Pastor's Message
Site last published: 01/30/09
"Quitting Church"
Wed, Sep 24 2008 02:17
“Quitting Church”
Terry Mattingly is a columnist whose work appears in Scripps-Howard papers. In a column just out he talks about a family friend, Julia Duin, who is a seminary educated who is a reporter on religion for the “Washington Times.” Julia was frustrated at the last church she attended before dropping out because she didn’t feel the service opportunities offered to her as a single woman worked out very well.
There was the altar guild, child-care work, greeting etc. As a journalist and frequent traveler she wanted more flexible commitments. She was a musician, so maybe she could play the harp before services or perhaps fill an occasional teaching role. Those things were not there for her and so after some frustrating years she dropped out.
To make a long story short, she found out she wasn’t alone and out of this came a book entitled “Dropping Out”. She talked not with new believers, but with those Baby Boomers who had been involved in church for twenty years or more. They had been there and done that, and they were tired. Some were sad and some were mad and some were both.
This is not just something that the mainline church is dealing with; not another book about the “seven sisters” of liberal Protestantism(Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church{USA}, the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the American Baptist and the Christian Church{Disciples}.
The membership totals in these churches has declined 20% or more; a trend shaped by falling birthrates, bitter doctrinal fights and an aging population. This new trend, though, encompasses huge evangelical churches like the Southern Baptist Convention which claims 16 million members but which 2007 reports indicate only about 6.1 million at worship on given Sunday.
What in the world is going on? There are clashing trends. Many say they are too busy; some are burned out and others are mourning the loss of the great churches they knew in the past.
At the same time, in recent years, mega churches have dominated the landscape. Here you find media friendly services with chatty sermons in huge auditoriums. Seekers have anonymity. Still in 2007 Willow Creek Community Church found out something interesting. Many older members said they are not spiritually stalled. What is going on?
Here is something crucial, I think, from Mattingly’s column:
“There’s another reality that is hard to put into statistics….Many believers have grown tired of quickie services, power point answers and pop lyrics. Many ‘quitters’ she interviewed were yearning for intimate, down-to-earth churches where pastors and people knew their names. They’d been born again. Now they wanted to know how to face the doubts and pains of daily life. They wanted real spiritual growth.”
Here is something to think about as we wonder what kind of a church we are or wish to become. Everyone wants to grow, but what does that mean? Is growth more than numerical? If churches like First Congregational seek to compete with mega churches we will always lose. Are we in a position to meet the needs of folks like Julia Dunlin? Think about it.
Terry Mattingly is a columnist whose work appears in Scripps-Howard papers. In a column just out he talks about a family friend, Julia Duin, who is a seminary educated who is a reporter on religion for the “Washington Times.” Julia was frustrated at the last church she attended before dropping out because she didn’t feel the service opportunities offered to her as a single woman worked out very well.
There was the altar guild, child-care work, greeting etc. As a journalist and frequent traveler she wanted more flexible commitments. She was a musician, so maybe she could play the harp before services or perhaps fill an occasional teaching role. Those things were not there for her and so after some frustrating years she dropped out.
To make a long story short, she found out she wasn’t alone and out of this came a book entitled “Dropping Out”. She talked not with new believers, but with those Baby Boomers who had been involved in church for twenty years or more. They had been there and done that, and they were tired. Some were sad and some were mad and some were both.
This is not just something that the mainline church is dealing with; not another book about the “seven sisters” of liberal Protestantism(Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church{USA}, the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the American Baptist and the Christian Church{Disciples}.
The membership totals in these churches has declined 20% or more; a trend shaped by falling birthrates, bitter doctrinal fights and an aging population. This new trend, though, encompasses huge evangelical churches like the Southern Baptist Convention which claims 16 million members but which 2007 reports indicate only about 6.1 million at worship on given Sunday.
What in the world is going on? There are clashing trends. Many say they are too busy; some are burned out and others are mourning the loss of the great churches they knew in the past.
At the same time, in recent years, mega churches have dominated the landscape. Here you find media friendly services with chatty sermons in huge auditoriums. Seekers have anonymity. Still in 2007 Willow Creek Community Church found out something interesting. Many older members said they are not spiritually stalled. What is going on?
Here is something crucial, I think, from Mattingly’s column:
“There’s another reality that is hard to put into statistics….Many believers have grown tired of quickie services, power point answers and pop lyrics. Many ‘quitters’ she interviewed were yearning for intimate, down-to-earth churches where pastors and people knew their names. They’d been born again. Now they wanted to know how to face the doubts and pains of daily life. They wanted real spiritual growth.”
Here is something to think about as we wonder what kind of a church we are or wish to become. Everyone wants to grow, but what does that mean? Is growth more than numerical? If churches like First Congregational seek to compete with mega churches we will always lose. Are we in a position to meet the needs of folks like Julia Dunlin? Think about it.