Last last week, the Christian Chronicle reported a loss of 102,138 members of Churches of Christ since 2003. They report:

“The total number of adherents — which includes members and their children — in the nation’s historically a cappella congregations stands at 1,554,579, according to 21st Century Christian’s new statistical data sheet. That’s down 6.2 percent from the 1,656,717 adherents reported in 2003 — less than a decade ago. Another striking number: 708 fewer Churches of Christ in the U.S. in the last nine years. The nation’s 12,447 congregations represent a 5.4 percent decline since 2003.”

This helpful information simply adds weight to what many have noticed over the last several years. As striking as the numbers are, what I’ve found more striking is the response of many since. Some have an appropriate response–serious reflection on what the numbers mean and why they exist. Others have been ambivalent, or worse–smug about them. The approach seems to be, “Well good riddance to them anyway. Jesus said some would fall away. And remember what Paul said about “itching ears” in the last days, don’t you?”

I will admit having a hard time respecting that way of thinking. Churches of Christ have blamed others for their problems for too long, and until we are ready to look in the mirror and ask hard questions, I don’t expect much to change. Until the pain of change is preferable to the pain of non-change, status quo is, sadly, likely to continue.

It isn’t that all of sudden within the last decade, hundreds of churches (despite a renewed emphasis on church planting) and more than a hundred thousand Christians just decided to have their ears itched, seek out “entertainment,” or became “disloyal.” 6.3% in less than a decade. Let that sink in… 6.3% in less than a decade. These numbers are self-reported by churches, meaning these numbers likely paint a rosier picture than really exists.

Now that we’re all depressed are we willing to consider the idea that we have something to do with our problems? What if it’s not culture–other Christian tribes seem to reach people and “culture” has always been pagan. Why is ours so different? It’s also unlikely that we are being “pruned.” We are under no persecution.

Our primary enemy is us.

This doesn’t mean it’s all our fault or that hope is lost. It means we need to own this.

One thing is common to renewal movements: Humility. Until we can humble ourselves enough to acknowledge and repent of what ails us, we need not hold our breath waiting for renewal. One piece of good news is–the whole Movement need not change for you or your congregation to change.

So, let’s start with us. God will take it from there.

Question: Why aren’t some in Churches of Christ willing to own the decline?

Note: They are a bit dated now, but you can read the Turnaround Fellowship posts (10 parts), beginning with this one from January 3, 2010. Here are the links to the others:

• Leadership, part 1
• Leadership, part 2
• Flexibility and Nimbleness
• Generosity Toward the Local Church
• Abundance Mentality/Cooperation
• Increased Supply of Capable Leaders
• Increased Care/Attention Toward Sunday Assemblies
• Increased Ministry Skill, part 1
• Increased Ministry Skill, part 2

There are also a set of Turnaround Church posts you can access by searching for “Turnaround Churches” in the search bar above.

May God bless you and your congregation.

Here are some things I’m thinking about this Friday morning:

