John Meunier quotes from yet another bishop, this time a Methodist one – a first for me, as we don’t have Methodist bishops here in the UK. Bishop Will Willimon writes about revitalising older churches, and includes this interesting diagnosis:
If your church is in decline and not growing, it is because your congregation has decided to die rather than to live (alas, there is no in between when it comes to churches). The majority of our churches are not growing, thus we have a huge challenge before us. Still, our major challenge is not to find good resources for helping a church grow and live into the future; our challenge is to have pastors and churches who want to do what is necessary to live into Christ’s future.
This ties up with what I have seen in the UK, in various denominations. Too many churches are attended and led mostly by people who are quite happy for their church to decline. They recognise that they are personally getting older and will eventually die, and their expectation is that their church will decline with them and also eventually die. They have no vision for the church being revitalised and no will to make any of the changes that might be necessary for this to happen. Indeed they resist change of any kind. They welcome new members, including younger ones, but only if these people conform to the way things have always been done.
And, from what I have seen, the same can also be true of specific groups and ministries within churches.
Is there any hope for a church in this condition? Well, nothing is impossible with God, and he could revive such a church with his Holy Spirit. A new pastor with a strong vision just might be able to get a church like that going again, by stirring up any remaining embers of true spiritual life, but is more likely to break himself or herself in frustrated efforts to beat a dead horse into motion.
But, I tend to think, in most cases like that God’s blessing simply leaves the church: “Ichabod”, the glory has departed. And the wisest thing for Christians who want to see life in the church as a whole is to let that congregation decline and die in peace, and start a new work in a new place, with new people who are open to God’s work in its ever new ways.
I feel fortunate to be in a community that has chosen to live. I see our current problem as how do we transition from feeding the body milk into feeding meat. There is a balance of outreach to discipleship that I think we could (re)arrange a bit better.
isn’t it true that everything dies except God? Naturally, then, just as churches are born we shouldn’t be too surprised that they also die. Sad, sure. But inevitable.
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Nathan, once an ailing community decides to live, there is then of course the issue of how to nourish it back to health, what is the best balance of food.
Jim, indeed local congregations are not eternal, and sometimes we need to let them die and move on.
Ramblings from Red Rose, I have known for a long time that American Methodists have bishops, although British ones don’t. I’ll follow the link.
Sorry about saying you didn’t know Methodists have bishops!
No problem, Will (that is Red Rose Will, not Bishop Will). Such things are certainly confusing!
If it makes anyone feel better, I didn’t know Methodists in America had bishops! In Australia, where I’m originally from, we have pretty much no Methodist churches – because in 1977 they all joined the “Uniting Church” along with many Presbyterian churches and pretty much all Congregationalist churches. But for the first two years of my life I attended a Methodist church, so I suppose I should know these things… lesson learned!
I can’t agree with you more. In Canada, the fastest declining church “United Church of Canada”, amalgamated in 1925 with the Methodist, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian churches. At the time of union, they became the largest church in Canada but at today’s rate of decline, some estimate that they will dwindle down to 50,000 members by year 2050. Sad.
I’ve accepted that dying is a natural part of the life of a church if they’ve bought into the status quo.