Yesterday, we talked about three things that comeback churches should be. Today, again from Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson’s book, Comeback Churches, we look at how churches get stuck. Do any of the following describe GPC?
Institutionalized Church: Many churches have regressed into a state of merely functioning as an institution. An institutionalized church focuses on and is more committed to the forms and programs of ministry.
Voluntary Association Church: VAC has unwittingly modeled its organization after a democratic government rather than New Testament principles. It is a church of the people, by the people, but most importantly for the people. Due to an overwhelming need to keep everyone happy, the VAC ends up bound, at the mercy of a rotating vocal minority, and ineffective.
“Us 4 and no more” church: They have determined that if they get any larger, they will lose their sweet fellowship. They want a family feel, which means a group small enough to relate like a family
“Square peg in a round hole” church: In this congregation, people are enlisted for leadership and service, not by their gifts or passion, but by other criteria. You might hear, “We’ve got to fill this position. Who can you think of that we’ve not already talked to?”
“My way or the highway” church: This is the stereotypical church wherein the senior adults are given the new van to use on their apple orchard trips while the student ministry is asked to drive the old van because “those teenagers are so messy.”
Chaplaincy Church: The church hired its minister and expects the “chaplain” to be busy about meeting needs and making the church grow. It’s not uncommon to hear “Preacher, you need to visit Mrs. Gray. She hasn’t been feeling well.” The members identify the needs and the prospects and expect their pastor to respond. Despite the fact that the church’s ministry impact is limited to the staff’s time and abilities, the church body remains committed to an employer/employee model. They want a hired “chaplain,” not a leader.
I can see Glenwood Presbyterian in several of these categories, but less so in the first three categories and more so in the last three. We are deeply ingrained in the “square peg,” “my way or the highway,” and “chaplaincy” pitfalls.
In the next post, we’ll look at three faith factors which help a church regain a missional focus and according to this book are always necessary to lead a comeback church.
July 23rd, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Neighborhood, Glenwood Presbyterian Church |
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Glenwood Presbyterian Church was started back in 1914 (or 1908, if you count the Sunday School that started in a house on Gregory Street). Before you doze off thinking this is simply a history lesson, think about how much the Glenwood community has changed in that time. For about 50 years, GPC was made up mostly of people that lived in Glenwood. Now, we have a very small percentage of attenders and an even smaller percentage of members that call the Glenwood neighborhood home. There is currently not one elder that lives in the community or even within say, 5 miles. We have many older members that USED to live in the community and have stayed in the church even as the neighborhood became a foreign land. I would say that for the last 25 years, at least, most of the members at GPC would drive into the neighborhood to attend church, then drive out again, never looking around and hoping not to be noticed.
This paragraph tells you most of what you need to know about why GPC has struggled in growth over the years. Somewhere our focus turned inward on taking care of each other inside the church and stopped being about saving those in our community who don’t know Christ. What we need is a shift in vision.
In their book, Comeback Churches, Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson studied 300 churches of different traditions that had either declined or plateaued for several years and then made a comeback with growth for several years. They found three things churches that want to comeback should be:
- biblical
- missional
- spiritual
Biblical is fairly self-explanatory; spiritual refered to the finding that comeback churches generally first had a spiritual experience that redirected and reenergized their lives, beginning with their leader; but missional is what really stands out in my mind.
Missional churches are incarnational, meaning they are not focused on the church facilities, but on offering biblical community to a lost world. Missional churches are indigenous, meaning they appropriately their culture. This is more difficult than it sounds. For instance, GPC has a culture that fits with what the Glenwood community culture was 50 years ago, a culture meaningful only to those in the church and not culturally relevant to the present day community. Finally, missional churches are intentional, meaning they intentionally make missional decisions over preferential decisions. They intentionally think like missionaries in their context.
What would happen if the members of GPC starting doing what missionaries do in the context of the Glenwood neighborhood? What would happen if we shifted our vision: if we truly desired to reach lost people with the gospel of Jesus Christ? What would happen if we ate, breathed, and lived in the present day community culture, while sowing seeds of of love, kindness, grace, redemption, and Good News? We wouldn’t have space for all the people that would be filling our building on Sundays and other days during the week.
What will happen if we don’t? Not much. We could probably struggle on for many more years.
More on this, and more from the book Comeback Churches in the next few days.
July 22nd, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Neighborhood, Glenwood Presbyterian Church |
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Sunday Morning Sermon for July 20, 2008 - delivered by Rev. Dr. Charles Howell
Feel free to right-click and select Save Target As… to download to your computer, or simply hit the small button to the left of the title to play!
July 21st, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Rev. Charles Howell, Sunday Sermons |
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SHINE! Lesson for July 13, 2008 - delivered by Brian Beasley
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July 15th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, SHINE |
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Sunday Morning Sermon for July 13, 2008 - delivered by Rev. Dr. Charles Howell
Feel free to right-click and select Save Target As… to download to your computer, or simply hit the small button to the left of the title to play!
July 14th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Rev. Charles Howell, Sunday Sermons |
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Sunday Morning Sermon for June 29, 2008 - delivered by Rev. Dr. Charles Howell
Feel free to right-click and select Save Target As… to download to your computer, or simply hit the small button to the left of the title to play!
June 30th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Rev. Charles Howell, Sunday Sermons |
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For those that are under the mistaken impression that GPC is only a “happenin” place on Sundays, we’ve been busy the last couple of weeks. Last week was our “Power Lab” vacation Bible school, which was a huge success. Most importantly, we had five kids who made decisions for Christ during the week! Thanks to all the helpers and teachers for their hard work.
Yesterday, we let G.U.P.Y. use our building for the day - check out this link to see all the fun they had.
June 24th, 2008
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Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Neighborhood, Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Young People |
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Sunday Morning Sermon for June 22, 2008 - delivered by Rev. Dr. Charles Howell
Feel free to right-click and select Save Target As… to download to your computer, or simply hit the small button to the left of the title to play!
June 23rd, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Rev. Charles Howell, Sunday Sermons |
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Sunday Morning Sermon for June 15, 2008 - delivered by Rev. Dr. Charles Howell
Feel free to right-click and select Save Target As… to download to your computer, or simply hit the small button to the left of the title to play!
June 16th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Rev. Charles Howell, Sunday Sermons |
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Sunday Morning Sermon for June 8, 2008 - delivered by Rev. Dr. Charles Howell
Feel free to right-click and select Save Target As… to download to your computer, or simply hit the small button to the left of the title to play!
June 9th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Rev. Charles Howell, Sunday Sermons |
one comment
