal to this minority. This architecture is familiar and comfortable to the minority. So, it makes some sense to continue to offer ministry in the familiar ways. But if the church desires to grow beyond its limited impact and reach out to the majority it will need to also offer forms of ministry that look different.

I love the church. And I want to see today’s church become more effective in delivering the Good News. This passion has led me to work on designing some new approaches that fit those people who churches have not been reaching.

A result of this work has been Lifetree Cafe. It’s a new form of ministry that has been designed from the get-go to work with the majority–regular people who grapple with everyday issues and are naturally curious to see how God may be relevant to these issues. We’ve designed it to be a turnkey system that local churches and others can license in their areas. Learn more at http://www.lifetreecafe.com.

What do you think?

Making Faith Academic

Some people are wired to attend church as we know it. Others (most people) are not.

I’ve been describing characteristics that are found in those who attend weekly worship services. These descriptors all begin with the letter A. Today we look at the next one–Academic.

Those in the pews today see the church’s role as primarily academic. They come once a week to obtain information or knowledge about the Bible or God. They expect to hear an authority teach theological principles and historical data. “Teaching pastors,” as they’re sometimes called, often employ techniques borrowed from 20thCentury school rooms. Among these are PowerPoint presentations and “sermon notes” or “fill-ins”—fill-in-the-blank exercises printed in the worship bulletin, encouraging the listeners to write down certain words from the sermon.

It’s likely that most preachers personally appreciate and prefer academic approaches. Studies show they self-identify their leading strength is “teaching.”

But what about the majority of society? We live in an information-soaked world. When it comes to spiritual things, most people don’t sense they’re lacking hard data. They’re lacking the soft stuff of the soul. Their desired relationship with God seems more at home at Starbucks than a college lecture hall. Like any relationship, they sense growth in a relationship with God comes more from give-and-take than passive consumption of someone’s lecture.

Many within the current church treat faith itself as an academic subject. It is something that is pursued through teaching and the accumulation of theological knowledge.

But most people don’t view faith as academic. Faith is actually a relationship–not a subject. So, church envoronments that seem more like academic lecture halls don’t make sense to them.

How can a church promote faith in a way that works more like a relationship?

Waning Authority of the Reverend

Most people don’t go to church. It just doesn’t fit them. But some people do attend church services regularly. How are these two groups different? That’s what we’ve been discussing in this series.

So far, I’ve mentioned that church goers tend to be Audience-oriented and they embrace Anonymity. Now for the next descriptor that starts with an A. Church goers tend to be Authority-centered.

They rely heavily on authority figures for information and inspiration. So, in the contemporary church, they count on the paid professionals to communicate the insights, move them, pray on their behalf, and do the real ministry. Some view the professionals as go-betweens—a necessary filter or conduit between themselves and God. They may be less comfortable seeing value in contributions from peers or from personal discovery.

But this group is shrinking–as is church attendance.

Most people today have moved into the new era of information distribution, which is accentuated by the internet. Increasingly people no longer have to wait for authorities to deliver needed information. They’re comfortable accessing it themselves. What’s more, they are relying more on peers than authorities for such things as product reviews, perspectives on current events, and general advice.

When it comes to matters of faith, people are more open to hear about God stuff from peers than exclusively from those who are paid to deliver doctrine. Hearing a story from a grandma who felt God’s hand in her health struggles is more authentic and compelling than a story a preacher found in a book of sermon illustrations.

If the church wishes to become more relevant to the growing non-churched majority, it may be need to consider some changes in methodology.

Next A on our list: Academic. Stay tuned.