WHY DO CHURCHES CLOSE ?

In a special article in the Hamilton Spectator called Test of Faith, Dr. Reginald Bibby, a sociologist at the University of Lethbridge, who has studied the religious culture of North America, speaks of a “handwriting on the wall”.   The mainline groups — Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans and the United Church — will says Bibby, “with a few individual exceptions, continue to shrink, and with their related declines in resources, will see most of their physical outlets sold off”, he said.

David Seljak, an associate professor and chair of the religious studies Department at St. Jeromes’ College in Waterloo goes a step further and maintains that this is not a local problem.“There is no place where the mainline Protestant churches are not in a steady state of decline,” he says. “It’s something that is happening across Canada and it has been happening for some time.”

But Why?  How is it that churches come to that state in their development?    There are some common denominators. In every case, the congregations had a long and varied history.  In every case, the congregations had grown throughout their history to a point that warranted  building edifices  on a grand scale.  If you have 1000 people attending worship, you need a place that can house that many people.  But in every case, for whatever reason, the number of worshippers could not be sustained.  Rather than grow, the congregations levelled off and then began to decline to a point where the support base – the people who donated the money – could no longer sustain facilities that needed to be maintained, and in some cases updated to meet accessibility and other building code issues.

The article that I referred to does not give satisfactory answers.  It refers to demographic issues, such as people moving out of the city centre into the suburbs.  It refers to sociological changes from the original members of the church to the millennial generation that has different needs, and according to Seljak “is spiritual but not religious.”

While some of these points may be valid, they don’t tell the whole picture, and neither will the ideas that I would add.  And the first would be a shift in theology. The so-called “mainline” Protestant churches  have shifted to a liberal theology that focuses on the rational, and downplays or denies the supernatural events of the Bible. The United Church of Canada was formed in 1925 as the result of a union between Methodist, Congregational, and some Presbyterian congregations.  Some of these denominations have a long history of a very evangelical past, which somehow disappeared in the smelting pot that became the United Church.  And other mainline churches that did not join the union have also shifted to a more liberal theology. It is an unmistakable fact that evangelical churches have a far lower rate of “closures” although there have been some.

A second reason that I would suggest, is a failure to read the “handwriting on the wall” sooner.  The churches that declined did not do so overnight.  Attendance did not plummet from 1000 to 100 or 50 from one year to the next.  In most cases the decline was gradual.  Sometimes the wrong questions were asked too late, or not asked at all.  Churches that have proudly stated that they were “not concerned with numbers”, and who tried to explain away their lack of growth, either theologically or otherwise, are now basing their decision to close on numbers.  “We no longer have the resources that we need”.

A third reason, is that at some point, the main thing stopped being the main thing.  Churches that focus on the main point of Christianity, which is following the Great Commandment to love one another and the Great Commission to make disciples (in other words spread the Gospel) are less likely to need to shut their doors as churches that are occupied mainly with lessor things. I remember being in the board meeting of a church years ago, where more time was spent discussing the financial health of the organ fund than the need of souls.  They had some segregated funds invested for the purpose of financing the maintenance of the pipe organ.  When the General Operating Fund began to dry up or go into the red, they would “borrow” from the organ fund.  At issue in one particular Board meeting was the contentious question of how much should be borrowed, when it would be repaid, and “what interest rate will we charge ourselves!” On the agenda of the same meeting was a proposal for an outreach ministry which was never discussed because the above item took so much time.  I went home crying (and I cried after many board meetings while I was in active ministry) followed by sleepless nights. The main thing stopped being the main thing.

Dr. Vance Havner first articulated a cycle known as the “Four M Cycle”    Man – Movement – Machine – Monument. Someone’s idea grows bigger than the man (or woman) and becomes a movement that catches fire and spreads, as fires tend to do.  Inevitably, a mechanism or structure – a machine if you will – is necessary in order to keep the movement and the vision of the founder alive.  But sadly, soon the machine becomes an end in itself.  Oiling and maintaining the machine becomes more important than the work which the machine was created to do.  It becomes a monument – or worse, a mausoleum  to house ideas and practices that are dead.

Havner’s image applies to both secular and religious institutions.  In the case of the Christian Church, the God-Man Jesus began a movement that grew past His human lifespan and was carried on by his followers – the apostles, martyrs, church fathers, and their successors.  By the third century at the latest, the movement became a machine – a hierarchy of an institution which was very powerful.  The humans who had that power became so intoxicated by it that they worked hard at maintaining the machine.  Taken as a whole, Christianity did not freeze into a monument. Why?  Because in all ages, there have been people who bought into the original vision of Jesus: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it” (Matt. 16:18) and “go into the world and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19).  The secret to prevent becoming a monument is to get back to the original vision.  Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Huldyrich Zwingli and others had that vision and created movements within the movement to keep going forward.  But sadly, even within those movements there have been machines and monuments that have evolved over time.

Individual churches today, are always in danger of succumbing to that deadly cycle that ends in a monument.  The signs are not hard to overlook, but sometimes they are overlooked:

  • when the way something is done becomes more important than what is being done – in the end less and less gets done.
  • when ministries within the church become perpetuated without understanding what they mean – we do things simply because this is what we have always done and we have always done it a certain way.
  • when pining for the past glory days is more  intense than the hope of the future.
  • sacred cows  such as styles of music, particular buildings, traditions and practices that were invented by humans, and many more.

