A thought. And an unfinished one at that. I am looking for input.

Why are Christian denominations in the western world failing? I don't think it is worth debating "if" they are failing. Patently I think every indication is that they are. So the question is why?

Simple answer: people are no longer interested in procuring what we are producing.

This leads to a more complex question: What is it that we, as denominational leaders, and denominations in general (the human institution) are tasked with producing?


I think the short answer for myself and many of my colleagues has been that we are tasked with producing "The Church" . This is something of a problematic answer. In truth, it is Holy Spirit which is tasked with producing "the Church". The Spirit inspires faith in Jesus Christ. The Spirit calls the sanctified to Christ. The Spirit is tasked with gathering the believers together. I think we can all agree that the scriptures would point to all those truths and we have paid rather extensive lip service to these concepts, but I don't think we really believe them. If we did, we would not proliferate methods, models, techniques, and tricks to inspire, call, and gather the saints. In truth I believe that if the Christan denominations all closed up shop tomorrow the Holy Spirit would go about it's work with equal gusto and success. The church is the sum total of those whom God has called, sanctified, gathered, and sent. We cannot claim domain over these functions, or over "the church" proper, without supplanting the Spirit.

So what is it we as the human stewards of the institution of the church tasked with producing? I think we are tasked with creating a human institution that supports, enables, exhorts, and enriches the faith life of those whom the Spirit has gathered into the Church. If this is true, then this is our product.

Is the world no longer interested in this product? No, and again I emphatically say NO. In fact the notion of a human which has no interest in living a full and robust faith life seems to me to be illogical. I would go so far to say that Humans seek lives of faith instinctually. I would propose this is our great purpose. A human which does not seek a life of faith is like a monkey that does not seek a tree to climb.

So, what does this mean when you take into account that people are turning away from organized religion in hordes here in the US?

Answer: we are no longer producing a product that sufficiently supports, enables, exhorts, and enriches the lives of those whom the Spirit has called. Much like blacksmiths trying to sell horseshoes to people driving cars we keep trying to "sell" the same old organized church to people who's life perspective has drastically changed.

If the Spirit is still successfully calling, sanctifying, and gathering the Church, what is it that we, the leadership of God's community, are doing wrong? I don't have a great answer for that one but I have stumbled across some pretty bad answers. I have failed enough to know that certain things are not the solution:

Contemporizing worship is not the answer. It may turn out to be part of the answer, but it is not THE answer. In the end it becomes a form over function conundrum.

Retrofitting or repristinating old, or "traditional" worship is not the answer. In the end it becomes a form over function conundrum again.

Embracing worldly perspectives and values is not the answer. Though it seems denominations are lining up to try this one out, it does not seem to work at all. If it did Lutheran, Episcopalian, UCC, Presbyterian, etc congregations would be full to the brim.

Withdrawing from society does not work. It produces a nasty echo chamber effect and ultimately the communities cannibalize themselves.

Producing slick programs does not work. Sure, we should aim for quality in all we do, but this is not the answer unto itself. In the end it becomes all about having an entertaining "show" or meeting the endless treadmill of human greed for new, shiny experiences.

Polarizing into factions does not work. It is a tempting quick fix, but in the end the human agenda winds up over-riding the divine agenda and everything goes south pretty quick.

Sticking one's head in the sand and repeating "la la la la la" over to ones self seems pointless, but it sure seems popular. Do I need to even say that this one does not work?

Saying obvious platitudes like: "we need to get back to the Bible", or "it's all about community", or " it's all about love" is nice, but hardly instructive. Sure. True. Now how?

I am beginning to suspect that the answer has something to do with hardcore disciple making.... but I am still fuzzy on the details. I would be curious to hear your thoughts.