• After openly predicting the Patriots by four (a pretty good pick until the last 2 minutes), DJ Iverson had everyone at the Youth Group Super Bowl party text me simultaneously to say, “You lost.” Gotta love Youth Ministers I do.
• Last Sunday we kicked off our series on Revelation at New Vintage Church. It’s a ton of work to preach, but also a ton of fun. What an amazing book!
• Gordon Fee published a commentary on Revelation at the end of 2010 in a lesser known commentary set called the New Covenant Commentary–which has an international emphasis. I appreciate the different approach, and love Fee’s commentary as an “every person” commentary. It’s not overly technical, but Fee’s mastery of the text is obvious. His 1 Corinthians Commentary remains a staple in my library on all things 1 Corinthians. With regards to Revelation, however, I’ve typically pointed people looking for a readable commentary toward two others–Craig Keener (NIV Application Commentary), and Eugene Boring (Interpretation). They are quite readable with fine scholars still doing some heavy lifting.
• I can’t wait for baseball season! The Padres were ranked as the finest farm system in MLB. That’s great news. The bad news is, they don’t play on the Padres Major League roster.
• Watch out for the Angels this year. They brought in a massive haul in free agency and have a nice collection of veteran and young players. Ranger fans–you still have a good team (and the only one that can compete with the Angels in the AL West). However, this Josh Hamilton situation plus the uncertainty around Darvish makes me go with the Angels this year.
• Has anyone noticed there’s an NBA season going on this year?
• Customer service these days is absolutely awful in some quarters. Hopefully, customer attrition, protest, etc., will work it’s magic over time–and I’m not usually that way. From government to everyday encounters with cell phone companies, etc.–everyday life in society is beginning to feel a bit like everyone is out to get whatever anyone can from whoever they need to get it from.
• Take for example this absurd rule just passed here in my great state: up to a $1000 fine for throwing a football or frisbee on the beach between Memorial Day and Labor Day. However, apparently volleyballs and beach-balls are not dangerous. Apparently, also, frisbees and footballs are only dangerous in the summer. I’ve spent my share of time on California beaches over my 36 years on earth, spending 28 of those living within a couple of miles of the beach. I’ve never seen anyone hurt with a football or frisbee. If the city needs more revenue, find another way. That’s ridiculous. Or, keep your rule. But $1000? Come on! Try $50.
• Despite these little shenanigans, it’s easy to see God’s light shining through society. This week, our church rallied to help a couple of single moms out in some huge ways. A man who has been away from the Lord for some time has returned. A guest at our church has started reading the Bible for the very first time, and a very lonely person has found community. These are far better things to dwell upon.

What’s on your mind this Friday?

Scripture for the week. Dwell on this one for a while. It’ll change your weekend, I promise.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

“Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

(Revelation 1:4-8)

…when you put them there yourself. One of the best things you can do for your ministry over time is to choose to challenge yourself. This is especially true of areas of vital importance to congregational life. It will help you keep growing. It will help focus you.

Choosing to challenge oneself is a spiritual discipline of sorts. For a preacher, it might be choosing a particularly difficult message series that will not only bless the church, but also sharpen one’s study and preparation skills. For you, it might be writing a book by a certain date, overhauling the church web site to a certain level of excellence by Easter (if you’re a tech-minister), or entering a time of intense fasting and prayer for your community.

Whatever your ministry in the Kingdom, let me encourage you to choose to challenge yourself every couple of months. Do something that adds intentionality, interest, and focus. Just make sure it’s doable, and concrete. It needs a binding time-frame, and be a goal your are actually excited about accomplishing.

For many people, the reason their fitness goals fizzle is because they aren’t training for anything in particular. They are exercising because they know they are supposed to–it’s good for them. That’s fine–not inspiring, though. If we know we are taking on a major hike or a marathon in 3 months, we train more vigilantly and with greater joy–because we anticipate the payoff. We can see ourselves at the top of the mountain or crossing the finish line. Or, we are afraid of what will happen if we don’t train.

Yes, life will produce challenges on it’s own. But, those aren’t usually welcome and don’t drive us positively. Set doable, concrete ministry challenges for yourself. Set binding time frames to bring accountability (i.e., schedule that sermon series in stone). Aim them at mission and love for God. Then, watch the difference it makes.

Do any of you do this? What are some of the ways you challenge yourself?

I know many who read this blog are not members of Churches of Christ. However, this is an important question for any Christian Fellowship to answer: Why Should I Stay?

I conversed recently with a preacher at the end of his rope. He feels his ministry is futile. He feels everything he suggests either gets a “no,” or gets a “yes” only after a multi-month, Herculean effort that brings him to the brink of utter despair. Even then, the “yes” brings him only tepid support that lasts until the first complaint.

This isn’t his first rodeo. Not even close. But, he’s torn between his spiritual heritage and what he perceives to be the vanity of staying in churches that exhaust he and his family while quenching his gifts and training.

