Church Designed for Silent Minority

The Sunday morning church experience was designed for a certain strata of society. And, for the most part, it works for that slice of the population.

That shrinking minority that regularly attends church bears a number of characteristics. In my last post I mentioned a set of descriptors that all begin with the letter A. The first was Audience-Oriented. These people are comfortable watching professional Christians perform on stage while they sit passively in the pew.

The next A descriptor is Anonymous. The silent church-going minority often seek anonymity. They like being part of a faceless crowd. They don’t necessarily want to be noticed—or known. They appreciate churches that keep the spotlight on the performers on stage, that allow the audience to sit quietly in the dark, so to speak.

Church consultants teach their clients to ensure that church visitors and members can slip in and out without being noticed, singled out, or compelled to speak to anyone. Anonymity is the holy grail.

But is the pursuit of anonymity the key to reversing the decline of the American church? Though most people seek occasional anonymity, when it comes to matters of the heart, they actually crave relationship. They want to be known. They want to contribute to the conversation. Telling their story is as important as listening to someone else’s.

But the current Sunday morning model, perfected by large churches, attracts those who want to be left alone–the silent minority. That leaves the relational majority turning to other forms of interaction with people: Facebook, town hall meetings, Starbucks conversations, blogs. They want to partcipate, tell their stories, and go someplace where someone knows their name.

Next time I’ll talk about the next A–Authority-Centered.

 

Why Church Works for a Small Minority

It seems everyone has an opinion on the state of the American church. Writing books on what’s wrong with the church has become somewhat of a fad. Many writers tell personal and painful stories of wounding at the hands of the church.

            I don’t doubt their sincerity. But the church has always been populated with imperfect people making flawed decisions. That’s not what’s new. And that’s not likely to change.

            Besides, the church as we know it has worked quite well for a certain swath of the population. These people comprise part of the 17 to 30 percent of the population who regularly attend church services.

            So, what characteristics identify these particular people? Several words that start with the letter A may help describe those who currently attend typical church services. In this blog, we’ll look at the first A: Audience-Oriented.

            Audience-Oriented. They appreciate a good presentation from the stage. They prefer to passively listen while the paid professionals on the stage do the work. Similar to theater-goers, they may judge the “performance” based on how well they were entertained or engaged.

      These “A” factors help to explain the slice of the population that regularly attends weekly church services. Church, as they know it, is working for them. They are content with the status quo.

      But what about the growing majority that doesn’t regularly attend church services? Why don’t these same “A” factors work for them? It seems that what attracts the church-going set may actually repel or at least disinterest the majority. Let’s look at each factor again from their perspective.

      Audience-Oriented. Though most people enjoy a good show, they don’t view their spirituality as a spectator activity. Even though they may long for God, they say they don’t see the need to sit in an auditorium and watch professional religious people perform rehearsed presentations.

      Next time, we’ll look at the next A—Anonymous.

We Gotta Get Out

Have you ever noticed a common thread in sermon illustrations about encountering non-Christians?

I just returned from a ministry conference. Headline speakers included high-profile preachers. And once again, I heard the familiar sermon illustrations. They begin with, “I wound up sitting next to this person on the airplane.”

The stories invariably continue with confessions that the preachers just want to cocoon and be with themselves on the airplane. “But this woman starts talking, and asking what I do for a living. I can’t escape! I’m strapped next to this woman for next four hours!”

Have you ever wondered why the only non-Christians that preachers seem to encounter are on airplanes? Maybe with all the staff meetings, hours and hours of sermon prep, reading and planning, there’s no time left to be with regular people. The only place to be exposed to regular people is 30,000 feet above the ground, when escape is rather difficult.

If we’re going to be salt and light, or even talk about being salt and light, maybe we need to get out more. Spend a little less time reading about people–and go out and BE with real people.

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You've Got a Friend in Thee

Do you know the primary ingredient that keeps people active in a church? Is it:

• powerful preaching?
• dynamic music?
• toothy greeters?
• Starbucks in the lobby?

Nope. None of the above. Our friend Charles Arn of Church Growth Incorporated studies these things. He discovered one thing outshines everything else when it comes to keeping people around and involved. It is:

Friendships.

He said, “Put simply, if people have friends at church, they stay. If they don’t have friendships, they won’t.” So, it pays to be very intentional about helping people form meaningful relationships, ones that extend outside of the worship hour.

That’s what’s driving a key part of our work with Lifetree Cafe, a nationally licensed one-hour experience that connects friends around issues of life and faith.

http://www.lifetreecafe.com/

Lifetree Cafe