Tag: church

Posted in Ministry

Are we enabling a consumer mentality in the church?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

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From time to time I have lamented the consumer mentality with which many people approach the church. This is the attitude that a spiritual service or product can be obtained from a pastor or church without having to actually connect with that church or its ministry. Families drop by the church for a baptism, confirmation, wedding or funeral, but do not engage beyond that event or milestone. I use the supermarket analogy, where savvy shoppers stop by for spiritual supplies as needed. If there is a sale or special at another church, they will not hesitate to switch.

Today I read a short but insightful article by Bobby Gruenewald in the May/June 2013 issue of Outreach Magazine about “Pastoring the Community.” He says that “The church has become a consumer good — something people shop for and evaluate based on what they and their family get out of it.” But then he adds this true and convicting observation: “In well-intentioned efforts to attract and reach people, churches start viewing people as customers. We wonder what we can teach that will resonate with them. What programs can we offer to keep them coming back?” (p. 26)

I believe it’s an accurate observation. We enable their behavior. And there’s a price to pay for that. We bring out that attitude as our sinful nature makes it all about us rather than about God or our neighbor.

It is very challenging to maintain an outward focus. We so quickly and easily slip into the “how can we grow” mode of thinking rather than a “how can we serve” approach. We want what we do to benefit us in some way, whether it’s increased membership, participation or contribution. But is that what following Christ looks like? Is that where the Gospel leads us?

How do we shift from serving ourselves to really serving those outside the church, those who need hope, light and grace?

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry, Rant

It’s harder to come back than I thought

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Ed Stetzer has written an interesting article for Q ‘How Christian Consumers Ruin Pastors and Cheat the Mission of God’. I have often struggled with those folks who simply come to church for a product or service, not unlike taking your car to an auto mechanic or hiring a contractor to work on your home. It could be a baptism, wedding, funeral,counseling or some other type of inspirational entertainment. We pastors step in it all the time, willingly providing what we think people are looking for, fearful of what will happen if we do not continually attract and retain an influx of new people at church. How effective and healthy can ministry be if that’s the model?

In retrospect, it was so good to get away to Haiti for nine days. Even though it was an intense, tiring week, the only expectation was that I be a pastor. “Do justice…love kindness…walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Help people, show compassion, pray and preach the word. No meetings, few demands, and countless opportunities to proclaim the gospel in words and actions.

You get spoiled real quick. It’s freeing to not be hounded by time and schedules. So when you get back to the real world, it’s hard — real hard — to take seriously some of the things you used to spend time and energy on. Like meetings that accomplish little if anything. Complaints and concerns about our facilities. Shopping and travel plans for Christmas. A whole bunch of people who live in tents in Haiti, including many of our friends, are now in the path of a hurricane in the Caribbean. Suddenly, it’s real hard to focus on that other stuff. And maybe that’s a good thing.

Posted in Life, Ministry

Breath in, breath out

Posted on by William Douthwaite

In his book Between Sundays, Dr. Richard C. Halverson writes, “The real work of the church is what is done between Sundays when the church is scattered all over the metropolitan area where it is located — in homes, in schools, in offices, on construction jobs, in market places.”

What do you think of that statement? It has some interesting implications. For example, it means that volunteering at your child’s school is just as important as volunteering to teach Sunday School at your church. Knowing the names of and praying for the people who live on your block is just as important as knowing and praying with the people who worship with you. What you learn at school and getting good grades there is just as important as what you learn at church (and even though we’re all about grace, we’re trying to do our best there, too).

Dr. Andy Bartelt, a professor at Concordia Seminary, speaking at a recent church worker’s conference used the image of breathing in and breathing out to describe church work. Gathering together on Sunday is like inhaling, and scattering to go back to our homes and lives and world is like exhaling. We must do both to live. When we’re scattered, God calls us together by His word. When we’re gathered, he prepares us and send us out.

Breath in — breath out. I like that image. What do you think?

Posted in Life

Would anyone miss us?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I left you hanging yesterday with the question, “What is an appropriate tool for measuring the effectiveness of a church’s ministry?” I feel the need to investigate that question and maybe come up with some answers. It is so hard to step away from numerical growth because that’s most visible and easily measurable. And bigger is better, right? Growth equals success. If you’re growing, you must be doing something right. We’ll model you. If you’re not growing, you must be dying.

The other day, my friend Jay wondered, “Where is the church” when spring break alcohol arrests quadrupled this year at Panama City beach? You can read his thoughts here. What kind of influence does or can the church have in the lives of young adults? How can we help them pursue a different kind of spring break that benefits both them and others? Isn’t there something the church can do? Is anything different in your community or community because you’re church is around? That maybe one way to measure effectiveness.

You can ask that question another way: if your church folded tomorrow, would anyone in the community miss it? That’s a painful question, because there are some days when you’d have to answer, “nope.”

Posted in Life, Ministry

An old friend

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A few weeks ago I received an invitation to the 50th anniversary of Luther Memorial in Tinton Falls, NJ, the church I attended when was living in New Jersey and working for Bell Labs before I went to the seminary. It’s been twenty-eight years since I’ve been there, so I am flattered that they remembered me and sent me an invitation. Unfortunately, the celebration is on Palm Sunday, and I am working. But I took a few minutes to write with my my greetings and record a few memories for them.

Just out of college, working my first job, living in my first apartment, I decided to search out a church in Monmouth County, NJ. The first one I tried didn’t even notice I was there. The second one, Lutheran Memorial, embraced me as one of their own from the moment I stepped in the door. The first Sunday there, someone took me to lunch. The next week, they got me involved with the choir and playing trumpet. The third week they invited me to help teach the high school class. And from there, grew to love ministry much more than my profession. The love of that congregation propelled me towards the pastoral ministry in a big way. And for that I will always fondly remember and thank God for my time with them.