This is of course is how he feels after many years of ministry. His heart is frustrated, tired, broken, and he’s asking: Why Should I Stay? Not in ministry. Not in Christ. In Churches of Christ. Granted, what makes one “in” or “out” is itself complicated. But, he is talking about a clean break.

I know I haven’t told you a lot. But, you know the broader strokes and probably know someone who has felt similarly–asking, “Why Should I Stay?” 

I offered a few suggestions as to why he might want to stay, and why he might not. What would you tell him? He’s listening.

We have fun watching someone who is an amazing hula-hooper. Have you ever wondered how they do it? From the outside, it seems like it’s just a matter of torso-rotation. If that’s it, why is it everyone can’t do it? Because it isn’t as easy as it looks. Ministry in our time is challenging, and one of our greatest available resources is the ability to learn from those who do ministry well.

If one is inclined to do so, it’s easy to dismiss another church’s growth. As we do, our churches are worse off for it. Learning from others is a universal trait of vibrant churches. Great churches are avid learners–because they are hungry to be more than they are and humble enough to realize they need to keep learning. These are attitudes God blesses.

If you want to understand great churches, you can observe some things through ordinary observation. However, if you really want to learn from others, try looking from the inside.

Set up lunch with someone who can help you understand the not just the face but the clockworks of that church. Most ministers love talking about their church. Some churches offer unique learning opportunities through their conferences or other events. Find out not just what they do, but how they do it. If you can, study the inside as well as the outside. This takes humility and hunger. However…

I think you’ll see things look much different (and fascinating) from the inside…

Like hoola-hooping (see the video below). Keep it short if you get dizzy easily

Here are some things I’m thinking about as the week wraps up:

• Charles Siburt, a mentor to me and thousands of others will be with the Lord soon. Today is a day of prayer for him. Please join me in praying for his family, and thanking God for his life and ministry.
• My old ministry partner, Chad Higgins (worship minister at Highland Oaks Church of Christ) went through open-heart surgery this week and came through it like a champ. God is good. Thankful for the Higgins’–one of the most resilient families I know.
• We got a visit from my mother-in-law and father-in-law earlier this week. We always love it–and realize it’s an enormous blessing to have Christian in-laws who love God, each other and us on both sides of the family. It’s increasingly rare these days and an enormous blessing.
• The NBA season is going super fast. I can’t keep up. I’m still a little bent over the lockout. By playoff time, though, I’ll be ready to serve up some humble pie to Tim Archer, Josh Graves, and the other Mavs haters out there.
• A lot of attention is given to the big free-agent signings (Pujols, Fielder, etc.). However championships are won by the second-tier talent guys coming up huge in key moments over 162 games + playoffs.
• I’m helping Olivia’s 8 and under softball team. Today, we are terrible. By seasons start we will be terrible as an army with banners.
• I haven’t played golf is quite some time. I need to fix that…but don’t know when that’s going to happen.
• Valentine’s Day is coming up–fellas…let’s do something creative and fun that shows some effort as a way of saying, “I love you.”
• I start a new series on Revelation on Sunday. It may be the most wonderful book of the Bible. But, as we all know, we don’t talk about it very much. Let’s fix that.
• Some really interesting books have come out recently. Right now, I’m checking out N.T. Wright’s, The Kingdom New Testament. So far, it strikes me as “The Message” for Wrightians–but less poetic and more “accurate.” It reads really well, though.

Oh, and one more thing–Super Bowl pick: Patriots over the Giants, 31-27 or so. I started out thinking Giants. Now, I’ve tilted the other way. It pains me to pick the Patriots. But, alas, I must.

Got a Super Bowl pick?

Every now and then, a news story comes along that leaves a mark on us–for good or for ill. The story I can’t get past is the story of 61–year-old Los Angeles school teacher Mark Berndt–arrested this week on 23 counts of child molestation and other horrific stuff involving kids. The number of victims is expected to rise as more children in the pictures are identified.

