We Cannot “Event” Ourselves Back to Church Health
One of the easiest things for a church to do is to slip into a maintenance mode. Usually churches are in this season for months or even years before they realize it. And if the leader does not recognize it and do something about it, it could be many years before the church members wake up to the reality that their church is no longer growing and healthy.
When churches are in the maintenance or preservation mode, attendance is declining and the church becomes very “insider” focused. As we said in our previous blog, inside voices are always louder and stronger than those outside the church – the people that you are trying to reach. Inside voices can be very loud and begin to drive everything. When a church primarily exists to appease and please all the inside voices, it is sure to decline. It is inevitable.
Other signs of maintenance are that the vision is either stale or non-existent, the church becomes top heavy on staff, and ministry programming begins to take precedence over the health of the church. It’s at this time that the church becomes very program and event driven. There may be lots of new “stuff” and it may be cool stuff, but it begins to pull staff and church members in different directions. It doesn’t really connect people in life-giving relationships. It keeps people busy!
One of the leading causes of churches going into preservation mode (which is one step away from life-support and death), is that the church begins to possess a very inward focus. A church must exist to reach others for Jesus. This requires sacrifice from the people who already know Jesus. Paul talked about how he was willing to become something different to reach people. This meant letting go of certain traditions and preferences. We may actually have to become less “churchy” to reach non-church people. But some churches cling to non-essentials and absolutely refuse to give them up for anybody or anything. The leader will sometimes accommodate these people. So what happens? Worship services are for church people. Small groups are for church people. Church dinners are for church people. Activities are for church people. Trips are for church people. The youth group is there to primarily please church people. New classes are for church people. There may be an occasional outreach “event”, but again, it’s on church property. Churches say they are about reaching people for Jesus, but there is not an overall atmosphere of being “outsider” focused. It becomes all about “churchy” people doing “churchy” things together. In preservation mode, the focus shifts to keeping people from leaving the church. “If we offer lots of stuff and keep people busy, maybe they will stay.”
Author Tony Morgan shares that many churches in preservation mode will add more events to the calendar to either mask the true reality or in an effort to “event” themselves back to health and growth (trips, cruises, game nights, gospel concerts, activities, Bible studies, classes, etc). Morgan insists that adding more events to the calendar for church people will not produce church health. Morgan states, “They’re trying to find the magic bullet to turn things around. Rather than making the necessary changes to leadership and strategy that may cause some people to be unhappy; it’s just easier to add an event to the calendar.”
Morgan went on to say that churches and pastors that are always adding more and more events to the calendar do so in order to justify staff positions or because they are simply afraid to say, no.” Inside voices proclaim, “We’ve always done that event.” And sometimes leaders fill the calendar because it is much easier to throw an event on the calendar than to think through how you might effectively take people to their next step toward Jesus. Church members are busy, staff members are burning out, and the overall health of the church continues to deteriorate.
For the church to return to health it requires very intentional leadership. It means that the leader must have a fresh vision for the church, and powerfully renew and refocus what the mission of the church really is. This shifts the church’s focus from playing church to reaching people for Jesus. There must be a growing core of people that wake up to the Biblical realization that the church isn’t about me. My opinions, traditions, and preferences are not nearly as important as the multitudes of people that we are trying to reach with the good news of Jesus. What a beautiful day when scores of church people have the attitude:
My needs are not as important as those outside the church.
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost! We are now His ambassadors and representatives here on earth to carry on that mission. Pastors, never allow your people to be comfortable playing church. We are on a serious life and death mission. There will be a lot of bright and shiny “churchy” things you can chase after, but don’t give in to that temptation. Keep your church focused on the main thing!