Church-Swappers and the Madness of Crowds

In Mark 3:7-12 Jesus ministers to a large mass of people. This crowd followed Him not because they were seeking the Messiah. Rather, they sought a miracle-worker. With so many trying to touch Christ, a religious frenzy of pushing and shoving resulted.

Christ was forced to retreat by boat and then camp on a mountain to avoid the throngs of people. It was against this backdrop that the twelve apostles were chosen - an intimate group of loyal (though sometimes immature) men who would eventually carry the gospel message of Jesus into a lost world.

In this short passage is a picture of human behavior – we tend to flock towards popularity without regard for legitimacy. While Christ is the great Savior of the world, most of the crowd in this passage (like people today) was there simply because He was the new healer of the day.

In his classic Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Charles MacKay writes about specific historic events in which human folly ousted normal reason in the pursuit of mass hysteria. His thesis: people are easily swayed by public manipulation and the latest waves of appeal.

I can’t help but to think many of our churches experience their own form of tulip mania – swarms of churchgoers gravitating towards the church they think is the most popular or best-suited for their needs.

Without a doubt, many of these churches have superb pastoral leadership and are fully obedient to the Great Commission. They are “mega” because they truly want the lost saved and the body discipled. And their church is one of excellence. But others are simply drawing a crowd.

With the advent of a mobile, connected, and transient society comes the dilemma of church-swappers. Small and large alike, many churches struggle with how to handle people who want to join from other like-minded churches in the same area.

Solving this issue is not an easy task in established churches. New members’ classes are one great way to help assimilate the body and close the back door. As for those who come through the front door, I tell them that I want to talk to their current pastor before they join. Not too many balk at this request, and most pastors in the area appreciate the phone call.

But the real issue is discipleship. The Great Commission calls us to make disciples, not converts. Those who come into the fellowship of believers and do not grow spiritually within the church are all at risk of walking out the back door to another church where they feel their needs will be met.

“It’s all about me” is the anthem chant of a church-swapper.

And what did Christ do with the madness of the crowd that was there to see Him? He chose twelve and begun to train and disciple them so that they may in turn disciple others.

We must be good stewards about sharing the gospel with any group, large or small. Additionally, the goal of discipleship with those who profess faith should not be ignored. Christ is the example. And He certainly provides the model for dealing with the madness of church crowds.

May the gospel message always draw crowds. May we always be messengers of the good news to these crowds. And may we always remain fully obedient to the Great Commission by discipling those who accept the grace of our Lord.

Religious Rigor Mortis

On vacation last week, I saw my wife looking at the kayak rental sign in the gas station. When she walked back my way, I knew exactly what was coming.

“Why don’t we rent a kayak while we’re here at the beach?”

“Sure, why not.” I had no idea what we were about to get into.

For those of you who have never been sea-kayaking, it is more difficult than it looks. We originally planned to travel 7 miles one way, then turn around and come back. Needless to say, we didn’t quite reach our goal. About 2 miles into our paddling, all four arms were shot. So we decided to eat lunch on the beach.

Stepping out of the kayak, I could barely move my arms they were so stiff. They were useless, at least for the next hour. I simply had never used them in this manner.

Perhaps the reason thousands of our churches are dying is that the people of the church are suffering from religious rigor mortis. Like my pitiful kayaking arms, they are not exercising one of the most important imperatives of the faith – living as missionaries in their own communities. As a result, they become stiff and useless.

While God will hold the individual responsible for his or her own sins of omission in not following the Great Commission, perhaps one of the more inconspicuous causes of religious rigor mortis in our churches is that of pastor tenure.

Many studies and books cite the significance of leadership in churches. And for considerable change to occur within churches, most pastors will tell you it takes time. Even change at speed of molasses can cause strife within established churches. But pastors are not staying at churches long enough to enact these types of changes. The average pastor tenure is around 7 years in all denominations. The outcry from the church is that pastors do not stay long enough – 87% of active churchgoers within my own denomination state that pastor tenure is too short on average.

Whether it is a change of culture within the church, the curriculum utilized, or the way the church reaches outward (if they do at all), the pastor usually has to earn his chips before attempting serious change.

And if pastors are leaving too soon, then the needed change is unlikely to occur. In short, churches remain in a perpetual state of stagnation. Perhaps this state is one reason too many churches appear as if nothing has changed since the 1950s.

Clearly all the blame cannot be placed upon the short duration of pastor tenure. In the end, we as believers shoulder the burden for our local congregations, regardless of who may be the pastor and for how long.

But a lack of long-term leadership is a major problem with the church’s obedience to the Great Commission. Without a shepherd encouraging the sheep to exercise their calling to share their faith, the church can easily become lackadaisical in spreading the good news. And stiffness can result from a lack of gospel exercise, which can eventually lead to religious rigor mortis.

