Brand new to Blogging.... First entry ever. (I know, I am about a decade behind).
I am currently reading a book entitled, 'Who Stole My Church: What to do when the church you love tries to enter the 21st Century.'
It has been very interesting so far, and I can't comment too much because I haven't finished it yet, but let me make a comment or two just on the title...
This is where we find ourselves today isn't it... at least in some mainline denominations.
We are so concerned about the church that we forget to be the church. Why does the church exist? Who does it exist for?
What happens in unhealthy systems is that the system loses its vision. There is no longer a problem to solve or a need to meet. So the system begins to run simply out of the basis and context of the past operating systems. 'We do things this way and for this reason', but it seems that no one can accurately explain why. Emotional attachments are made with the people in the system and they begin to fall in love with the way things were, or the way they still want things to be now. They want church to be for them today what it was for them yesterday. But the problem is... what about the church of tomorrow. And here then lies part of the issue to address: Church isn't working for the younger generation anymore. They don't want what they had as a child. They don't want what their parents or grandparents have. They want their own way to express and define Christian Community.
So we as a church already in the 21st Century, try to move there. We are about 20-30 years behind the curve. Healthy organizations have some form of updating or change every quarter to year, while we only have a change when there is a new pastor.
But look at the title again: Who stole? my? church?
Stole: People feel that the church is being taken out from under them, and you know what... they are right. If you have failed to do anything to meet the need in a community or to be who God has called the church to be, then I am all for church stealing. If someone won't take the necessary steps to do what has to be done, then someone will.
My: Is it yours... really? Come on.
These are just a few thoughts. The book is really interesting though and I encourage you to read it, because your mainline parishioners are either reading it themselves, or they are saying it.
Take care,
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Read this book about a year ago and it was amusing because the author could have been writing about our church. As our new service geared towards young adults exploded 5 years ago, many of our more seasoned members basically said 'who stole our church.'
ReplyDeleteWhat I've found in my setting is that many in our churches fail to realize that a church is a living organism and that if it stops changing, it dies. If the Church is the Body of Christ, it moves, breathes, and changes.