Are You a Potential Church Dropout?
Religion: A Good Thing
New in Town
Average Attendance
The Ultimate House Church
If You Want to Kill the Church
Church is Like Sports
The B.C.
Psalm of Summer
Willow Creek Survey
Drop Outs
Loyalty or Flattery
Consumerism
Baby Boomer Expectations
Loyalty
Topic : Church Attendance
Football Practice
I have often wondered what would happen if football coaches approached their work like most youth ministers are expected to. For example, I wonder what would happen if when a player was too busy to show up for practice, the understanding coach simply said, “We’ll miss you. I hope you’ll be able to make it next week sometime.” Imagine the players leaving practice and hearing the smiling coach say, “Thanks for coming. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow.”
If a football team operated like a typical youth ministry, we might expect concerned parents to call the coach, saying, “Can you tell me what’s been going on in practice? My son says it’s boring, and he doesn’t want to come anymore. I was wondering, could you make it a little more fun for them? And by the way, you might want to talk to the coach at the school across town. He seems to have the right idea.” The coach might send out quarterly questionnaires about what the players would like to change about the team (I can just imagine the answers: “shorter practices,” “more winning”).
A coach, responding like a typical youth minister, might first feel guilty that the practices were not meeting the boy’s needs, and he would try to adjust his program to suit this boy (and every other boy who complained). Between trying to keep everybody happy and giving every student a good experience, the coach would squeeze in a little football practice. And what kind of season would this coach have? It’s a safe bet that the coach wouldn’t be the only one who felt like a loser.
But this is the very way that most churches expect to run their youth ministries. To expect that youth be committed to the church at the same level of commitment that would be expected on an athletic team would draw the charge of legalism and of religious individualism that the expectation of commitment to the church has become implausible to most Christian parents. Because the god of individualism pressures us to program to the lowest common denominator, we seldom raise the expectations high enough for teenagers to experience real community.
Real community means real responsibility for each other. It means a commitment to be there for each other even when the schedule is tight and when motivation is low. But the typical Christian adult in our culture knows little about commitment to community.
Are You a Potential Church Dropout?
Watch out for these six factors that could put you at risk for taking a leave of absence from church.
1. A major life event. Graduation, marriage, divorce, a death in the family, a sudden change in your finances. Experiences like these cause one to re-evaluate his life—and sometimes explore alternatives.
2. Change in the church. A new pastor, a new location, the loss of your best friends—when your notion of “church” is forced to change, it can be hard to stick around.
3. Prolonged stress. Have you been battling career or financial uncertainty? Long-term illness in the family? Trying to start a new business? Faced with prolonged stress, there’s a tendency to put church on the back burner—or turn it off altogether.
4. A chronic, unresolved problem. Festering conflicts and needs left unattended are like acid on a man’s spirit. Unless he finds resolution, he will eventually become disillusioned.
5. Not using your spiritual gift. If you don’t know what your gift is, and if you are not using it to serve the body of Christ, you are crippling your spiritual life. Few things place you more at risk than this one.
6. Burnout in a leadership position. If your energy and enthusiasm have been sapped through prolonged overwork in church ministry, you are at risk. You need a break—before you break!
Religion: A Good Thing
The good news is that science now agrees: Religion really is a good thing. Consider the following, reported in Time magazine’s cover story for June 24:
1. Heart-surgery patients who draw comfort from their religious faith have a significantly higher survival rate than those who do not.
2. The blood pressure of people who attend church is 5 mm lower than that of those who do not.
3. People with religious faith who attend church regularly experience less depression than nonreligious people, while suicide is four times higher among nonchurchgoers.
New in Town
The first time I worshipped at their church
About two months ago
I signed the registration card
So all of them would know
That I had just moved into town
And needed a little part
Of the loving concern for each other
That a Christian has in his heart.
I checked the proper boxes
To indicate my age
My marital condition
My sex, my spiritual stage.
No one smiled or shook my hand
When the services were through
And Satan whispered in my ear
“See, no one noticed you.”
But I stayed home each night that week
In hopes someone would call
It didn’t have to be the Preacher
Just any one at all
Who cared enough to take the time
In our dear Saviour’s Name
To bid a stranger welcome...
But no one ever came.
And then a thought came to my mind
That I’d like to share with you
Why should I sit and wait for others
To do what I could do'
So, I joined that church
And here I am...
Tonight is “visitation.”
We’re glad you came,
We hope you’ll stay
And join our congregation.
Ruth Gruennert
Average Attendance
48% of church-goers attend an average of once a month.
The Ultimate House Church
“If there are any ‘churches’ which are scriptural in their membership, in their maintenance of discipline, in their preaching, and in all that concerns their public services, we do not know where to find them. We have traveled completely around the world, but there is no church known to us where we could hold membership.” So he and his wife remained at home on Sundays for the last three decades of his life.”
If You Want to Kill the Church
Never go to your church or meetings held there,
If you do go, be late, it’s no one’s affair.
If the weather is bad, either too hot or snowing,
Just stay home and rest, for there’ll be others going.
But should you attend, be sure and remember
To find fault with the work, each official and member.
Be sure to hold back on your offerings and tithes,
The bills will be paid by the rest of the guys.
And never take office if offered the post,
But eagerly criticize work of the host.
If not on a committee you’re placed, be sore!
If you find that you are, don’t attend any more.
When asked your opinion on this thing or that,
Have nothing to say, just turn ‘em down flat.