The key to avoid the trap of the 4 M’s?  Stay in the movement phase, or return to it.  What that means practically for the modern church was articulated in a blog by an Anglican, whose name I can’t find, but I like these ideas:

1) concentrating on the basics of our faith,
2) concentrating on the basics of Scripture (and more importantly concentrating on the Living Son of the Living God that Scripture points to), and
3) concentrating on basic discipleship (learning how to actually live the miraculous, restorative, healing things that Jesus taught us to do)
I don’t mean to point fingers at any church that I have mentioned here.  But I believe if more churches heeded this advice, fewer of them would close.

MOTHERS DAY

When I go to the cemetery to visit the grave of my mother on Mother’s Day or on other occasions, I keep reminding myself that Mother is not there.  In her grave in our family plot are the mortal remains of her earthly being, but she as a person, and her personality continue to live elsewhere.  Where exactly?  After studying the Bible for many years, I know that my mother is not a star shining down on me, nor is she an angel, for angels cannot be saved and redeemed.  I  can say with certainty that those who “die in the Lord” are WITH the Lord.  The actual locale is not as important to me as this fact – with the Lord.  That is what Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross, this day you will be with me in paradise. And after the Apostle Paul ponders what would be better – to continue living on earth and serving the Philippians, he concludes that to depart and to be with Christ, is “better by far” (Phil. 1:23)

When I go to visit mother’s grave, I do not talk to her.  I used to do that in the early stages of grief, and I do not judge anyone who has graveside chats with a loved one.  I now realize that when I spoke to Mom, it was more for my sake, than it was for hers.  And could she hear me even?  I rather doubt it.  For mother, and all of the dead are no longer part of this world defined by time and space.  They are literally in another world that we do not (yet) have access to, except by praying to God.

The theologian Helmut Thielicke said something in one of his books that has helped me: to know that our departed loved ones are with God, must be absolutely sufficient for us.  No, we can no longer communicate  with them.  But Thielicke does concede that we  can say, whatever troubles us about a loved one (perhaps something that we wish we could apologize for) by addressing it in prayer to God. Will God pass messages from us to our loved ones?  Certainly He could, for God can do all things, but whether He chooses to do so or not, is really up to Him.

The Bible warns not to attempt to contact our communicate with the dead.  Many people ignore that warning, and believe that the are communicating with a loved one.  However, I believe that they are being deceived and are really communicating with lying spirits. Those spirits may well speak information known only to the deceased, but we must remember that demons, while not omniscient, do live in the spirit world and may have access to knowledge that we do not.

So for those of us, who have mothers in heaven, may we be comforted in the Blessed hope that we have in Jesus, who has conquered death

 

ANOTHER REFORMATION?

Today (October 31) is Reformation Day. I deliberately ignore the other occasion commonly observed on this date.  Those who share my reformed heritage are well familiar with Martin Luther’s  five “solas” – Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria. These translate in English, respectively: scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, and God’s glory alone.

A reformation phrase that is less well known was coined somewhat later (the 17th century) – “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda” – which means “the church reformed, always being reformed”.  Some like to translate that as “the church is always reforming”, but if my grade 10 latin serves me correctly, the verb reformanda is passive, which means the church is not “always reforming” but is “always being reformed”.  Perhaps a hairsplitting point for some, but either way it addresses the issue of CHANGE – something that churches today are either reluctant to do, or in some cases too eager to do in order to embrace every modern fad to be culturally relevant (a modern-day buzz word).

In some ways, I think that Martin Luther and John Calvin and other reformers would be aghast if they could see what churches, who claim to follow their teachings have become today. Many are nothing more than monuments, as I have pointed out elsewhere.   Others again, in their quest to appeal to modern thinking have long since abandoned their spiritual and biblical roots.  Both miss the point of semper reformanda.

The reformation did not invent new truths.  When Martin Luther taught that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone, he did not contrive a new concept, he re-discovered something that was always true.  The church, since its beginnings has believed what Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; and Hebrews 10:38 teach, namely that “the just shall live by faith” (or by their faith). But actually this concept goes back even earlier than the Christian church. Already in the Old Testament, the prophet Habbakuk said, Behold the proud,  His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. (Habbakuk 2:4).  The Old Testament saints were saved by looking FORWARD to the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross.  All of their sacrifices and rituals were but symbols that pointed forward to Christ, who is the only salvation for all.  We of course, in our faith, look back to that sacrifice on Calvary.  In Jesus there is salvation, and in none other.  Reformation then, is not about inventing new truths, but re-discovering, and embracing old truths that had been neglected, or in some cases replaced or buried by other ideas and teachings, more modern and fashionable practices.  Semper reformanda means not to look forwards to what is new and enticing,  but returning BACK to the Bible and its truths.

But the church of today faces another danger, and that is a lust for change simply for the sake of change. From music that is hip (who cares what we sing – it sounds so culturally relevant), to abandoning practices that the Bible clearly teaches and embracing those that it clearly condemns. Whatever semper reformanda means, it cannot mean to figure out your theological beliefs on the fly or fix you moral standards on what culture says is right.  It means that we must always be examining our faith and our teachings (and our practices)  in the light of the Bible – and being willing to change by going back to those truths.  A proper understanding of this principle will aid each generation in avoiding the pitfalls of remaining stuck in the quagmire of its own man-made traditions and rules on the one hand or on the other hand being caught up in every enticing wind of doctrine as Paul warns in Ephesians 4:14 “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”

Some have suggested that we are “due for another reformation”. I would say, we need to re-discover semper reformanda.  Yes, the reformation did result in a division of Christianity, and there is a movement afoot to repair that rift and strive for a reunification of Christians back to one brand of Christianity, arguing that there is more that unites than what divides the two wings of Christianity.  However if we understand the point of the reformation, we realize that the fundamental issue of how to be reconciled to God is believed and taught very differently by the various churches.

