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Church Life from Church Death?
Posted by Geoff Baggett in Uncategorized
I “blog met” Rob Mitchell last year when he visited my old blog. Rob is, by day, a computer guru with a large company in my old home town of Memphis, Tennessee. In the evenings he is a student in the Master of Arts in Religion program through the Virtual Campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. Rob feels that God has called him to plant churches, and he hopes to be ordained to that ministry through his denomination, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Rob hosts an interesting blog with one of the most awesome names in the blogosphere, The Naked Church. He authored a post last fall entitled “Embracing Congregational Death to Birth New Churches.” I believe it is a must-read for Southern Baptists. He tells the story of a historical church in Memphis that is selling a very valuable portion of its property for the construction of a new drug store. But instead of “moving on” or investing the $3.6 million it received for the property in new congregations … the remnant of the church is determined to stay in place and build a new facility on the small portion of land that it retained … right next to the brand new Walgreen’s.
Rob has two paragraphs that are so thought-provoking that I have posted them at length. I think that Southern Baptists need to hear this message. His words will challenge many of us. Without doubt, his words will offend some. But, for sure, they will make all of us think. Consider his thoughts:
There are thousands of moribund churches across America where a few dozen septuagenarians gather each Sunday morning and reminisce, treasuring memories of what it used to be like and wishing the clock could be turned back. The facilities may be maintained if there is money saved, but in some the incoming offerings cannot cover the expenses of maintaining a facility that once was home to a far larger congregation, and the signs of slow decay are everywhere. These churches are like museums. No one updates the bulletin boards any more, and walking through the old church everywhere you can see old pictures left over from when there was some life and vibrancy left. Now the church is on life support. An influx of cash from a bequest or sale of part of the facility may give the appearance of life for a little while, but the reality is something other, like the macabre 1989 comedy “Weekend at Bernie’s”, where living people hang out and party with a dead body (the dead character Bernie Lomax), propping up the corpse and pretending it’s alive so they can continue to have fun.
How many of our Southern Baptist churches are on a similar measure of “life support,” sitting on a wealth of decaying real estate, waiting for the last surviving member to “turn out the lights” before they leave? What could be a true “kingdom response” to the reality of dying churches? Here’s what Rob thinks …
There are hundreds of heritage congregations … who have unused facilities in prestigious locations. The facilities may not be useful for churches any more, but the sale of these facilities could easily support many new church plants. Most church plants struggle through their first years of existence. If a fund the size of the sale price of Eudora’s old facility were to be devoted to church planting, how many new churches could be kick-started? Fourteen churches with a startup fund of a quarter million each? Now THAT would be kingdom thinking.
More than three thousand churches close each year in America. A majority have facilities to be disposed of. What better end could come for these churches than to fund a new wave of church planting? Sure, it’s an impossible notion. But with Christ, all things are possible. Who knows but that the Holy Spirit can even speak to older Christians in moribund congregations?
So, what do you think? Does Kingdom thinking compel us to keep consuming Gospel resources in dead and dying churches … or does true a Kingdom economy say that we should, in some cases, embrace congregational death for the sake of true church life? Is church death really an issue in Southern Baptist life?
*Note – This post was published previously at my old blog, Along the Shore. It has been revised and updated.
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It seems simple; the church’s task seems to be to build each other up for the work of service. When that .. the building up and the work .. aren’t the reason for being there, then there isn’t any reason for being there. And it should die.
What Mitchell says is one way for the people involved to carry on the work. Sounds good to me.
I recall the man who visited one of those beautiful old “monuments” in an urban area. The pastor commented on how nicely laid out the facility was. The visitor said “It should be .. it’s been dead for YEARS”.
Bob,
Thanks for your insight. I quite agree … though the idea of “embracing” the death of a church is difficult for some to swallow. But the reality is that there are thousands upon thousands of churches that reached millions of people with the Gospel, but those churches no longer exist.
Geoff,
First, make sure the church is dead. Churches that seem dead to some, may be accomplishing more than we think. Older congregations may still be doing much for the kingdom of God. And dying churches can be revived.
But when the time comes that the church sees that its death is inevitable, I think you have a great idea. Many churches have transferred their property to the IMB, the association, student scholarships, state convention, seminary, etc. A year or two ago there was a church that disbanded in Houston and gave a large amount, I think to HBU, as an endowment for student scholarships. I even know of an old main-line Presbyterian church that gave their facilities to a neighboring SBC church.
One last thought. Don’t think that local church that eventually died was a failure. (I’m not accusing you of this, just a making general observation.) Nothing can ever take away the things they achieved for Christ. None of the local churches the Apostle Paul started are still around today; but they had an undeniable part in advancing the Gospel. People led to the Lord and taught by that disbanded church have gone on to influence others in other communities and around the world.
