By: Mike Kelly
Retured Pastor
Did you stay home Sunday morning? I met someone last week who used to attend the same church as I do. I asked where she was going to church now and she said she stayed home and watched a church service on the TV.
Sad but nothing new about it. Regular church attendance has shrunk dramatically in the last 20 years. At the turn of the century, 46% of people regularly attended church.
Now, just 30%. At that rate, every church in the nation would close by the turn of this century.
What’s going on? Regular church attendance held relatively steady for the last 90 years but suddenly, we take a huge nosedive. Did God quit on us? Did He abandon America? Did the power of the Holy Spirit to convict sinners of their need for a savior suddenly fail?
Mark 4:26-29 tells this parable “He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’”
Growth occurs after the sower plants the seed. No seed planted, no growth, no harvest. It’s not that complicated. So, if the church is not growing, is it God’s fault?
Or is it our fault for not planting? This parable would suggest that when seed is planted, God grows it. So, the obvious answer is that it’s our fault.
Now, I’ll admit that the soil today seems harder to plant in. These new generations aren’t very religious. About 1/3 of Millennials and Gen Z identify as having no religious preference. In past generations, that number would be closer to just 10%.
Also, these newest generations don’t show a tendency to return or go to church when their children reach the Tweens as has been the habit of the past generations.
Add to that the general skepticism of institutions, governments and organized religion. The scandals and politicization of today’s church have alienated many. In just 20 years, public confidence in the church has dropped from 56% to 42%.
So how do we stop the slide? How do we restore confidence in the church? How do we break through the hard ground we now face?
I have a few thoughts on it. Why don’t we, Believers, get serious about our faith? Why don’t we try living out what we claim to believe? It’s a dark, dark world out there.
Why don’t we let our light shine a little more? Why don’t we allow our faith to lead us and not society’s norms or our social circle?
Maybe, if we didn’t look just like the world, they might see who we represent and be attracted to Him.
Another thought, what if we talked about our faith? Or talked about Jesus once in a while rather than the ball game last night?
What if we added to our conversations something like “You won’t believe what God did for me this week!” or “I was reading my Bible yesterday and …” or “I sometimes forget just how much God loves me until I …” Try sprinkling a little salt in your relationships.
None of these ideas are difficult to apply and none of them are particularly risky. I’m not suggesting you go door to door asking “Do you know Jesus?” I’m just saying maybe we could let our faith shine a little more so we can engage people who need Jesus.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.