Unity is good, but it cannot be achieved at any price.  It cannot be negotiated or engaging in compromises that water down our beliefs to the lowest common denominator.  Truth does not change with time.  What was true when Jesus said, I am the Way, The Truth and the Life; No one comes to the Father but through me (John 14:6) is still true today.  Writing to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul was also concerned about Unity.  But he did not advocate unity at all cost.  He said that Christian unity is based on one body and one Spirit – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all and in you all.  (Eph. 4:4-6). And the path to realizing that unity is speaking the truth in love, and growing up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ--. (Eph. 4:15) . That is another way of saying ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY PENTECOST!

TODAY (May 23, 2021) is Pentecost Sunday, although that fact might have escaped you.  HALLMARK has not discovered this holy day yet, so it is unlikely  that you would have received a “Happy Pentecost” card.  The world does not quite know what to do with this day, otherwise they would have found a way to commercialize it.

Sadly, many Christians also do not know what to do with this day, especially if you are in the evangelical part of the Christian family.  Some pastors deliberately ignore the day, out of disdain for the liturgical calendar.  Interestingly enough, what do those same people preach about on Labour Day or Valentine’s Day? And what about the years that Mothers Day falls on the same Sunday as Pentecost? Well, you get the point.

Pentecost is actually a very old Biblical feast. It dates back to the Old Testament. The name comes from the word for “fifty” and indicates that in Bible times it was observed 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits.  Pentecost was a holy day, which means that work was forbidden.

It is interesting to me that while Christmas and even Easter as we know it, are not mentioned at all in the New Testament, the Feast of Pentecost IS. (See Acts 2:1-21). Pentecost was a Pilgrim Festival, meaning that according to Jewish Law, all the adult Jewish men would come to Jerusalem from wherever they were living and personally be in attendance during this celebration. God chose that particular day, when Jerusalem would be filled with thousands of pilgrims, to fulfill His Promise made by the Prophet Joel: I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.    (Joel 2:28-29)


The evangelist Luke, in his second book (The Book of Acts) tells about the supernatural event:
  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?  Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?” (Acts 2:2-8)

This event resulted in considerable public attention. Some dismissed it in mockery, saying the disciples were drunk.  But Peter gets up and reminds them that it is only 9 in the morning, and they were not drunk, but rather experiencing what Joel had prophesied.  Then he delivers a scathing sermon, that was rooted  in Old Testament Scripture and reveals Jesus, whom “you have crucified” as the Son of God and Messiah. Peter’s remarks that Luke records in Acts 2:14-37 would not be classified as “seeker-sensitive” preaching today.  It was a hard-hitting message that resulted in people being “cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:37-39). 

What follows is the baptism of 3,000 people who were “added to the church”.  Imagine, a church that grows from 120 to 3,120 in one day!

While many people today simply dismiss that as “one for the history books”, others say, “we need another Pentecost today”.  But the events recorded in Acts chapter 2 will not be repeated, just as Jesus will not be born in a manger again, nor will He be crucified again.

So what meaning, if any, does Pentecost have for us today?  Throughout the Book of Acts, and in the writings of the apostles, whenever this outpouring of the Holy Spirit is mentioned, it is described in the past tense. Because of what happened back then in Jerusalem (the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh) we too, if we are followers of Jesus can receive the Holy Spirit.  In fact that is the only way that we can truly be born-again followers of Christ. Paul reminds the believers in Rome that they  “are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” (Romans 8:9)

Pentecost means that God has given us a great gift. But despite that fact, many who identify themselves as Christians today are not experiencing all that they should of the Holy Spirit.  Like the young Timothy, we need to hear the encouragement of Paul to “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you“. (2 Timothy 1:6) In the next verse, Paul says “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (2 Tim 1:7)

As someone has said, it is not that we need “more of the Spirit”, but rather that The Spirit wants more us us to be surrendered to Him.  We can “fan the flames” if we are obedient to those things that God’s Spirit has already shown us, and if we serve Him with the spiritual gift(s) that He has given to us.

 

COVID FATIGUE

COVID FATIGUE.  That is a term that seems permanently added to our collective vocabulary, much like social distancing and other related terms.  I can’t think of anyone who is NOT tired of the pandemic.  We are tired of wearing masks, staying at home, and in general refraining from doing things that seem natural or desirable. We all long to go back to a normal life – a life that is normal to us, and not the new normal that we hear so much about. We wish that the pandemic would just go away.

Today I’m going to vent about some things related to the pandemic that I am getting increasingly tired of. For one thing, I’m getting increasingly tired of those people whom I will refer to as nay sayers.  These folks continue to maintain that there is no pandemic – that all the commotion about COVID-19 is a master-minded conspiracy to control the world and its inhabitants.  Shutting down travel, telling us to stay home, making us wear masks in public, it’s all about taking away our rights and freedoms, according to these nay-sayers.

At first there were many people who thought and said that.  Now that the number of infections all over the world is continuing to escalate, fewer people maintain that position, but there are still a few who hang on to that notion.  They talk about infection numbers being manipulated or misrepresented, and they like to remind us about how many people die of cancer, suicide, drug overdose, heart disease and other “pre-existing causes”.  What these people don’t seem to “get” is that every death, by whatever means, is a tragedy for somebody.  They also don’t get that Covid-19 can indeed cause death – and very quickly in some cases.   Even if there is a pre-existing condition, when Covid 19 appears on the death certificate, it means that a cancer patient could still be alive, but for Covid 19. I’m tired of listening to the disrespectful way that these nay-sayers speak of those who have died.