Sincerely,
David R. Brumbelow
David,
It’s absolutely true that the death of a local congregation does not mean that it was a failure. I sort of alluded to that in my response to Bob.
Couple of thoughts…
We should all reread comment #1, paragraph #1 until you understand it…
Notice how often we equate “church” with “building” or “facility.”
This also made me think of the recent Lifeway study on buildings. The money quote for me was “Despite billions being spent on church buildings, there was an overall decline in church attendance in the 1990s.” I had one of those scream at the computer screen moments.
What if we quit equating the “church” with the “building” and instead spent billions on comment #1, paragraph #1?
Please reread comment #1, paragraph #1 until you understand it…
Keith,
I’ve read it a few times. Actually, the more I read Bob’s first paragraph, the less I understand it.
Please elaborate.
“There are thousands of moribund churches across America where a few dozen septuagenarians gather each Sunday morning and reminisce, treasuring memories of what it used to be like and wishing the clock could be turned back.”
1)Keith makes a good point (that is if I have gotten it
) The church is not the building, but the people – even if they are septuagenarians. What is sad is the upcoming generation seems more than willing to “throw them out with the bathwater.” The emphasis it seems in the “church growth” sector is upon a “younger generation” instead of reaching all people with the gospel. These folks do not have idle dreams and of “years gone by.” I submit that Rob has not really talked with them in depth to know.
2)One of these days the current generation will be old – they will continue to sing “God of Wonders” on fifty year old keyboards and reminisce about the “glory days” and quip at their grandchildren bringing their “strange” ways of reaching people for the gospel. Don’t worry. It’s coming.
Rob
Rob,
It tripped me out the first time I read it …
Yet I do know, personally, of a handful of churches with less than ten senior adults who hold on … making church expenses off of endowments and bequeathed estates.
I don’t know that Rob intended (nor does anyone serious about church planting) to suggested to “throw them out.” The reason that the church planting emphasis in most places is focusing upon the younger generation is because they are, far and away, the most unreached in our culture. Indeed, in my home community, they are largely absent from almost every church. One can wonder if perhaps this generation of young adults, rather than being thrown out, has been somewhat “abandoned” in recent times by a general unwillingness on the part of the church to reach out to them.
As for your second point … I have often thought the same thing.
I have imagined it. And, surely, such will occur.
But I tend to think that, by the time I’m really old, the church will be pretty much relocated back into peoples’ homes … house churches. That’s my prognostication, at least. You won’t have a chance to get old. All of those little ones are going to keep you young for a mighty long time.
Geoff,
Now that last little barb was not really nice ;( – you knowing my current and ongoing life situation and all – for the uneducated reader – I started family life a little LATE in life – I will watch my children graduate from high school in a wheel chair – and we are destined to be parents again in October – so while most people my age are looking forward to grandchildren (or not) we are changing diapers for our own. It really is not funny when the K-mart teeney-bopper asks you when you are checking out with your box of diapers, “getting some for your grandchildren today?”
Rob
I don’t think Rob is advocating throwing out the older folks either. But wouldn’t it be nice, if those who assemble as the church (not at the church) were to use their resources in a way that builds up the body (not perpetuate a building) in order that ministry is done and God’s kingdom advances (see comment #1, paragraph #1). It seems to me that we (the institutional church) have a tremendous amount or resources tied up in unproductive overhead. Sometimes it is like we hoard God’s resources like we plan on taking it with us into eternity.
I understand the conflict between the young and the old. (I experience it everyday as my “young” mind writes checks my “old” body can’t cash. I also have a habit of repeating myself.) And certainly we can muster up all kinds of examples from both sides. But why is it one or the other? I thought we made disciples “in our going.” It seems to me that as both the young and old “go,” most likely in their particular circles they are reaching both young and old. It should be both/and, not either/or. We need all members of the body to function as a healthy body. We need less “me” thinking and more “we” thinking. Maybe the focus should be church health, not church growth.
Geoff, I think your future prognostication of church assemblies is spot on.
Rob – may your tribe continue to increase
Brother Keith,
It is increasing with or without your blessing
Rob
Rob – ya make me laugh, bro. Since I’m 40 myself, with a 3 year old who WON’T FREAKING POTTY TRAIN, I know how the diapers gig goes…
Sorry to not be on topic, but that was funny.
Perhaps they are not reminising at all, but praying for the souls of those who wish them dead, because they covet their property. I know I have spent many an hour (and many tears) in prayer for the souls of those in the church today who have so little care or love for those who have gone before them. Lord, have mercy.