Posted in Ministry, Rant

Why doesn’t our church do that?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

“Why doesn’t our church do that?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that question. Another church, near or far, does something newsworthy, and the first question is, “Why aren’t we doing that?” It’s a good question, and I’ve thought about a few responses, some better than others.

When I first hear a question like that, I’m tempted to think, “Great, something else I have to do.” That is not at all true. It is just an opportunity, and more specifically, an opportunity for the person who brought it up to get involved. We should assume that if someone notices a need for ministry, then God is moving them to get involved in that ministry. So a better response is, “That’s a great idea. What’s your plan? Who are you going to get involved?”

But as I think about it further, I believe we also need to stop thinking about competing with other churches. If a congregation is doing a ministry, then we are too, if we truly believe that the “church” is just more than our local congregation. In effect, if another church is doing it, then our church is doing it, too, and the question becomes, “How can we can join them in their efforts?” We do not need to reinvent or clone every ministry, but can enhance what God is already doing. Maybe that’s part of the message he’s sending when we wonder, “Why aren’t we doing that?”

Posted in Rant

Why aren’t you going to church?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

From time to time, I call people who are members of our church who do not attend worship at our church. I guess I should say they rarely attend worship. It’s always an interesting conversation. I don’t have to tell them why I’ve called. They immediately know. As soon as I say, “Hi, this is Pastor Douthwaite,” they interrupt and say, “You know we were just talking about you, and we were just talking about how we need to get back to church, and even though we’ll be out of town this weekend, we’ll be there the following Sunday.” All in one breath. A scripted response. They know exactly what to say. At least they think that’s what I want to hear.

Even though all of our members promise that they will remain faithful to the church, even to the point of death, from my experience there are always a few families that haven’t attended in over a year, and that includes Christmas and Easter. Even if they begin to attend or their names are taken off the membership rolls, other families will take their place. I’ve concluded that this is just part of the nature of the church.

Of course, in some of these conversations, I learn why people don’t go to their church. They travel. They or their children are sick. They have guests from out of town staying in their homes. They worked a lot over the past week and are too tired. They were re-tiling their floors. There was a soccer (or baseball or football) game. They had a rough week. Imagine using all those excuses for not going in to work. I imagine you wouldn’t have that job very long.

Reasons for not attending I never hear are, “We don’t like you or your church. We disagree with what you believe. We aren’t getting anything out of your sermons. We don’t like the music.” Could it be that most people join a church without any intent of actually attending on a regular basis? Perhaps we do not clearly express this expectation.

Posted in Ministry

A lack of leaders

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It’s that time of year when our congregation has to nominate leaders to serve in the coming year.  With nearly two hundred active families, you wouldn’t think it would be so hard to come up with two dozen or so leaders that comprise a church council, board of elders, and a church properties committee.  Yet every fall, we come up short.  I know we’re not the only church that struggles with this challenge.  The basic mood seems to be “I’ll help out, but I don’t want to be in a position of leadership.”

When did leadership become something to avoid?  Granted, not everyone is cut out or qualified for leadership.  But many with those gifts hesitate to step into leadership positions in the church and probably in many volunteer organizations.

Some of it has to do with the consumer mentality that some bring to church with them.  Just as they stop by a restaurant for a meal, they stop by the church for a spiritual meal.  It would never occur to them to actually work there, though.

Some of it must be fear, the fear of having to do it all yourself.  This isn’t a rational fear, for each leader is supposed to recruit a board or committee to carry out different ministries.  No one should be doing it themselves.

Some of it has to do with the retirement state of mind in our area.  They did these jobs when they lived elsewhere.  Now that they’ve retired, someone else can do this work.  “I’m retired.”

When Jesus called disciples, he really didn’t give them a choice.  He gave them authority.  He gave them power from above.  And he sent them out.   Have at it.  Make more disciples.

Having said that, maybe that’s where we fall short.  Perhaps we make more members than disciples.  I have to think about this some more.

Posted in Ministry

What numbers are important?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

numbers1250985368So here’s my question today:  what numbers are important?  We love to talk numbers at church.  Unfortunately, most of them mean very little.

“How big is your congregation?”  I can tell them.  Sort of.  We keep track of our membership.  But we have a good number of people who attend worship on a regular basis who aren’t members.  Then we have those members who for whatever reason don’t attend worship.  Plus, some people are only here part of the year.  What number would you like me to use?

“OK, then how many do you have in worship?”  We keep track of that, too, at least an average number for each Sunday.  However, most people seem to attend worship about twice a month, so no one week gives an accurate picture.  A few years ago we had zero in worship on a Sunday when a hurricane was passing through town.  Do I have to count that week in my average?  On Easter Sunday, our attendance is double what it normally is.  Should I factor in that week?  What number should we use, and what does it tell us?

“Show me the money.”  How are our offerings doing?  It depends on the week.  Are we paying our bills?  Yes.  Could we use more?  Of course.  Do we support missions?  Yup.  Our monthly financial report is over 15 pages long, a literal sea of numbers that sucks you in like a rip current.  They never taught me how to interpret that at the seminary.  I can read some New Testament Greek, though.

“How many lives have been changed?”  No way to tell.  Everyone who worships here may be out affecting other lives where they live and work and study.  I am certain their prayers make a difference in the lives of many, too.

In the initial years of my ministry, numbers meant a lot.  My level of confidence rode the peaks and troughs of attendance, offerings, and new members.  Now they don’t mean so much, probably because I’ve seen God do some of his best work in a meeting with just one other person.