One Word At A Time: Church
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 2:32PM MAD21 By MAD21
The word for this week's One Word at a Time blog carnival is: Church. The first thing most of us probably think of when hearing this word is probably a location or a building. But in reality, at least in God's eye, the church is... get this... US. The people are the church. Not a building.
Back in April, I wrote a short post on The Commercial Church. I had read an amazing article by Aaron Van Voorhis from Relevant Magazine about how it seems that with the decline in church attendance, church leaders feel they have to draw people in using all the latest gadgets and technology. Unfortunately, in some ways it's like church has forgotten that we are not coming to be entertained. We come together to worship our God and learn about how we are to live and serve others.
I moved to this area a little over 22 years ago. For about two years, I visited a few churches before finding the one I've been attending ever since. I have a passion for missions and ministry and this church was the perfect fit. When I officially joined the church, there were just under 600 members. It was a good sized church. Everyone pretty much knew everyone. We had church functions together like crab feasts (which even after all this time I think picking crabs is a total waste of energy, but I digress...), and potlucks, and the traditional fellowship that happened after each service. We had weekly lists of prayer needs, birthdays and anniversaries, and monthly business meetings.
There is something to be said for smaller churches. When people know each other, it is easier to see if someone is 'slipping through the cracks,' and to know each other's needs. If someone loses a job, or has a baby, or a death in the family, news spreads fast. In our church, it was very common to have things happen to individuals and the reply was always, "Oh! Just call Mr/Ms So-and-so, they'd be happy to help you!" When the holidays came around, there was always a decorating party. When it came time to do maintenance on the building and church grounds, we scheduled work days. If there was a need in the community, there was always a group at the ready to go and help. When you had prayer needs, you'd just write it on the slip Sunday morning, and you knew the whole church would be praying for you.
Our church was not just a building, we were a family. But like any family, we were not perfect. There were disagreements and misunderstandings. But we were all a family just the same. With this kind of relationship, we were able to not only adequately take care of each other, but as a family we could extend ourselves out to the community and the world.
Skip to today.
After changes in leadership and several new staff members, our average church attendance on any given Sunday is now around 3800. The number of paid staff members has grown significantly, several of them doing jobs that used to be done by volunteer members of the church. We have a new building next to our original building that houses several new classrooms and a worship center (i.e., a very large gym with a stage that transforms into a beautiful worship center).
We no longer have church-wide functions due to the size of our congregation, and the work days are pretty much nonexistent. As an attempt to help meet personal needs of our congregation, the staff has tried for years to put a huge importance on every member being part of a small group, but I don't believe more than half of our church belongs to one. I know we haven't been part of one for about five years.
On the positive side, our dedication to missions has grown along with us, which has been awesome. We have helped build a school in Kenya that includes a ministry to all of the school children and their families, and have had several mission trips to the Dominican Republic, India, and a few other countries.
A few years ago, the church leadership decided we were going to start planting churches in our area. We had done it many times over the years, but mostly in other states or countries. The first one opened almost four years ago about 30 minutes from here, with one of our amazing pastors and about 300 members. It has more than tripled in size since that first day.
Our next endeavor will be to follow the latest trend of having multi-campuses. Our new campus is about 25 minutes away and opens in a few months. The idea is that it's technically all part of the same church and will preach the same messages each Sunday, and have the same programs, but they will have their own staff, and will minister to the area the site is located.
Many, many things have changed. And while I don't wish for things to go back to the way they were 18 years ago, because that would mean we aren't doing what we were commissioned to do, I have to say, I admit I really miss the closeness of our church family. Several of our friends have decided to leave the church over the last few years due to disagreements with staff and the general direction of our church's ministry (i.e., we got too big), or they followed other staff members who left to minister elsewhere. We've seen a lot of people who were hurt, and have been hurt ourselves. But, at least for the time-being, we aren't going anywhere, because this is our family... one way, or another.
There are all kinds of arguments regarding the trend of "mega-churches" and whether or not they are effective. Believe me, I've heard them all. This is my opinion...