I’m also tired of the many non-experts who pontificate about a lot of things that they know very little, or nothing at all about. People who know very little about medicine, or even science for that matter,  are getting on their soapbox to lecture us about a variety of subjects like the dangers of wearing a mask, and even the potential danger of taking a vaccine, or why it’s OK to ignore the advice of true medical experts about not singing in public or gathering in groups.  Yes, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and everyone has the right to express that opinion, but since there are so many conflicting opinions on these matters, I’m not inclined to listen to every opinion, unless it comes from someone who is qualified.

Then there are the self-proclaimed legal experts who whine about how their charter rights are being violated by covid restrictions.  Most people who sound off about rights, think only about their own rights, and not those of everyone else.  These non-experts have never read the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that they like to talk about, and they don’t understand the simple concept that my rights end where the rights of someone else begin.  These people  have no legal training, and their only knowledge of the law is whatever they read on the internet.

And finally – and I have left this for the last – I’m tired of the non-theologians who (mis)quote the Bible and see in the pandemic all kinds of apocalyptic issues that are not there.  They talk about how the pandemic is a “dress rehearsal” for the world government of the Anti-Christ, and how the vaccines that have been developed contain some nefarious ingredient that will allow the government to track our every movement, or even worse that it is what the Bible calls “the mark of the beast”. We find these, and other notions expressed in videos of some Bible-waving or Bible-thumping TV preachers, and some people people post this stuff on social media.  I’m tired of that kind of preaching, and I’m embarrassed when I hear it from  preachers who should know better.

As a result of the pandemic, we have been exposed to more nonsense per square inch than I can tolerate.  So how do we defend ourselves against such poppycock?  For me there has been only one way that works.  I have no energy to fight it so I have chosen flight.  I distance myself from all propaganda that jeopardizes my mental health or my spiritual life, and from people who peddle it.

Now before you flood my email box with messages about freedom of speech, let me say that I am a huge believer of freedom of speech. Everyone is entitled to their own personal opinion about anything.  In a free society, you also have the right to express that opinion freely.  But I am not compelled to listen to it, or even expose myself to it.  That includes newscasts as well.  I hardly ever watch the TV news live. I record the daily newscasts from my favourite network(s).  I then watch them at a time that is convenient to me, and I make good use of the fast forward function of my remote control to avoid repetitive things that I’ve heard enough of.  That is my survival strategy against Covid fatigue.

 

 

Why Do Churches Close?

This post was originally published in November 2018 just before I returned home from Kenya.  The subject is still relevant, so I am republishing it today.

When I returned home to Kitchener (in Nov 2018)  the city was not the same as I left it.   The church pictured above, the former Trinity United Church, was gone.  It has been demolished, and as I originally wrote these lines, I learned that a “suspicious fire” had added insult to injury as it were. I was inside the church only once, for a concert, but I have passed this church hundreds of times in my life since childhood.  Known for many years as The Church on the Market Place because it was across from the former market of Kitchener, where the imposing brand new court building now is.  It was for decades a fixture of the sky-line of Kitchener.  So why is it being torn down – a church that was one of the largest in the city? Because the congregation that used to live there was unable to manage the staggering cost of maintaining the huge building.  Built to seat about 1000 persons, the congregation now numbers about 200, but in the end saw only 50-60 people out on a Sunday morning.  So the congregation sold the building, and moved several blocks up the road and now meets in rented facilities in the chapel of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church.  The church, which started 177 years ago, stood at this location on Frederick St and Duke St in downtown Kitchener for the past 111 years. Church membership has declined from a high point of 2,000 members to about 200 today The new owner of the demolished church is planning to build  a more than $100-million, 33-storey condominium tower, which would then be the tallest structure in Kitchener-Waterloo.

A few blocks from Trinity, sits another grand empty church on Weber Street where the former Zion United Church used to live and

worship.  Zion dates back to 1893.  It has two sanctuaries that can each seat 750 people, a chapel, a gym and various class and meeting rooms.  In its heyday it saw about 1000 people in its pews. But when it closed in 2015, the number of Sunday worshippers had dwindled to 40. A former official of the church said that in a cold winter, it would cost $5000. to heat the building.  This building will not be torn down.  The new owner says that he doesn’t yet know what he will do with it. He had turned down offers from people who wanted to open a bar or a night-club, and so far there is only one tenant renting space in the building – Big Bliss Yoga.

A similar fate was experienced by the former Olivet United Church on Onward Avenue. It began as a Sunday School mission of the Evangelical Association in  1931, with the church being dedicated in 1936. In 1968 Olivet became a church in the United Church of Canada. It too, became a dwindling congregation that could no longer keep up with the expenses, and the church was closed in 2016 and sold to the Rockway Mennonite Church who worship there now.

But United churches are not the only ones who face this dilemma of what to do in oversized facilities that are too large for the dwindling number of members and worshippers.  Three Lutheran churches in Kitchener recently faced the same issue:  St. Mark’s Lutheran in downtown Kitchener “The church beside the hospital, St. John’s Lutheran in Waterloo, and Reformation Lutheran on Krug St.  However, instead of disbanding, the three churches have merged into one new church called Trillium Lutheran Church which began worshipping together this fall in the former St. John Lutheran Church.  A Pentecostal church also worships in that facility at a different time on Sunday morning.

