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Church Chatter (First Issue)
Current mood:  tired
Category: Religion and Philosophy
The Lack of Established, Anchor Families
A year ago, my then-girlfriend and I had dinner at Buca's with the pastor and his wife as we discussed happenings in the church. One of them was the recent acquisition of Randy and Joy from a prominent Reformed congregation in the west metro. They were disgruntled members who wanted a fresh start in a new church, and they were willing to drive a total of 108 miles each Sunday to express their newfound commitment. Anne was delighted at the prospect of having them, noting the need for "established families" in the church.
So what constitutes an established family? Why the need? Why have we seen a major shortage in our church? What factors have contributed to it? What can be done?
The opinions expressed here are strictly my views and do not constitute the views of my pastor, church or denomination.
Established Family: an Attempted Definition
An established family is best defined as a family with two parents (either young or middle aged) with children or those who have raised children, holding stable jobs and who are homeowners. David and Amanda are perfect examples of this mold. David, as director of a CPA firm, is able to make enough to support his family while Amanda is able to stay home and watch the children. They often invite the "unestablished" families over for dinner.
Evaluation of the Established Families:
Scott and Carol along with their 5 children are technically not established families in our church. Although they attend Sunday School, both services, and nearly every event and have completed all the membership courses, they choose not to become members at this time, which means they could leave any time. Constructively, they are members, but the lack of other children their age makes me wonder when they will simply move to a church that has youth groups and other programs.
For a while I was wondering about Bryan and Tess, and what their decision would be. They debated between our church and a posh congregation in Edina replete with social programs for their two young daughters. Ultimately, they decided to go with us, but Bryan remained a member of his church in Chicago while the rest of us family joined us. It's likely that he will leave to pastor his own congregation when his internship is completed.
Joel and Stephanie meet the definition, but they are hardly around. Joel's demanding work schedule requires him to work every Sunday. Their demanding life leaves questions as to whether they can make immediate or significant contributions to the local church.
The Ones That Got Away:
Noel and Laura: They were active for several months and the church extended her hand by throwing a baby shower for their second child. They repaid us by taking the gifts and joining a church closer to home.
Todd and children: Todd is a widower who visited for nearly a year. He was indeed someone who subscribed to essential doctrines. A few months ago, he went jobless and we prayed for him. He was able to land a new job, but he no longer attended our church. My theory was that he met a woman who attended a different church and yesterday my friend confirmed it.
Why the Concern?
Established families have what unestablished families don't --resources, stability and life wisdom. They are generally stable in their careers, home life and finances, so they can devote more time and energy to the building of the church. Unestablished families are usually the ones in need and on the receiving end of the established families. We recently had to turn down our services to another ministry because we were spread so thin with many needs on our end. Four out of the five last professions of faith have come from the "single" ranks.
Factors that Contribute:
· Lack of a Permanent Residence. It may well be that this talk of needing established families is in vain. Would a permanent building help our cause and attract more established families? Or are more established families needed before we can acquire a permanent building? We currently "use" a conservative Presbyterian Church-USA's facility. Denominational laws prohibit them from renting to us, so instead we pay them a monthly fee and they file at as a "contribution." A few legal acrobatics were necessary in securing a meeting place, but at a great price. Any other facility would have been twice the monthly cost to rent. Our "morning" service time actually starts at 11:45 a.m., just so we could call it as such. Our evening service is only a few hours later at 6:00 p.m. The next feasible alternative is 8:30 a.m./5:00 p.m. at the risk of turning away the singles/college age group – a large part of our base. Throw in the fact that the building doesn't have air conditioning makes it an unattractive option on a hot Sunday afternoon in Minnesota. We're at the mercy of a congregation with a shelf life of no more than 5 years and a progressive denomination hostile to sound biblical doctrine.
· Hostilty/Apathy toward Reformed Theology in Minnesota. Recruitment is also weak among Lutherans in our congregation –being that my wife and Scott's family are the only ones out of 50-some regular attendees. To any outsider, our doctrines may appear the same, but we have fundamental differences with respect to communion, justification and eternal security. Given that there's a Lutheran church in nearly every neighborhood, it's no wonder why we lack in that area. The megachurch/seeker-sensitive movement has also eaten up the rest of the Protestant base in the Twin Cities.
· No Official Leadership. This is the area where we have the most control. The church is currently in the hands of a session 30 miles away and a steering committee who meets behind closed doors. Ideas are often proposed but never implemented. Randy suggested a mission trip, but nobody else stepped up to the plate to help. It's no fault of the pastor but rather the structure. Clear established leadership should help the church grow and reach out to the people we are targeting. The pastor is simply one man who wears many hats. The presence of elders/deacons, whom we hope to install by April 2009, should ease the load for the pastor.
Ultimately, the growth of the church depends upon God's sovereign will. There are times and seasons when we will struggle but there are also times and seasons when we must push hard and then reap the benefits. We are his hands and his feet and there should be no reason why the church shouldn't grow more than it already is. It's safe to say that we prefer to quadruple our current size. I can quote the pastor saying, "I'd be comfortable with 200 members, after that, I believe it would be time to start a new church so that those past 200 can get the prayer/personal attention from the pastor that they need."
Calling the Established Families (and the Unestablished and Singles, too)!
So what's the solution? It appears to be a vicious cycle. We don't attract established families because there aren't many to identify with in the church. Yet, we don't have many because we can't attract any. It takes a leap of faith for the established families to join us and a concerted effort on the part of the congregation to make the undecided families stay. From a very practical perspective, consider these reasons to join us:
· Personal Time/Attention. Visitors are welcome indeed, and welcomed for the reason that it's our Christian duty to reach out, not merely to add to our membership rolls. There is that fine line between reaching out and being overbearing, but most would prefer that someone take the time to converse. The pastor is usually available for a chat or a cup of coffee.
· Expository Preaching. Sermons are not based on movies, opinions or somebody's success principles, but directly from the Bible. Most churches would claim this, but few put it into practice. They would apply what is called "topical preaching" by picking an topic and then citing scripture to prove the premise. Expository preaching is indeed rare. It's preaching that centers around a particular passage of the bible and allowing the written word to speak to us. The minister's job is to preach from that text, apply it to the rest of the bible and then apply it to our lives.
· Respect for Tradition. More than the average Protestant church, we hold in high esteem the traditions and history of the church and the titans of the faith before us. We've been able to keep some Roman Catholics coming because of our recitation of the Nicene and Apostles' Creed regularly. We know that scripture alone is the final authority, but it never hurts to draw from the wisdom and writings of the great pioneers of the faith such as Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin and Edwards.
· Centrally Located. Gone is the geographical/neighborhood church with the image of church bells chiming and beckoning people to worship. People like Randy and Joy will drive 100 miles a day to wherever God would have them. Especially in America, people no longer identify with their neighborhoods as much as they would identify with other associations such as religious, political or social. No matter where you are in the Twin Cities, our church is reasonably close. Our mission was intended for the inner city, but we recognize that people may come from all over.
· Diversity in Politics. We recognize and respect differences in political opinion. Two very influential members are voting for different presidential candidates in this year's election but the difference has never been cause for division. You won't see Christian Coalition leaflets in our lobby, nor will you the leadership advocating certain political views. We don't believe that embracing Christianity also entails taking a certain side on the political spectrum. George Bush's base is certainly present here, but so is Barack Obama's.
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