A Church Like Cheers

I have been pretty discouraged today. I think it has something to do with the last book I am reading for my Book Review for the Christian Chronicle (due to be published in March.) I am working through the book Quiting Church, written by Julia Duin, the religion editor for the Washington Post, and I am becoming discouraged with the state of the church in America.

Although the Barna Group estimates that church attendance has remained the same for over 40 years (around 43% of the population), recent polls have shown that this number is grossly inflated. Realistically only 18-22% attend church regularly (with regularly being defined as once a month!) Statistics also show that only 4% of today's teenagers will be involved in a Bible-based church
by the time they have their own families. The vast majority of people are simply dropping out of church for various reasons: scandals in church leadership, lack of authenticity, lack of leadership/pastoring, etc. Many former church attendees simply see worship and "church" as irrelevant to their daily lives. It doesn't touch on the issues that affect us the most: emotional issues, sexuality, social justice, etc.

One of the issues that is most common is the lack of community within churches today. Intriguingly, there are stats that point to us creating our own problems. There are over 331,000 churches in America. However, 80% of the American church population attend 10% of those churches (33,000). The mega-church is in mega-boom. (At least, theoretically.) Thus, most churches are small but most people attend large churches. They want to be a part of a place where there are dozens of ministries available for every age group, social demographic, and personal preference. They want to lose themselves in the crowd to feel uplifted. Yet the very thing they crave often is the most damaging: they trade in authentic community to be surrounded by a community. They want to feel cared for, and they long to be an integral part of a community of believers, yet we often do nothing about it except quietly walk out the back door, forsaking church altogether.

What is the solution? What is the best way to go about bringing these Christians back into a community with one another?

An obvious choice is planting churches. New churches grow faster than older churches. It is simply the life cycle of the church, and this isn't a negative thing. Church planting isn't a disparaging of the established church. Think of it this way: whatever church you attend was once a church plant. Someone had in mind to reach a new group with the Gospel. (Unless you are a part of a church split, then the divisions get tougher!) Yet if we plant churches that look exactly like EVERY OTHER CHURCH then I think we have missed the point. We need to be a place where authentic community takes place. And as our unchurched population is telling us, that obviously doesn't seem to be happening in the vast majority of churches in America. So how can we reach this unchurched population? How can we encourage them to become a part of an authentic community with God? How can we help them not forsake the community of believers?

I believe we need to approach this problem with missional eyes. People are struggling to understand God in the midst of their situation. They long to feel connected with God, and they need the encouragement of other brothers and sisters in Christ to spur them on. They need AUTHENTIC community. Essentially, we need a church like Cheers!

Many of you remember this early '80's sitcom. I love the theme song that introduced the show:
"Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go...
Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name."

Now, granted, I am not advocating changing the Lord's Supper from crackers/juice into beer/peanuts. But we need to be realistic: there is more authentic community at the local bar than in our church gatherings. We need a church where people are always glad you came and everybody wants to know your name.

How do we go about doing that? How can we create authentic community? I think it is the most important question that we, in our endeavors, can attempt to answer. So, what are your thoughts? Mine will be coming soon.