The Much-Needed Church Boom

I just finished watching the sun set over the emerald green waters of Cape San Blas. This area of Florida is known as the forgotten coastline. And it is perhaps one of my favorite places on earth. As I sat in my beach chair, feet converging with the incoming surf, watching the orange sun fall behind the horizon, I realized why so many are drawn to the white sands of the Gulf. It is truly paradise.

While the counties that make up the forgotten coast are some of the most underdeveloped coastal communities in Florida, they really aren’t forgotten. Despite the recent slowdown in the real estate market, a few new homes arrived since the last time I visited a few months ago. Such is true with coastal areas across the United States. They have boomed the last couple of decades.

The slim territory bumping up with our oceans comprises only 17% of land mass in the United States. But more than half of the people living in the US call it home. Between 1980 and 2003, these areas grew by 33 million people. And 23 of the top 25 most densely populated counties have coastlines.

As I thought about the Cape beginning to develop, I realized that there are no Protestant churches in the immediate area (a Catholic church exists, but I have never seen anyone there and it appears closed). In fact, I believe the closest church is about 30 minutes away. I then wondered how many other areas are like the Cape – communities without a church presence.

I realize that many places like the Cape are vacation communities with a sparse population of full-time residents. They are also highly transient and prone to decline with falls in the real-estate market. But are any of these reasons enough to prevent church plants? I think not. No doubt, some coastal communities are saturated with churches. But they are also saturated with people. And more are on the way.

Whether it is a coastal town or a farming community in the middle of our nation’s heartland, we need more churches. With 80% of all North American churches stagnating or declining and 3,500 to 4,000 churches closing their doors each year, our nation could use thousands more who are willing to plant churches. We don’t need any more forgotten communities. And we are long overdue for a church boom.

Is God Taking You Places?

Is God taking you places? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are called to go. The Christian life doesn’t come with a list of options. It is an imperative to win a world for Jesus. So go where you may say? Pray for opportunities and be amazed at what God will do.

When I become pastor of my church, I told them about my vision for missions. The church grabbed the vision and made it their own. Thanks to the great administrative abilities of my associate pastor and the power of prayer, in just seven months we have sent 35 people on one international mission trip and two here in the states. We are not a large church, nor one blessed with an overabundance of affluence. We simply asked God to take us places; He did.

In that timeframe three men within our church have expressed that they are called to the gospel ministry. As we continue looking outward, I suspect that God will call more.

We all place too many hurdles up in our race that we are to be running for the Lord. This race is one of endurance. We are to run a disciplined race. A call to missions is like running a race. But we are in a marathon, not a sprint. Look too far ahead, and you become disillusioned at how far is left to go. Look down, and you never go anywhere fast since you are watching your own feet. The trick to running an endurance race is to keep your eyes on the next marker just ahead of you. When that goal is reached, you look to the next one. Each church should be winning a world for Christ one person at a time.

I am getting a degree in missiology (the study of missions) at the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. While I understand the technical nuances between missions, evangelism, and church growth, they all direct the church to the same end point – enlarging the Kingdom with discipled believers.

We as Christians have three options with missions: go, help send, or disobey.

It is my prayer that every church will catch the revival fire of missions. Vast sections of the world do not know Christ. The world map of lostness looms dark. But as my music minister (he’s a proud product of the 1960s) will tell you tongue-in-cheek, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.” All 60s cheese aside, he’s right. One church, one-at-a-time, each building an insatiable appetite for missions could spark a worldwide evangelical revival. May we all pray for God to continue to take us places.

Our Ginormous God

The vernacular luminaries at Merriam-Webster recently released their new agglomeration of words. One notable green grandiloquism is the word “ginormous.” While I thought this nugatory term was relegated to the halls of local junior high schools, it appears my appraisal was amiss.

About one hundred fresh words officially enter our vocabulary this week. Bee-spellers everywhere are shelling out hard-earned allowances to read the latest entries.

In case you didn’t catch it, “ginormous” is an adjective combining the words “gigantic” and “enormous.” The term isn’t all that new - it actually has roots in the 1940s and 1950s as military slang. But since no word existed for something terribly large, we had to combine two words to describe the enormity. It’s, like, you know… hugosity to the second power. Yes, that big.

After reading about the new words, I realized the inadequacies of our language. Calling God ginormous just doesn’t seem big enough. How difficult it is for us to comprehend the eternal God – how vast the sum of His ways.

Grasping the moliminous nature of God is impossible this side of eternity. And our worship should reflect the humility and lowliness of our human condition. Words cannot describe the great sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. The word for the amount of joy we have as Christians doesn’t exist. Because without Him we deserve nothing more than the flagitious ranarium of hell.