Then after the meeting, shine out like the sun
By telling the folks how it should have been done.
Don’t do any more than you possibly can,
Leave the work for some other woman or man.
And when you see faithful ones work themselves sick,
Then stand up and holler, “It’s run by a clique!”
Church is Like Sports
Football in the fall.
Basketball in the winter.
Baseball in the spring and summer.
This pastor has been an avid sports fan all his life.
But I’ve had it! I quit this sports business once and for all.
You can’t get me near one of those places again.
Want to know why...
Every time I went, they asked me for money.
The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly.
The seats were too hard and not at all comfortable.
I went to many games, but the coach never came to call on me.
The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.
I suspected that I was sitting with some hypocrites –
they came to see their friends and what others were wearing rather than to see the game.
Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.
The band played some numbers that I had never heard before.
It seems that the games are scheduled when I want to do other things.
I was taken to too many games by my parents when I was growing up.
I don’t want to take my children to any games, because I want
them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.
The B.C.
This story deals with a rather old fashioned lady, who was planning a couple of weeks vacation in Florida. She also was quite delicate and elegant with her language. She wrote a letter to a particular campground and asked for reservations. She wanted to make sure the campground was fully equipped but didn’t know quite how to ask about the “toilet” facilities. She just couldn’t bring herself to write the word “toilet” in her letter. After much deliberation, she finally came up with the old fashioned term “Bathroom Commode,” but when she wrote that down, she still thought she was being too forward. So she started all over again; rewrote the entire letter and referred to the “Bathroom Commode” simply as the “B.C.”. Does the campground have its own “B.C.?” is what she actually wrote.
Well, the campground owner wasn’t old fashioned at all, and when he got the letter, he couldn’t figure out what the lady was talking about. That “B.C.” really stumped him. After worrying about it for several days, he showed the letter to other campers, but they couldn’t figure out what the lady meant either. The campground owner finally came to the conclusion that the lady was and must be asking about the location of the local Baptist Church. So he sat down and wrote the following reply: “Dear Madam: I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take pleasure of informing in that the “B.C.” is located nine miles north of the camp site and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along, and make a day of it..... They usually arrive early and stay late. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now, there is a supper planned to raise money to buy more seats.....They plan to hold the supper in the middle of the B.C., so everyone can watch and talk about this great event.....I would like to say it pains me very much, not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely not for lack of desire on my part....As we grow older, it seems to be more and more of an effort, particularly in cold weather..... If you decide to come down to the campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go ... sit with you ... and introduce you to all the other folks. ... This is really a very friendly community.
Psalm of Summer
Now it came to pass that spring turned to summer again. God’s people raised their voices and said:
“Recreation is my shepherd, I shall not stay at home;
He maketh me to lie down in a sleeping bag;
He leadeth me down the Interstate each weekend.
He restoreth my suntan;
He leadeth me to State Parks for comfort’s sake.
Even though I stray on the Lord’s Day, I will fear no reprimand,
for Thou art with me;
my rod and reel they comfort me.
I anointest my skin with oil, my gas tank runneth dry;
Surely my trailer shall follow me all the weekends this summer,
and I shall return to the House of the Lord this fall.”
But then it is hunting season and that’s another psalm.
Some people don’t need much of an excuse to stay home from church. If it even looks like it might rain, they don’t want to risk getting a little wet. The hymn writer Frances Havergal gave several reasons for attending church—especially on rainy days.
1. God has blessed the Lord’s Day, making no exceptions for stormy days.
2. I expect my minister to be there. I would be surprised if he stayed at home because of the weather.
3. I might lose out on the prayers and the sermon that would have done me great good.
4. For important business, rain doesn’t keep me home; and church is, in God’s sight, very important.
5. Bad weather...will prove how much I love Christ. True love rarely fails to keep an appointment.
6. Those who stay home from church because it’s rainy frequently miss on fair Sundays too. I must not take one step in that direction.
7. Christ said that “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
8. I don’t know how many more Sundays God may give me. It would be poor preparation for my first Sunday in heaven to have slighted my last one on earth.
Enough said!
Willow Creek Survey
In a door-to-door survey conducted by Willow Creek Community Church the question was asked: if you don’t go to church, why? The five biggest reasons: (1) Boring, (2) Irrelevant, (3) Asking for money all the time, (4) I’m too busy already, (5) I feel awkward at church.
Drop Outs
For every person raised without religion who adopts a church, three persons forsake the churches for no institutional affiliation.
Loyalty or Flattery
Francois Fenelon was the court preacher for King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. One Sunday when the king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service, no one else was there but the preacher.
King Louis demanded, “What does this mean?”
Fenelon replied, “I had published that you would not come to church today, in order that your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king.”
Consumerism
I often visit newcomers in town and find them to be church shopping. They want to know what they can get out of church. Churches are one more consumer commodity. Worship services are not a place for us to serve God and neighbor but a place where people expect to purchase the best: inspiring worship, good music, moving sermons, quality child care. As if we buy God and not vice versa.
Baby Boomer Expectations
What do baby boomers expect to see in a church? Answer: high-quality preaching, good music and social groups, says Lyle E. Schaller, an Illinois religious consultant. Baby boomers also expect big meeting rooms, a quality kitchen, child care, ample parking and clean rest rooms.
Loyalty
Percentage of mothers who said they wanted their children to develop a loyalty to church in 1924: 50. In 1978: 22.
