Reaching new people vs. pleasing old people
I am a student of the church in America. Just about all my friends are pastors, so I hear church stories all the time. Unfortunately, most of them are horror stories. Far too many churches are in conflict these days. In my humble opinion, the rub comes down to this: reaching out to new people vs. pleasing the old people.
Most of the dying/conflicted churches I know about want to reach new people. They want to see new people become followers of Jesus. What hinders that from happening, however, is they aren't willing to change. Change means putting my preferences aside (meaning I may not be pleased). Change means sacrifice. Change means sacred cows are butchered. There's always a price tag attached to change.
When churches are filled with people who say, "Please me, please me...feed me, feed me..." they might as well take the word "church" off their sign and become a social club.
It takes mature, self-less people to grow a healthy, mission-driven, God-honoring church. We at Crossroads have a long way to go, but I'm grateful for the great strides we've made as a church. Jesus came to seek and reclaim a world that had lost its way. What we're discovering is that it's a blast when we join him on that mission.
Most of the dying/conflicted churches I know about want to reach new people. They want to see new people become followers of Jesus. What hinders that from happening, however, is they aren't willing to change. Change means putting my preferences aside (meaning I may not be pleased). Change means sacrifice. Change means sacred cows are butchered. There's always a price tag attached to change.
When churches are filled with people who say, "Please me, please me...feed me, feed me..." they might as well take the word "church" off their sign and become a social club.
It takes mature, self-less people to grow a healthy, mission-driven, God-honoring church. We at Crossroads have a long way to go, but I'm grateful for the great strides we've made as a church. Jesus came to seek and reclaim a world that had lost its way. What we're discovering is that it's a blast when we join him on that mission.
posted by Pastor Phil Print at 8:12 AM
5 Comments:
Phil, let me first say I don’t understand this entry and where you are going w/ it.
I am not one of “the old people” but have been at CR 8 yrs. (know many that have been there longer) so have been through a few changes and have been involved in many aspects of CR and thought I knew it’s strengths.
I think CR can do both . . . reach out to new and please the old. But I think that is going to take some compromise, on all parts, during this latest transition. For starters, could we compromise on the volume? The 5 p.m. service on Saturdays doesn’t have enough people to accommodate that level. The talent of the people on stage is getting lost (at least at this service) and I don’t like seeing that happen.
CR does a lot of good in the community and I think it is because of the leadership and good people who attend. CR has grown a lot in a short time and for those of us who need to stop and take a breath, just give us a moment to catch up. Change isn’t as easy as it used to be.
Keep up the good work.
Charlie, thanks for the question. I'm really not going anywhere with this last blog! It's a comment on the "church" in general, not anything about Crossroads. It's more of an observation about what I'm seeing/hearing from other pastors. Crossroads does change well...we've built a culture of change and have a group of selfless people willing to do anything to obey the Great Commission. I think we also work at taking care of the "old people" (our members). My point was/is when the focus of a church becomes keeping the insiders happy that church has lost its way.
And, yes, I'll talk to the sound people about the Sat. night volume!
Okay, okay. Then don't bring back the big, yellow happy-face cookies if it's going to cause a big fuss ....
(Just a little metaphorical humor.)
Unless due to parental/spousal duress, you attend a certain church because you like something about it. The sermons. The music. The fellowship. The pastors. The location. The children's programs. So any change might alienate somebody to the point where they leave - Rick Warren calls it "divorcing your church."
I'm not sure it's a bad thing to change churches. From God's point of view, He has this big pool of believers with different gifts and He may need to shuffle them around to accomplish His goals.
If Pastor Phil wants to get rid of me, he's going to have to make a few more changes. Water down his sermons. Stop using videos and dramas and humor. Bring Lawrence Welk in to lead worship. Spend a bunch of money on a pipe organ. Announce that ever since the shower scene, Brad loves James and they're getting married.
Although I'd probably stick around long enough to attend the wedding.
I'm really glad you asked those questions, CJB. And I agree with you - some churches are greedy, secular and political in nature.
Here's why I think Crossroads is different: the pastoral staff is tuned in to the Holy Spirit.
At the Hastings fund-raising gathering for the Crazy Campaign, Pastor Phil took a moment for prayer and guidance about contributions. My husband and I are financial opposites: one is the saver, the other the spender. We had already agreed to an amount, but after the prayer time, we opened our eyes and both had come to the exact same (much larger) dollar amount.
This church helps to connect me, a thick-headed, hard-hearted, skeptical believer, to the Creator of the Universe. At times, this church makes me squirm with discomfort. This church doesn't seem content to let me be a fairly well-behaved member of a community social club.
Because of the pastors' capable leadership, I believe God is able to use the congregation effectively. Have you volunteered at any of the Crossroads ministries? Look behind the scenes at Crossroads' people in action. Feeding the homeless. Sponsoring African orphans. Ministering to recovering drug addicts. Encouraging our overseas troops. This is love in action.
You have special gifts, CJB. You have something special to contribute to God's plan, something different than anyone else. The right church can awaken your gifts and connect you to your purpose in life.
Who the heck cares whether a church has 100 or 10,000 members if they aren't illustrating God's great love by ministering to the world?
At some time in the future, I hope for the chance to meet you and serve alongside you.
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