And my home town in Kitchener isn’t the only one where this is happening. In nearby Hamilton, the city in which I was a pastor for 13 years, the same thing is taking place.  In June of 2017, Olivet United closed its doors.  There were 50 of the 150 members worshipping there in the end. Someone who used to attend there said that they can remember a time when the church was packed at Christmas. “When I joined 18 years ago, we had to bring out plastic chairs — it was packed”, says Sylvia Chitty (Hamilton Spectator).

In October 2017, St. Luke’s Anglican Church in the north end of Hamilton closed its doors.  It was built to seat 300, but there were only 17 at the final service.  The number of regular worshippers was 12.

Two formerly large United Churches in Hamilton: Centenary United and St. Giles United, have merged into  New Vision United Church, and one of those two churches is or will be demolished. 

In a special article in the Hamilton Spectator called Test of Faith, Dr. Reginald Bibby, a sociologist at the University of Lethbridge, who has studied the religious culture of North America, speaks of a “handwriting on the wall”.   The mainline groups — Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans and the United Church — will says Bibby, “with a few individual exceptions, continue to shrink, and with their related declines in resources, will see most of their physical outlets sold off”, he said.

David Seljak, an associate professor and chair of the religious studies Department at St. Jeromes’ College in Waterloo goes a step further and maintains that this is not a local problem.“There is no place where the mainline Protestant churches are not in a steady state of decline,” he says. “It’s something that is happening across Canada and it has been happening for some time.”

But Why?  How is it that churches come to that state in their development?    There are some common denominators. In every case, the congregations had a long and varied history.  In every case, the congregations had grown throughout their history to a point that warranted  building edifices  on a grand scale.  If you have 1000 people attending worship, you need a place that can house that many people.  But in every case, for whatever reason, the number of worshippers could not be sustained.  Rather than grow, the congregations levelled off and then began to decline to a point where the support base – the people who donated the money – could no longer sustain facilities that needed to be maintained, and in some cases updated to meet accessibility and other building code issues.

The article that I referred to does not give satisfactory answers.  It refers to demographic issues, such as people moving out of the city centre into the suburbs.  It refers to sociological changes from the original members of the church to the millennial generation that has different needs, and according to Seljak “is spiritual but not religious.”

While some of these points may be valid, they don’t tell the whole picture, and neither will the ideas that I would add.  And the first would be a shift in theology. The so-called “mainline” Protestant churches  have shifted to a liberal theology that focuses on the rational, and downplays or denies the supernatural events of the Bible. The United Church of Canada was formed in 1925 as the result of a union between Methodist, Congregational, and some Presbyterian congregations.  Some of these denominations have a long history of a very evangelical past, which somehow disappeared in the smelting pot that became the United Church.  And other mainline churches that did not join the union have also shifted to a more liberal theology. It is an unmistakable fact that evangelical churches have a far lower rate of “closures” although there have been some.

A second reason that I would suggest, is a failure to read the “handwriting on the wall” sooner.  The churches that declined did not do so overnight.  Attendance did not plummet from 1000 to 100 or 50 from one year to the next.  In most cases the decline was gradual.  Sometimes the wrong questions were asked too late, or not asked at all.  Churches that have proudly stated that they were “not concerned with numbers”, and who tried to explain away their lack of growth, either theologically or otherwise, are now basing their decision to close on numbers.  “We no longer have the resources that we need”.

A third reason, is that at some point, the main thing stopped being the main thing.  Churches that focus on the main point of Christianity, which is following the Great Commandment to love one another and the Great Commission to make disciples (in other words spread the Gospel) are less likely to need to shut their doors as churches that are occupied mainly with lessor things. I remember being in the board meeting of a church years ago, where more time was spent discussing the financial health of the organ fund than the need of souls.  They had some segregated funds invested for the purpose of financing the maintenance of the pipe organ.  When the General Operating Fund began to dry up or go into the red, they would “borrow” from the organ fund.  At issue in one particular Board meeting was the contentious question of how much should be borrowed, when it would be repaid, and “what interest rate will we charge ourselves!” On the agenda of the same meeting was a proposal for an outreach ministry which was never discussed because the above item took so much time.  I went home crying (and I cried after many board meetings while I was in active ministry) followed by sleepless nights. The main thing stopped being the main thing.

Dr. Vance Havner first articulated a cycle known as the “Four M Cycle”    Man – Movement – Machine – Monument. Someone’s idea grows bigger than the man (or woman) and becomes a movement that catches fire and spreads, as fires tend to do.  Inevitably, a mechanism or structure – a machine if you will – is necessary in order to keep the movement and the vision of the founder alive.  But sadly, soon the machine becomes an end in itself.  Oiling and maintaining the machine becomes more important than the work which the machine was created to do.  It becomes a monument – or worse, a mausoleum  to house ideas and practices that are dead.

Havner’s image applies to both secular and religious institutions.  In the case of the Christian Church, the God-Man Jesus began a movement that grew past His human lifespan and was carried on by his followers – the apostles, martyrs, church fathers, and their successors.  By the third century at the latest, the movement became a machine – a hierarchy of an institution which was very powerful.  The humans who had that power became so intoxicated by it that they worked hard at maintaining the machine.  Taken as a whole, Christianity did not freeze into a monument. Why?  Because in all ages, there have been people who bought into the original vision of Jesus: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it” (Matt. 16:18) and “go into the world and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19).  The secret to prevent becoming a monument is to get back to the original vision.  Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Huldyrich Zwingli and others had that vision and created movements within the movement to keep going forward.  But sadly, even within those movements there have been machines and monuments that have evolved over time.

