By Ben Cachiaras
When requested about the important thing to his success, Dick Clark, of American Bandstand fame, replied, “I don’t set tendencies. I simply discover out what they’re and exploit them.” Worrying about tendencies can get you into hassle. So can ignoring them. At least, it appears sensible for church leaders to try to be like the boys of Issachar “who understood the instances and knew what Israel ought to do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). On this spirit, I used to be requested to contemplate how we’d perceive and reply to the rising tendencies famous in “A ‘Postdenominational’ Period: Contained in the Rise of the Unaffiliated Church,” a November 2022 article by Tracy Simmons posted at religionunplugged.com.
The development is simple: Churchgoers are leaving denominational church buildings, and denominational church buildings are leaving denominations. One result’s that in a time when there’s comprehensible concern concerning the state of Christianity and church attendance in america, nondenominational church buildings are booming.
Between 2010 and 2020, nondenominational church buildings expanded by 2 million attendees and 9,000 congregations, in keeping with the 2020 U.S. Faith Census (www.usreligioncensus.com). Nondenominational church buildings now represent the third-largest spiritual group within the nation after Catholics and the Southern Baptist Conference.
I just lately consulted with an Evangelical Covenant Church that for years has operated by itself and is now contemplating formally slicing ties with their denomination. They’re cautious of the denomination’s path and don’t suppose the advantages of affiliation outweigh the pursuit of independence. Lots of of Southern Baptist church buildings have modified their names, distanced themselves from the SBC, and pursued unaffiliated standing.
A 2015 FACT survey reported a whopping 8,000 church buildings selecting to unaffiliate and turn out to be nondenominational, and one other 2,000 contemplating the swap over a 10-year interval. In her article, Simmons reported that longtime faith researcher Scott Thumma contends many denominationally affiliated church buildings functionally function as nondenominational. Church buildings are making selections about doctrinal positions, preaching and instructing content material, worship music, and mission focus on the native stage relatively than trying to denominational headquarters. As the bottom erodes for denominations, Thumma concluded we’re formally within the postdenominational period.
Mainline congregations account for a lot of the migration. Between 2000 and 2016, a number of denominations noticed critical declines, together with The United Methodist Church (down 16.6 p.c), American Baptists (19.31 p.c), Evangelical Church in America (30.47 p.c), and United Church of Christ (36 p.c). A good worse exodus was skilled by the Presbyterian Church USA, which misplaced over one million members (a 41.28 p.c decline) in that very same interval. Our Restoration Motion cousins, The Christian Church buildings (Disciples of Christ), noticed their membership reduce in half (a whopping 49.88 p.c drop).
This was all prepandemic. I’m assured the hemorrhage will proceed towards its apparent finish.
This development ought to be no shock to individuals whose motion started with founders fleeing the doctrines and constraints of their denominations. Each Thomas and Alexander Campbell discontinued their affiliation as Presbyterians in favor of an expression of religion unencumbered by denominational bonds. As hundreds of thousands observe this identical development right now, we’re reaping the advantages.
In his column from the January/February 2022 subject of Christian Commonplace, writer Jerry Harris reported his analysis on our personal motion of Unbiased Christian Church buildings. In roughly the identical interval because the above declines in mainline denominations, our church buildings that common 1,000 or extra in weekly attendance greater than doubled in dimension. Different church buildings in our fellowship additionally grew. In a current discuss on this topic, Tim Liston, lead pastor at New Hope Christian Church in Houston, Texas, stated it’s nothing in need of superb what God is doing in our church buildings.
“I believe it’s honest to say that on this 20-year interval,” stated Liston, “whereas many different church buildings and denominations have been in decline, a big phase of Unbiased Christian Church buildings have been rising and experiencing nothing in need of a renaissance in development and evangelism.”
What are we to make of those tendencies? As a motion traditionally dedicated to a three-legged stool of evangelism, biblical reality, and unity, what response may we’ve got to the swell of individuals leaving denominational church buildings and church buildings leaving denominations? I consider we’ve got trigger for warning, a purpose to have a good time, and a chance to capitalize.
