The Wrong Questions

"A church is a place where we try to think, speak, and act in God's way, not in the way of a fear-filled world." -W.S. Coffin

Okay folks, I'm just going to come right out and say it: I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the endless complaining about the decline of church membership. I'm tired of hearing people complain that it's not like it used to be. I'm tired of hearing people say things like "we have to get more people in the pews." I'm tired of EVERY SINGLE church committee I talk to ask me what new ideas I have to "grow the church." I'm tired of the blame game-- every one in the church wants to blame someone else for why people have stopped coming.

Why am I tired of hearing all of this? It's not because these questions aren't important in their own way. But quite frankly, when it comes to the future of the church, these are the wrong questions. We need to be asking different questions. Questions like: how can the church meet the changing needs of people in the 21st century? How can the church respond to anti-gay bullying and teen suicides? How can the church respond to a war-torn society, and a country that is embroiled in two endless wars? How can the church respond to the rising unemployment and poverty in this country? How can the church respond to a growing gap between the haves and the have nots? How can the church respond to bigotry against Muslims, Hispanics, and other groups? How can the church respond to an increasingly polarized society where we judge our neighbors rather than love them? THESE are the questions I want to be talking about in our churches.

Oh, and by the way, we get so carried away by the distraction of fewer people in the pews that we forget to minister to the congregation we have-- rather than the congregation we want, or the congregation we think we should want.

Things change. Things are not like they used to be. Things may never be the same. The church may never be the same. But here's one thing I know: God isn't going anywhere. So what are we so worried about??? Let's have a little faith. And let's go back to the gospel, and the work it calls us to do in a broken world. Peace. Reconciliation. Kindness. Justice. Let us walk humbly with our God.