In general, I don't believe God meant for congregations to get this big. I mean, I know that Jesus spoke to thousands at a time, but he was God. And I believe that those people who came to listen to him had smaller community churches they attended where they met and took care of the community's needs. I think larger churches make it too easy for people to disappear. To just come and do 'the Sunday thing' and not create a desire to serve.
I know there are several mega-churches in our country that accomplish a lot of amazing things with large congregations. I think if these churches are run appropriately, they can truly serve many, many people and countries. But honestly, in the general sense, I don't think big churches are as effective as smaller ones. You see, when churches grow this large, they have to be run like a business. It takes a lot to manage so many people. Things that used to be done by members are now being done by paid staff members. There are no more church-wide business meetings, and no more prayer/birthday/anniversary lists. In other words, there is no longer a sense of ownership. No partnership in deciding what programs to have. There is less of a relationship as a whole. No relationship=fewer lives changed.
A long while back, I heard someone suggest that this whole idea of "mega-churches" may be God building his army for the times to come. I thought that was an intriguing statement. It's easy for us to want things to stay the same. It's easy to stay comfortable in our traditions. And while in my human-short-sighted state, I may disagree with churches growing so large, I am not so closed-minded to the idea that God may have a plan. As my friend said, God may be changing how his church comes together. He just may be "growing his army."
Whatever kind of church you go to, whether it meets in a large building, or someone's living room, church should be a refuge. A place of worship and learning. Set apart from the noise of this world. A place where you come to love, and be loved. God knew how important it would be for us to have this community. It's yet another thing he designed. It's family.
Bridget over at One Word at a Time is hosting today's carnival.
Be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Church.
Church, Faith, One Word At A Time, People in One Word At A Time
Reader Comments (6)
I am increasingly beginning to see that churches of different sizes have their own purposes - and any church, whether it's ten people meeting in a house or 200,000 meeting in a stadium style facility, can fail or succeed in doing what it should be doing just as much as any other church can.
I'm still a little biased toward house churches though :-)
I completely understand where you are coming from. I've had a similar experience and heard numerous stories about this exact subject.
I love how you summed it all up in that last paragraph... it describes church so well... It's family!
Great post, Ginny. Thanks for sharing this story and your heart with us.
We attend (and belong to) a little church and attend a larger church on Saturday nights. We love them both for different reasons. And as I sit on the fence of what to do, where to go, I find myself hunkered down with my online "church" friends and realize that yes, it is all about people.
And you're one of them, Ginny. Welcome to church :) I'm so glad you're here.
I can relate a lot of your experience -- small, close church; growth and more growth; building program, then another buulding program; decision made to be a seeker church like Willow Creek; extensive changes in worship and teaching. For us, a lot of the congregation drifted away, looking for something like what had existed before. We did as well. Unfortunately, the old church is struggling, and has been now for several years.
Thanks for the post -- it seems your church is having a different outcome than our old one did.
since people grow up and grow old, there are always changes in any group, as well as in our life and who we are to others.
very intersting hearing the changes that have taken place as you have gathered together with people where you are.
I've been in churches of all sizes... From a home church that maxed out at 12 to a church of almost 5,000. I agree with you that smaller churches are more relational. Right now, I'm in a church that I LOVE. I have a wonderfully sweet, anointed pastor, who spends huge chunks of time before, between, and after services going from person to person, shaking hands, hugging necks, and loving on people. He preaches the Word of God and challenges me to constantly grow closer to Christ. With all of that said, I have to say that I miss being in a smaller church. In the last year, we have broken the 1,000 mark and I can already tell a difference. Last Saturday, while Christmas shopping, a woman that I didn't know walked up to me and said, "Hi, I'm Gail. I go to your church. You were the facilitator in my Bible study class." And I was mortified to realize that I couldn't remember ever having seen her.
While I'm struggling a little to adjust to the larger population at our church, I also love that we've begun an enormously successful satellite church about 20 minutes from our main campus. In the space of about 2 years, we've had to move into our THIRD building because we keep growing out of them!
I'm rambling now. Sorry about that... But my point is that I'm grateful for what God's doing. And though I struggle to adjust and keep up, I'm excited to see how it's all going to turn out!