Individual churches today, are always in danger of succumbing to that deadly cycle that ends in a monument.  The signs are not hard to overlook, but sometimes they are overlooked:

  • when the way something is done becomes more important than what is being done – in the end less and less gets done.
  • when ministries within the church become perpetuated without understanding what they mean – we do things simply because this is what we have always done and we have always done it a certain way.
  • when pining for the past glory days is more  intense than the hope of the future.
  • sacred cows  such as styles of music, particular buildings, traditions and practices that were invented by humans, and many more.

The key to avoid the trap of the 4 M’s?  Stay in the movement phase, or return to it.  What that means practically for the modern church was articulated in a blog by an Anglican, whose name I can’t find, but I like these ideas:

1) concentrating on the basics of our faith,
2) concentrating on the basics of Scripture (and more importantly concentrating on the Living Son of the Living God that Scripture points to), and
3) concentrating on basic discipleship (learning how to actually live the miraculous, restorative, healing things that Jesus taught us to do)
I don’t mean to point fingers at any church that I have mentioned here.  But I believe if more churches heeded this advice, fewer of them would close.

PREACHERS AND POLITICS

The Covid lock down has had some positive side effects. One is that many churches, whether they are meeting in person or not, are also online with either web streaming or posting their sermons on YouTube or both.  Over the last few weeks and months I have watched parts of many online services from a variety of different denominations.

One thing that bothers and outright annoys me however, is to see how many preachers have turned their pulpits into political soapboxes. Whether the issue be COVID conspiracy theories, the US presidential election, or God forbid, the scandal mess that is Canadian politics.  Frankly, I am surprised that the congregants of such preachers tolerate this.  I always assumed that people do not go to church to hear a political speech, but rather to worship God and be instructed in the Word of God.  While it is mainly the mega church pastors with national and international profiles that are guilty of politicizing the pulpit, other churches are jumping on the bandwagon as well.  More surprising is that it is primarily protestant churches – churches who profess to believe in the separation of church and state – who are guilty of this.

Let me clear up one thing right from the start of my rant, and that is that I am greatly interested in politics.  Politics is my favourite spectator sport, and I follow political events the way others follow the Stanley Cup (when it can be followed). I have political convictions and opinions.  And during my brief retirement, I even voiced some of them.  But now that I am again practising ministry, I keep these views  mainly to myself, and I bite my tongue when I am in the pulpit, or on social media, or this public blog.

The reasons for that go beyond the separation of church and state, though I believe in that firmly.  As a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I am called, along with the entire Christian church, to proclaim that gospel to all people and all nations.  No matter what a person’s political conviction, the good news of salvation in Christ is directed to them, and there is a place for them in the church.

The New Testament teaches, that the church is about the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that this kingdom is “not of this world”. (John 18:36) He also said, “The Kingdom of God is within you (or among you). (Luke 17:21) Actually, Jesus had a great deal to say about where the Kingdom of God comes from, how to get into it, who will be included, who will be excluded etc.  Christians, when they pray the Lord’s Prayer, pray that “thy Kingdom come”.  It is a mystery.  It is already here, and it will one day come in a vert visible way.  Right now it exists everywhere that Jesus truly is King, whether in an individual human life, or in gathered churches over which Jesus’ Kingdom of love and truth and justice truly reigns. The calling of all messengers of the Gospel, namely us preachers, is to work for the advancement of that kingdom.

The world of government and politics is its own world that is necessary for the preservation of order and peace in society.  The New Testament clearly teaches that we are to pray for, and be subject to, the government of the day. In Romans 13:1 Paul makes the astounding statement that “there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” It is important to note that neither Paul, nor Jesus for that matter, lived under a democratic government.  The Roman government in Jesus and Paul’s day was a ruthless autocratic and often cruel government.   But neither Jesus nor Paul could be called political activists, and certainly they were not revolutionaries.  Jesus urged His followers to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what belongs to God.”  (Matthew 22:21)

People often mistakenly assume that democracy is their God-given right.  While I am thankful to live in a democracy,  we must remember that Christianity flourished under the pagan autocratic regime, and under the regimes that followed it. It also flourishes today in countries that are not ruled by democratic governments.

Living as we do in a democracy, we do have the right to express political opinions even if they are contrary to the government of the day. We have a right to call out politicians who are corrupt, immoral, hypocritical or dictatorial.  We have the right to advance our own ideas for solutions.  But we do NOT have the right to mix this activity, and confuse it with our religion.  When a nationally known preacher says on television, that “a true Christian cannot possibly vote for ….”, then in my opinion he has clearly stepped outside of his proper role of preaching the gospel (the good news of salvation through Christ).  And that is a two way street. Politicians need to keep their nose out of the church and not prey on people of any religion to gain their support.

I was in Kenya in 2017, when the Supreme Court of that nation declared the results of the presidential election null and void, and ordered that a new election be held.  I followed that election with great interest, and I have to say it was the nastiest campaign I have ever seen, and it included violence that led to many deaths.  It also included politicians who visited churches on Sunday morning and were allowed to speak.  After the service they would curse and tell lies about their opponent on the steps of the church.   I witnessed politicians speaking at a funeral that I attended, and apparently they also visited weddings.  Both weddings and funerals are usually largely attended events in Kenya and so considered fair game as places to go and seek votes. To his credit, the Principal at the college where I was teaching, got up in chapel one day and declared that he wanted teachers and students alike to leave their political opinions outside the gate of the college campus.  And they did.

