Churchgoing
There is a famous joke about going to church which goes something like this:
“One Sunday a mother shook her son awake, telling him it was time to go to church, but he would not stir. Ten minutes later she was back: “Get out of bed immediately and go to church”. “Mother, I don’t want to-it’s so boring, so why should I bother?”. “For two reasons: you know you must go to church on a Sunday, and secondly, you are the Bishop to the diocese…”
As funny as this is, there is like a number of jokes about church, a serious point to mull over. The Bishop in the joke may have had a point because quite often people ‘say yes to Jesus but no to the Church’. Reasons for that tend to fall into the idea that going to church amounts to little more than older people gathering in a cold building to listen to overlong, tedious sermons. If truth be told, there are some churches like that, because as a new Christian, some 30+ years ago, I went to them, and I was struck by the huge contrast between what I learnt in the Gospels and what the reality of being a believer in some of our churches was like. That forced me to look around and I have over the years found churches that do reflect the love, compassion, joy and fruitfulness that Jesus taught.
Church attendance is, as we know, in steep decline, but it doesn’t have to be like that. In a number of places, churches are thriving. Those churches generally have a few things in common in that they :
Have a clear mission and purpose in that they are know who they are, what they stand for, what they are trying to do and how they are going to achieve that;
Actively Engage – churches who know their local community and who reach out to them are the ones that grow especially those who harness the positive power of social media;
Are willing to adapt and change – churches that regularly look at what they do in terms of worship style and are open to change things when they work, tend to be the ones that thrive and be attractive to the ‘unchurched’ (those new to the faith);
Have lay people who are active in their leadership-churches that have lay volunteers who take an active role in their leadership are more likely to thrive;
Actively engage with children and young people-churches that invest in young people and families such as employing a Children’s or Youth Worker are shown to be a growing faith community;
Are welcoming- churches that have an ‘open door’ to their communities are the ones that build relationships with people that lead to church growth;
Nurture disciples- those that offer Life Groups or discipleship programmes that encourage Christian witness show growth;
Have leaders who envision and motivate people-churches that have people who energise and empower people help deliver the message in Ephesians 4:11-13 that Christ equipped us so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith, to become mature and attain the fullness of Christ.
There is no ‘instant magic recipe’ for churches to thrive and reverse the trend of church non-attendance, but it can be done by adopting some of the above healthy habits that encourage people to want to become involved and hear the Gospels that will, if they let it, change their lives for the better.