As children it does not occur to us that things will change. In fact, a bedrock of raising emotionally secure children is to provide lots of consistency and routine so that young children gain a sense of continuity and trust in the world. This path to productive citizenship is definitely one that I was afforded as a child. I grew up in what I affectionately call, "The age of the Church". I refer to it as so because during this, my little snippet of time in the Church, from a small child, into my 30s I was blissfully unaware that church participation wasn’t a strong part of nearly everyone’s life; maybe even the nucleus, as it seemed for me and those I knew. There seemed to be a reverence for church and church activity, for preachers and church leaders, and an overarching kind of social reverence for God in America, even if it was a general and generic type of God-honor. When I was in my mid-30s the truth of church decline became all too clear to me and since that time I, like you, have been watching as church membership dwindles, social reverence for God has become more generally poly-theistic, and people are not just deciding to not attend churches all over the country, they are decidedly against the societal pillar of organized religion and quite often intentional about dismantling it.
Let me explain. It is a fact that the American Christian Church has been in decline since the 1970s. In a gripping documentary about this topic, entitled, "When God Left the Building", Thom Schultz, film Director, draws a striking parallel between the American Church, and then business giant, Eastman Kodak Company. In short, Eastman Kodak, common and familiar to nearly every American born before 1980, lost its grip on sustainability and continued success by failing to recognize and adjust for the changing technological times; specifically, digital photography. By the time company execs realized that their time-tested legacy products were no longer desirable to the general public, it was much too late to save the company and the city that depended on it for work, health, and even wealth. Like the American Church this was a long, slow, painful fall into antiquity, leaving the company nothing more than a giant memory shared by Boomers as proof of "simpler times" when everyone wasn't addicted to their phones and had time for friends and family. I must admit that I myself, have trotted out these simpler times to Millennials in my personal circle, while I waxed warm and nostalgic. But enough of that digression.
What does this have to do with the Church, you ask? Well, let me answer that question with a question of my own. Has the Christian Church gone the way of Eastman Kodak? Have we missed out on growing and adjusting with time, in favor of relying on our legacy products to reach a generation, and increasingly diverse population unformed by times past? Maybe... maybe not.
View the clip found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlq59Yw1wQ
and share your thoughts below, I'd love to hear! We will continue this discussion of Church Growth vs. Evangelism, in part 2 of this series.