Recently I've been listening to different people share their commentary on the state of the Church. Friends and acquaintances from various walks of life have surprised and challenged me with their thoughts. Maybe it's just me, but a lot of people seem to be "down" on the Church. What I mean is, there seems to be this deep restlessness with "church people" about what the Church is doing - or maybe just their overall experience - or maybe they've just never really liked it - I don't know. Maybe I need to get out more but it just seems like when you get people, especially people who go to church regularly, talking about church, it just always seems to quickly become a frustrating conversation. It's fascinating because you would think that the people that go to church would love the church. Yet it's mostly these people (and I'd have to include myself at different times in my life in this assessment) who have the fewest compliments to give about their church situation. Instead it's, "I don't agree with leadership" or "they're always asking for money but we never do anything" or "there's nothing here for me". The reasons for church dissatisfaction can vary and, in our minds, are almost always valid.

I was watching a very popular pastor on YouTube a few days ago and he was talking about the demise of denominationalism in American churches. Better said, people are tired of celebrating what divides them (this was his point). He commented that the only real distinction for say, the baptists, is that they dunk people in baptism while others might sprinkle. This got me thinking - for a lot of church people, the kind of church they go to should be a big deal. People choose the "brand" of church they attend for a defined list of reasons, right? Maybe not anymore. Maybe now, more than ever, we have a generation of people who have grown up and done church for maybe their entire life and what used to draw them to their particular church doesn't, well, draw them anymore. What's more scary, maybe it never did. For some, I'm sure this was true - they saw the name on the sign, associated that name with certain beliefs, met some people like them, liked the preaching or the music and, boom, they were plugged in. These were what I've heard some call "the golden days" of ministry. When things were less difficult and drawing people to come to church had way more to do with that list I just gave you than anything else. Parents engaged their kids into church life because it was the "right thing to do" and this seemed to gel with the generational mantra that church-going builds "the right character".

But was it real for those parents, those kids? I don't know - only God can really answer that question. What I do know, and this was not nor is not true for everyone, is those experiences and feelings birthed a deep discord with what you and I now call church. That is why I believe we see some "new" churches growing and overtaking established churches in different communities not just in attendance but in the individual personal passion index of it's attenders. Not because God no longer loves people in older, established churches but because some of the people in those churches have become stale and have lost their vision. The monotiny of the routine of their church has lulled them into a casual attitude that ultimately has produced a diminished desire to serve, lead, pray for and love their church. What's crazy is, if you asked them if they loved their church, they would emphatically answer "yes". So where's the disconnect? Why doesn't that love translate into their church experience. Why do those same people complain and get frustrated about their church and, sometimes, end up leaving the church they say they love?

Part Two...coming soon