So what would I do if a politician came to my church?  S/he would be welcomed and greeted as any other visitor (we usually do not announce names of visitors). They would be welcome to worship as anybody else.  They would not however be allowed on the platform, nor would my message be tailored for or against them.

Let me end with an apparently true story.  In a church in the British countryside the king of England unexpectedly walked into the church while the preacher was in the midst of his sermon.  Immediately he changed what he was preaching on and launched into a eulogy of the king and the royal family.  Later in the week a package was delivered to the preacher.  Inside was a crucifix with this note: This crucifix is to be hung on the pillar opposite the pulpit, so that its occupant might be reminded of his proper subject. 

RACISM

They say it is better to turn on the light rather than to curse the darkness. But amidst the current unrest and rhetoric about racism, it seems we have trouble finding the switch to turn on the lights.  I have debated whether I should say anything at all, as whatever I post will without doubt disappear amidst the current noise. Racism, pure and simple, stems from the belief or assumption that one’s own race is superior to another.  In the previous century, we have seen where that can lead as a racist government in Germany sought to extinguish another race. And in North America, the violent 1960’s and 70’s seem to be re-appearing before our very eyes.  And for those of us old enough to remember, the racial violence of the 60’s and 70’s disappeared but racism did not.  It is like a wound of humanity that recedes but flares up again and again.  So in Germany today we have “neo-nazis”, in other regions we have “ethnic cleansing”, and in North America,  “white supremacists” have never really disappeared, and even appear under the guise of religion, which is something that I find particularly evil.

To really understand racism, it helps to experience what it feels like to be on the receiving end of racial discrimination.  My three visits to Africa in the last 5 years have been interesting in that regard. For the first time in my life I was part of a “visible minority”. As a white person, I stuck out anywhere I went.  For the most part, it was no big deal.  But a few experiences stick out as either humorous or to put it mildly, interesting.  In Cameroon, I was walking down a village street alongside a missionary, who was also white. We passed a large group of young children, who upon seeing us, began to shout, “White man! White man! White man with a long nose!”  I was dumbfounded and so I said nothing.  My colleague, who wasn’t experiencing this for the first time, said to the children that they should go home and have their parents teach them some manners!

Another time, in the town of Eldoret in Kenya, I was out shopping with a fellow pastor and friend who was black, and whom I got to know in Canada.  At one point we needed to pick up his wife, who was inside a mall.  Since it was hard to find parking, my friend pulled up beside the curb and sent me inside to fetch his wife, since she did not know where he would be parked. I did so, and as we walked the considerable distance to the car, I was conscious of many stares being fixed upon us.  When we were inside the car, my friend explained to me what they were thinking – a young woman with an older man of a different colour – why that could only mean trouble.  We laughed.  Sort of.

On the campus of the college where I was teaching for three months in 2017 and 2018, I was the only white person.  Since it was a Christian college, at no time did I feel looked down or discriminated against in any way.  Teachers, whatever their skin colour are held in high regard in Africa and are treated with deference and respect.  If anything, my skin colour resulted in other assumptions being made – that I was rich, and people were very eager to be my “friends”.  But when I worshipped with these students and the other staff, I felt as one of them – except for the times that they forget that I was there and would lapse into the Swahili or some other tribal language.

Ah, and then there was apartheid in South Africa – the political and social system during the era of White minority rule, under which the people of South Africa were divided by their race and the different races were forced to live separately from each other.  Nelson Mandela was instrumental in leading to the end of that system and that did not occur without struggle.  I’ve never been to South Africa, but I have heard that while apartheid is gone as a system, old prejudices still survive.

Indeed, old prejudices are hard to eradicate.  What helps?  My advice is to interact with and get to know someone of a different race as a person.  Learn to see this person not as a member of a different race, but simply as a fellow-human being.  If you do this in a true spirit of humility and openness, you will find that God created only one type of human being.  The skin colour may be different, but essentially, we are all the same, created in the image of God and therefore entitled to dignity, respect, and worthy to be treated with kindness.

 

IS CHURCH AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE?

ESSENTIAL WORKERS

Not too long ago I went into the church building where I currently serve as pastor in order to retrieve something from my office.  As I entered the foyer, I was saddened to see the monthly calendar of events for March 2020 on a table.  Not too far from it was the Sunday bulletin for March 17 – the last public worship service held at the church.

For the last 7 weeks I have been conducting worship, and preaching sermons from my home, seated in front of either a telephone or now a computer. I am able to speak to everyone who wants to participate at the same time, and I could hear, and now even see them.  Of course, it is not the same as having them sitting in front of me, but it is better than no contact at all.  During these online services, we pray, read Scripture, make announcements, greet one another, and preach and listen to sermons.  Many churches all over the world are doing the same thing. My heart almost skipped a beat when I saw one of my former students in Kenya preaching on FACEBOOK LIVE.

Here in Ontario Canada, much of life the way we know it has ground to a halt. Borders are closed to international travel.  Restaurants, stores, and businesses are closed.  Except for those who are considered “essential services” – grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and believe it or not, liquor stores are considered an essential service.  But not churches or other places of worship.