CAUSES FOR CAUTION AND CONCERN
I see a minimum of three causes for warning and even concern.
First, a few of the “development” in nondenominational church buildings is the results of sheep swapping. In his guide Triumph of Religion, Rodney Stark famous, “As some church buildings turn out to be secularized and decline, they’re changed by church buildings that proceed to supply a vigorous spiritual message. In impact, the previous Protestant Mainline denominations drove hundreds of thousands of their members into the extra conservative [fellowships].”
Disagreement with extra progressive political and spiritual views is behind a lot of the exodus of people who find themselves filling nondenominational church buildings. The pandemic period noticed an enormous reshuffling of Christians, as individuals shifted into church buildings higher suited to their preferences on masks, vaccines, racial points, and different sizzling matters. A priority is that if (and when) issues resettle, there will likely be higher homogeneity of like-minded people clustered collectively in our congregations, . . . and that might be a horrible growth.
We’re a unity motion, not a uniformity motion. If the ties that bind us are merely strands of political settlement, racial sameness, ideological alignment, and sociological conformity, the character of our fellowship will likely be impoverished and we are going to lose a lot of the breadth and wonder Christ intends for his physique.
Second, absorbing parishioners who’re leaving denominational church buildings isn’t the identical as kingdom development. We’re a motion dedicated to evangelism, however sheep swapping—even when it enlarges attendance—isn’t kingdom development. In reality, development of this sort can distract from the actual mission of looking for and saving the misplaced. Whereas we’re busy welcoming disaffected denominational Christians, we will simply turn out to be blinded to the extra necessary and pressing slide of huge numbers of individuals away from any church in any respect. Irrespective of how properly we could also be doing, the American church total, a minimum of numerically, is shedding floor.
A 2020 Gallup ballot discovered the variety of Individuals affiliated with a church is below 50 p.c. Barna has reported that 30 p.c fewer individuals in Gen Z (born 1999–2015) attend church than child boomers (born 1946–1964).
What does it revenue us to achieve the entire world of exiting denominational Christians and lose the souls of the subsequent era? Swapping fish from one tank to a different isn’t the identical as being fishers of women and men. It’s fantastic to welcome unaffiliated individuals and church buildings, however the command of Jesus is to make disciples, not merely switch them.
A 3rd warning is {that a} obtrusive widespread denominator in declining church buildings is a shifting doctrinal stance on foundational points. It appears apparent the mainline church buildings’ dedication to their ideology has contributed to the exodus and weakened their witness.
It’s typically unhelpful to use labels, however the details are in: Over a prolonged span, church buildings which can be rising and impacting their communities are doing so not simply because they’re nondenominational. They’re doing so as a result of they’re holding to timeless reality by conserving scriptural authority. They’re offering hope and solutions to real-life issues. They’re inviting individuals into Spirit-filled group and offering avenues of significant service, all grounded unashamedly in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
We’re a individuals of scriptural authority. The strongest church buildings will proceed to adapt inventive strategies and fashions of ministry with out waffling on the religion as soon as delivered. Watching huge numbers of individuals flee church buildings with loosened theological moorings ought to encourage us to proceed to commit ourselves to the apostles’ instructing and to fellowship, to the breaking of break and to prayer. (See Acts 2:42.)
REASONS TO CELEBRATE
However we’ve got a lot to have a good time! Because of the disaffiliation of congregations from their denominations and other people leaving their denominational church buildings, we’re experiencing “an invisible renaissance in our motion.” As Jerry Harris acknowledged in his column from January/February 2022, “I don’t suppose there was a time in our motion when we’ve got skilled something fairly like this; the one period that is perhaps comparable was the beginning of the Restoration Motion in the course of the Second Nice Awakening (the early 1800s).” Many individuals are hungry for a non secular residence that appears precisely just like the church buildings we are attempting to be!
A TIME TO CAPITALIZE
In brief, this implies it’s time to capitalize on the tendencies. We’re exactly the form of nondenominational church many individuals are looking for. To seize them for Christ means we should ruthlessly give attention to mission, not upkeep.