As a father of three young daughters, I’ve been overwhelmed by the story. Last night, I listened to a local talk-radio show as I drove home after a great day of ministry. The question was: Is there something we can do to this guy that will send a message to other molesters to not mess with our kids? The ideas the callers came up with were vicious and cruel in some cases…and probably would deter others. In general, the consensus was: make it harsh and make it public–the way even Western society has for most of civilization.

As the calls kept coming, my question became: is that really the answer? The other “aha” I had was that Christians really struggle to know what to do these days with this particular issue. Child abuse/molestation is an issue that has or will impact every church in America. Even if a church has no reported incidents of such, they are still likely to have a sex offender seek to attend the church.

The calls continued.

Some people called in with cliche-heresies (Christian cliches that aren’t biblical) like “sin is sin,” and “let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” etc. The former is found nowhere in the Bible, the latter is actual Scripture made heresy in this case through misapplication. As these calls came in, all of a sudden, some began to see the teacher as the victim rather than the kids. This, I believe, is a common mistake churches make in handling these situations today. They misappropriate grace to the point they believe Jesus’ highest priority would be for the perpetrator to be able to attend that particular church. I believe it would be to protect His children from harm.

I remembered this:

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” – Matthew 18:6

I understand some read that verse as double-entendre. However, at the very least, Jesus does indeed love the little children and stands ready to hold accountable all who hurt them. Nevertheless, the question for society becomes: How do we protect children from harm and help victims through their pain most effectively? Also, what role can the church play in impacting positively this awful societal cancer?

Question: If Mark Berndt ever gets out of prison and starts attending your church, how would you handle it? If one of Mark Berndt’s victims’ families attended your church, how might your church respond to them?

I’ve been doing some thinking and talking with fellow ministers lately about whether or not they need to go back to school. In a couple of cases, they want to know if they need to go to seminary at all. Having spent a loooong time in college to prepare myself (and I would do it again), my impulse is to say, “Well, of course!” I love the classroom and know the benefit my education has been. In times past I’ve gone as far as to think a person shouldn’t go into ministry without formal study.

I’m not sure I feel that way any more.

Don’t get me wrong. I still believe educational preparation is a preferred way to cultivate leaders for the church. It’s hard for me to believe education would actually hurt someone’s ministry potential. However, I now know a number of effective church leaders who have intrinsic gifts of ministry and the ability to interpret and preach the Word effectively. I also know some extremely “prepared” ministers who still struggle in ministry.

How do we explain this? I’m not sure, but I’ll take a stab at it.

Albert Einstein, in this lesser known quote, says: “Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.” I know some of my colleagues just tore their clothes when they read that, but Einstein’s point is worth thinking about.

I’ve always been a proponent of the “leaders are readers” concept–and I still am. However, I do know some preachers who are more-or-less professional readers. I do think there comes a time when education and preparation can reach a point of diminishing returns.

Here are a couple of other questions I’ve had:

• Does our seminary education process effectively equip ministers? If not, what can we do to improve it? I think it could benefit more from an uptick in focus on ministerial practice and spiritual preparation–while maintaining scholarly rigor.
• I also wonder if a focus on education reduces our belief in God’s role in the preparation and empowerment of the minister. I don’t think it has to, but I’ve witnessed the criticism some academic elites aim at highly capable ministers simply because they don’t have MDiv. or higher degrees. It’s absurd to me, though I certainly value education.
• It seems to me we view someone as “qualified” based mostly on education and experience, rather than calling or effectiveness. I wonder if we couldn’t view qualification more holistically.

We all have finite lifespans. It seems then there are wiser things to do that spend it preparing for what we feel called to do without actually doing what we feel called to do. Continuing to learn and grow while in ministry is vital and is not at all what I’m questioning here. I’m addressing the belief that unless one goes to college for 7-10 years, they cannot be an effective minister of the Gospel–and the assumption that those 7-10 years actually prepare them well for ministry.

Does preparation for ministry matter? Yes. As much as we’ve always assumed? I’m sure on that one.

What do you think? How important is educational preparation for ministry? When is a person properly equipped to enter ministry?