Open

When I was a child I can remember sitting in church and hearing the pastor announce, “the doors of the church are now open.” I had no clue what the pastor meant by that statement. I thought it was an announcement to leave service if you wanted to. I would often look to the back of the church waiting for the ushers to open the doors. They never did. It wasn’t until I made a personal commitment to Christ in college that I realized what the “doors are open” statement meant.

As I now understand when the doors are open it is an invitation to receive Christ. It can also be an invitation to discipleship, recommitment, or prayer. I laugh as I think how clueless I was to what was happening in service in my youth. Sadly, there appears to be another door open in the church, the back door. Many believers either are or have left the church. In fact a book was recently written about this subject entitled, The New Exodus: Why People Leave the Church and How to Invite Them Back.

I have been among those that have exited the church. To my surprise I am not alone. My journey has brought me in contact with many people that have walked out of the back door (Pastors included). Many of their stories are full of disappointment, discontent, and disillusionment. I can not speak to all of the reasons why a person leaves the church. However, I can speak from my own experience and my conversations with others. Here are some of the reason I believe people have abandoned the fellowship:

A broken heart: This one is definitely personal. After years of commitment, training, and work I found myself far short of my hopes and dreams. My level of service at my local congregation had gained little more depth than the day I walked through the front doors. I was going to plenty of meetings and I was spending a lot of time at the church, but I was giving very little of myself to service. This was not by my own doing, but the structure of the church did not lend itself to leadership development, training, and deployment. It hurts when you put your heart and soul into something and things don’t pan out. I know from my interactions with others my crushed heart is not alone.

Cold Brick and Mortar: Once in a church people may find the community is cold. Churches have a way of pulling a bait and switch move on unsuspecting seekers. Many Christians tend to be warm, friendly, and inviting to seekers. Once a seeker becomes a member the very same people they found to be warm and welcoming are now cold and unavailable. They have turned their attention to the new seeker.

Churches should be a prime location for relationship building. I believe the church is good at shallow “Advertising” relationships and horrible at depth. Pastors should set the tone by modeling healthy relational interaction amongst members. Sadly, pastors have set a tone of mystery and aloofness by being to busy for relationships.

Control, Control! You Must have Control!: If you are a star wars fan then you recognize the quote I just wrote as stated by Master Yoda. Unfortunately, many churches are operating with the mindset of control. I don’t mean control in a cultish manner (although some do), but in terms service, ministry development, and creation. Depending upon what type of church you go to you may hear the term “release” thrown around quite a bit. There is much talk of “releasing” people into ministry. The term paints a picture of holding people back. Personally I don’t care for it. I prefer the language of commissioning, sending, planting, ordaining, and discipleship. Pastors and others in leadership tend to hold people back for reasons only known unto them. I can remember sitting in a Sunday school class that I was assigned to for six months having taught only one lesson. It was a class for singles and I was a newly married man. Needless to say I wasn’t getting much out of it. In the words of Moses…Let my people go!!!

C.R.E.A.M.: The acronym C.R.E.A.M stands for cash rules everything around me. This has become a major part of the church. Much like the rest of the nation churches indulged in massive building projects. Many of these projects run into the millions. As pressure to repay the loans increase, people have felt the pressure from the pulpit to give more. It is rare that members are given the opportunity to have some say so in the initial development and implementation of such projects. Yet, it is the norm for members to be pressured to pay for the very same projects they did not give the green light to. It is a sorry sight to go to church and sit for an hour or two as you are pressured to give more and more. Some people have opted out of the praise-a-thon faith movement and left the church. As one man once said to me, “I have given all I can. What does he want, my dreams!”

Flashing Lights: My wife likes to say that many pastors are living a “flashing lights” lifestyle. This is to say that they are celebrities. There is nothing wrong with being well known because of your effective use in the Kingdom of God. However, there is something wrong with living in opulence on the backs of those you are supposed to serve. This trend seems to have taken over the church leadership. Serving God and his people used to be viewed as a sacrifice of service. Today many enter the ministry looking for a come up. Some in leadership believe it is their God given right to outdo their congregation. This may mean houses, cars, cash, suits, vacations, ect…The celebrity doesn’t stop there it has carried over into relationships and affiliations. Pastors may not have time for congregates, but they have time for other celebrity stars. When a shepherd doesn’t have time for his sheep he ceases to be a shepherd.

A Strange Gospel: I was reading the Gospel of Mark this morning. It opens by relating the story of John the Baptist. John preached repentance and remission of sin. It was a simple yet profound message. Mark reports that people from far and wide followed John into the wilderness to hear his message. Many churches have lost the clarity of John’s message and have turned to self-help/motivational teaching. Some have relied heavily upon books outside of the scope of the Biblical writings as primary text. People need forgiveness and transformation. People need Jesus, not Tony Robbins. The Gospel is the power of God (Romans 1:16). Let us not ever forget that.

I am going to stop here. There are many more things that could be said. I will leave that up to you. My prayer is that God will restore His Church and His people. I believe we can still be the authentic, loving, army of God.