Once I educate on the Restoration Motion, I first assign some studying, after which I ask college students to explain the imaginative and prescient in 15 phrases or much less. College students normally say one thing like, “Fundamental Christians clinging to Jesus, Scripture, and each other to succeed in the misplaced.” Not dangerous. And that’s exactly what individuals exiting denominations are craving. That’s the very expression of Jesus-shaped group that has capability to attach with disillusioned, deconstructed, disaffiliated Individuals. A cultural ripeness and non secular receptivity exists proper now for the straightforward expression of New Testomony Christianity our church buildings are constructed for.
As extra church buildings search to unaffiliate from their denominations, we have to be able to welcome them into the fold of our fellowship, as a number of have accomplished in recent times. Some church buildings who pull out of their denomination will mistakenly consider one of the best different is to go it alone, pursuing radical independence with no ties to anybody. However each church is a part of “The Church” and must be aligned, accountable, and partnered with others in tangible methods. What they want is a tribe. That’s a development we must always capitalize on by getting into conversations with church buildings that may in any other case turn out to be lone silos.
I discover it deeply ironic once I hear Christian Church insiders who appear down on the Restoration Motion. They’ve a adverse impression or have grown bored with our weaknesses; for no matter purpose, they’re embarrassed and really feel they’ve “outgrown” us.
After which I communicate with pastors of unaffiliated church buildings whose congregations are actually untethered to a denomination or any group in any respect. They’re nearly at all times lonely, remoted, and pissed off. They’re starved for fellowship, contemporary concepts, and assist. They’ll discover coaching and seminars, however they wrestle with sustaining relationships with Christians who can stroll by way of life with them. They’ll attend conferences, however they lack colleagues.
Once they see the wealthy fellowship of pastor teams of which I’m a component, and witness the wealth of camaraderie within the relational net of our tribe . . . after they see the expansion of our church buildings, the effectiveness of our international missions (like Missions of Hope Worldwide in Kenya), made doable by many impartial Christian church buildings voluntarily partnering for higher affect . . . after they see the effectiveness of our church planting, the well being of our younger individuals in vibrant CIY gatherings and faculties, I’m more and more requested the identical query: “How do I get in?” We must be prepared with a solution . . . and open arms.
The irony jogs my memory of when Yogi Berra was requested a couple of fashionable restaurant. He replied, “No one goes there anymore—it’s too crowded.” On the very second some in our tribe appear to need out, God is bringing many extra to the door. They’re looking for the very factor our motion presents once we are at our greatest. Let’s invite them in, as an surprising however welcome technique for pursuing the unity and oneness Jesus prayed for.
God is stirring a starvation in unchurched and unaffiliated individuals. What they want is a tribe. What they want is what we’ve got been at our greatest: a nondenominational fellowship, a motion of church buildings sure by relational fairness and doctrinal concord. A tribe offering the advantage of reference to different church buildings with out the bondage of denominational shackles.
We’ll capitalize on the development by residing the ideas of our motion, which presents congregational autonomy on the one hand however missional synergy with others on the opposite. This implies a congregation is free to make its personal selections about the right way to interact in mission . . . however isn’t left to do it alone. We select connection, realizing we’re actually higher collectively.
We should proceed to reward particular person creativity and entrepreneurial vitality as pastors and church buildings attempt new issues with out being squelched by denominational constraints. On the identical time, we should proceed sharing modern “finest ministry practices” by way of alternatives similar to Spire Community, ICOM, Exponential Convention, and plenty of different nationwide and native gatherings.
Restoration Motion founder Barton Stone baptized Samuel Rodgers, who rode on horseback to an space close to Baltimore and gathered a gaggle of Christians from the area. He urged them to unite as one. The pondering was, “You don’t want all these denominations. Come collectively as one church.” And so they did. The end result was the start of Mountain Christian Church in 1824. What God orchestrated 199 years in the past, he now appears to be orchestrating in our personal time. As Tim Liston just lately shared in a presentation to a gaggle of pastors, “What a good time to be a part of the Christian Church!”
Ben Cachiaras serves as lead pastor of Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland.
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