Amazingly, churches, synagogues, and mosques have cooperated almost across the board with the government order that forbids the gathering of groups larger than 5, or larger than 10 for funerals, this despite the fact that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all had holy days in the month of April.  Why? For a variety of reasons.  Christians believe that God has ordained civil governments for the preservation of order, and that obedience of such authorities is mandated in Holy Scripture. (Romans 13:1-6). Also, the more we learn about COVID-19, the more most people are convinced that it is the safe and right thing to do.  In fact it may also be the loving thing to do – to be protective not only of ourselves, but of others too.  Since it is possible to have the corona virus and not even know it or have symptoms, and yet still able to spread the virus, I am quite willing to do what it takes, including staying home from church, to prevent infecting someone else. (I’m not particularly eager to catch it myself).

But as in most things religious, not everyone agrees.  Churches have conducted “drive in services” – at first illegally, and lately with permission from the Premier – and the media of course was right there to tell us all about it.

Some of the dissenters have suggested that they must defy the government orders because they answer to a higher power, and others have suggested that church is an “essential service”.

But is it really?  You can look at that in two ways, and from two different perspectives.  Some would argue that corporate worship – in person – is essential to carrying out the Christian faith.  In other words, if we can’t gather in groups in person, we are not able to worship God, and unable to experience the teaching, and the encouragement from other believers that is essential to our faith.

Perhaps a look into the history of Christianity is helpful here.  The church has not always met publicly, nor in large groups.  One example of this is the persecution that arose in the very early days of Christianity.  In those early days Christians had no church buildings as we know them. The churches met in private homes, or in public places for larger gatherings.  But when that became too dangerous because of the arrest and persecution of Christians, the church literally went underground.  They met in subterranean burial places called “catacombs”. Many of these still exist today, and visitors can see the religious graffiti and inscriptions there.  Persecution under various regimes throughout the ages has often caused the church to meet in secret.  While one could argue, “at least they were able to meet”, these meetings can hardly be compared to what we would call church services today.  They met in the only way possible for them, since the technology that we now have did not exist. It is interesting to note that all over the world today, Christian churches are “making do” despite their buildings being closed. The survival of the church does not depend on whether the buildings are open or closed.  Is this situation ideal?  Of course not.  Would we like to be back where we were?  Certainly.  But those are not sufficient reasons for civil disobedience in my mind.  Neither do the current emergency measures violate any “charter rights” in my opinion.

Is church essential?  Another way of looking at this involves not the needs of the church, but the needs of society.  Jesus said that His followers are “the light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:12-13).  In other words, the church is essential for the well-being of society, and its message of hope and salvation is indispensable. Anyone who has a knowledge of history will know that our world, with some of its educational and health-care institutions would be a very different place were it not for the church.  Or to put it another way, it is essential that the church engages with society again, and that is why we do hope and pray for the day when our churches will re-open.

What is not widely reported in the media is the fact that some 401 pastors and churches in Ontario have written to the Premier of Ontario,  respectfully asking for permission to gradually re-open churches in early June. The letter contains a very safe and responsible plan that will involve some careful protocols and guidelines that we will need to observe.   The Premier has not yet responded to the letter, but I expect there will be some sort of announcement soon.  Until then, we will keep on being the church the best way that we can.  Church is not cancelled.

EASTER IS NOT CANCELLED!

Easter is not cancelled.  Come to think of it, that has been tried before, in fact right from the start. After Jesus had been buried, the religious leaders of the day persuaded Pilate to post guards outside of Jesus’ tomb because “Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell people that he has been raised from the dead”. (Matthew 27:64 NIV) But of course despite the efforts to “make the tomb as secure as you know how” the tomb was guarded in vain.  No power in the universe could keep Jesus in the tomb.  He came out of it, just as He had said.

In the first century of Christianity others tried suppressing the message of the Risen Christ.  Roman emperors like Nero and Diocletian and others ruthlessly persecuted and put to death many of the early Christians.  But they could neither stop the message of the Resurrection, nor the spread of that message and the growth of the movement that became Christianity. And in the twentieth century,  the 60 years of communism also failed to cancel Easter.

In the former Soviet Union, atheism was the official state religion.  I remember as a child learning about the “underground church” in the various Russian states.  Mao Tse Tung in China also persecuted Christians with a vengeance.

In 2020 Easter is very different, but it is not cancelled.  There is no Easter Parade on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Families will not (should not) be gathering for big Easter dinners. There are no new clothes for people to show off at Easter services.  In fact church buildings  all over the world are closed.  But that cannot cancel Easter.  Christians all over the globe are celebrating the Resurrection of Christ, and worshipping the Risen Christ.  The church, that I currently serve is closed like all others.  But we had an Easter service this morning via teleconference.  We sang. We prayed. And for the first time in my life I preached a sermon over the telephone to a grateful congregation.

Come to think of it, the Christian church has always flourished while operating underground.  In the first century, believers gathered in burial grounds, underground catacombs to worship unseen by others.  Today tourists can go there, and view the graffiti left behind by those early worshipers. And during the communist regimes, underground churches secretly met.  Those cells of Christians later became thriving churches when the restrictions were lifted.  I’m not going to speculate on what the global church will look like when we come out of this pandemic, though many are doing just that.

During the covid-19 pandemic many events and activities had to be cancelled.  Yes, public in person church services have been cancelled for weeks, and will remain so for an undetermined time to come.  But Easter can never be cancelled.  In fact church can never be “cancelled”. The church continues to do what the Christian church does.  We worship. We care for one another and for those in need of help. We pray for one another, for people who are sick and in need, for a world in crisis. And we proclaim the good news  that Jesus is the hope of this world. No pandemic can stop us from doing that. Don’t be fooled.  Easter is not and will never be cancelled!

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