3 New Year Resolutions for the Church

I’m a couple weeks late on this one, but as we are almost a quarter of a way through another century, I think we need some high and lofty resolutions for the Church. Small changes really can make a difference, but we also need goals that are somewhat visionary: they paint a picture on a grander scale of our aims. Here are 3 resolutions that I think apply not just to my local church, but to the American Church at large.

Resolution #1 – Make Church feel like Church

1Ti 4:13  Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 

Church should not feel like a concert. Church should not feel like a theatrical production. Church should definitely not feel like a comedy club. The way we communicate impacts what we communicate. When people leave church, they should feel like they have been to church.

This is not a knock on metal buildings or shop-front places of assembly; this is a call to publicly embrace, without apology, the sober and joyous spirit of those who gather to hear the preaching of the Word of God, edify one another, observe Communion, and pray. How much of your time together as a congregation is taken up in prayer? What’s the ratio of time spent singing to time spent studying the Bible? We know that when we come together, there are certain things that we are supposed to happen. Are these the things that are actually happening, or are they things we “sneak in” amidst a barrage of more sensually pleasurable experiences so that people don’t perceive us as boring?

Christians should feel no shame about the sincerity of their prayers, the joy of partaking of Communion, or the straightforward preaching of Truth. This is who we are. This is what we do. And frankly, spending time in prayer just isn’t as exciting as watching a skit. Listening to a preacher who makes us laugh is more pleasurable than listening to a preacher who helps us see our reflection in the Word.

The problem with making church feel like a comedy club is that at some point, the church will become a comedy club. Adorning the worship of the Lord with all the accoutrements of a concert will eventually make the church feel like a concert. Instead of making an effort to make church feel less “churchy” so that infidels feel comfortable, let’s make church feel like a church so that infidels can tell the difference.

Now you might argue that making church “feel” like church is just the same sort of thing in the opposite direction. That if we start pulling out the old organ that’s been shoved in a closet until Miss Betty dies so we can throw it away without causing a church split, then we’re really just making the church feel like something cultural from the past. And so we can have our comedy club or concert vibe and just do the things the church is supposed to do and then we really get the best of both worlds.

The problem I have with that is it’s a pose and everyone knows it. Let me illustrate. Let’s say that an evangelist goes to some godless New England city and begins to see a bunch of converts come to Christ. And in that neighborhood, there was a night club that all these pagans used to party at and among the converted is the owner of that night club. Needing a place for this burgeoning congregation to meet, and what with the crazy prices of real estate, these new believers move in and get baptized in a hot tub they brought over from Frank’s deck. So there they are with the weird club lighting and the preacher standing behind the old bar with the glass shelves reflecting his bald spot while a bunch of shot glasses grace the cover of the hot tub for Communion. What say I? I say hallelujah and amen. This is clearly a case of the gospel conquering the wickedness of that place and the whole thing is redemptive.

But then another guy comes to town and sees how well this new congregation is doing and he thinks, “This is what these people want! If I want them to come to church, I need to have my church look like a nightclub!” And pretty soon, he’s filled up his night club. Except that it’s filled with a bunch of church members from other churches in the area who left because their church wasn’t doing enough to reach people. This is just a pose. It’s marketing. It isn’t gospel anything. So don’t be that guy. Don’t be those church members.

The American Church has spent this century trying to look more like the world to attract the world, and it not only doesn’t work in general (even without Barna group data, we can all see the direction the culture is headed), it’s pretentious and often obviously so. The attractional model of church is spiritually bankrupt. Maybe one out of every fifty churches that tries to pull off “cool” pulls it off – the rest come across as second rate versions of the same thing the world has. So quit it. Just be a church, and be unapologetic about it. When people drive off, they shouldn’t have any doubts that they just left a church.

Resolution #2 – Put an End to Consumerism

Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

(1Co 11:17-21)

“The youth department just isn’t big enough”

“ There aren’t enough kids”

“ I don’t like the music”

The church is not a mini-mall. The church is not a buffet. What we have become is the most selfish generation of Christians that have ever lived, and we have done it by accepting the dynamics of consumerism. The dynamics which will leave us with a few large churches with the most exciting youth ministry, the best kids ministry, and the most talented musicians. None of which are particularly impressive to God.  

Maybe we should try walking into church like sinners saved by grace. Maybe we should try being a people whose hearts are not captivated by the trappings of the service, but a people whose hearts are captivated by the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, and believe that the power to save the neighbor who came with us or the kids we are raising lies not in the number of gym nights and pizza parties the church hosts, but in the gospel. I would love for my church to have a gym, but we don’t and it doesn’t matter. God’s power to save and transform does not lie in whether or not the church is large enough to have a Starbucks in the lobby.

There actually is a fix to this: don’t accept members into your church who left their last church for no good reason. Don’t accept members into your church until another local pastor specifically asks you to take them into your congregation. Make these juveniles grow up a little. Stop accepting that joining a church has roughly the same significance as joining a gym. We are members one of another for crying out loud.

Resolution #3 – Invite Someone to Church

Generally speaking, unbelievers visit a church because they were invited by someone they know and trust. I don’t have a cute graph for you so you can argue if you want, but I’m gonna stick to my guns on this one. Now many people who are already looking check out churches online before visiting, and I’ve got no problem with that. Looking for a new church home is time consuming and so if you have a way to limit the number of potential churches I think that makes sense. But when it comes to unbelievers (the unchurched), I think they are most likely to come because they were invited.

Now on the one hand, we live in a society where church attendance is declining. But on the other hand, we live in a world where people feel disconnected from one another. They are looking for connections. So invite someone to come see what it’s about. And don’t worry about whether it is “Friend Sunday” or anything like that (although those can be good excuses to invite someone). Trust that the faithful gathering of believers fulfilling the functions of the gathered church (see Resolution #1) is a sufficient opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work in that person’s life.

Inviting others can be relatively non-personal, like physically handing someone a tract or invitation of some sort as you go through a drive through. On the other hand, it could be very personal, like inviting your next door neighbor. And that neighbor happens to know whether you parent your kids, or care for your lawn, or put your trash in others’ dumpsters. But this shouldn’t worry you, because as a Spirit filled individual, your life should be a wonderful testimony to the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.

Another benefit of inviting others to church is that it is a genuine act of hospitality that simultaneously shows that you are not ashamed of being a Christian. A lot of believers are kind of hunkered down right now, sometimes wondering how their employment might be affected if it because known that they are a church attending Christian. Inviting others indicates that not only are you Not Ashamed, you are also Not Afraid. And we could use a lot more Not Afraid in the world today.

God bless, and Happy 2024!