REMEMBER THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Scripture
Isaiah 48:1-11
Talk about the good old
days of church. The things you remember
most about how church used to be that is no longer that way.
CAPTIVITY TO RETURN – like Egypt [like sin]
Assyria (Israel) / Babylon (Judah) / Persian – King Cyrus
God is going to
say it plainly ‘once more’
Faculties in higher
education are notorious for their endless debate. As scholars with a gift of working ideas and
weighing the details the tendency is to talk until all parties are heard and
every option is explored. Then, if
everyone is not satisfied and the proceedings run true to form, the issue will
be referred to committee for further study before a recommendation is made. Among college presidents, this saying is
often repeated, “Nothing ever happens in a faculty meeting until the President
defines the ‘sense of the meeting.’
Isaiah 48:1-11
"Listen
to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come
from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke
the God of Israel (Sounds like he is addressing the faithful – the ones you
want at your church) — but not in truth
or righteousness — you who call
yourselves citizens of the holy city and rely on the God of Israel — the Lord
Almighty is his name: (Again, a
little confusing because it sounds like the best of the best but somehow they
are not – they only seem to be.)
I foretold the
former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then
suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. For I knew how stubborn you were; the
sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze. (Quite the picture of a stiff-necked
people) Therefore I told you these
things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could
not say, 'My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.' You have heard these things; look at them
all. Will you not admit them? (In other words, I told you things that would
happen long before they happened so you would know I speak the truth and I hold
the future in my hands. – but they did not believe God had done it, rather
their idols)
"From now
on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. 7 They are
created now, and not long ago; (I’m
not just going to repeat the things of old but do something new that you will
see come to pass and know I have done it…then maybe you will turn back to me
FOR REAL) you have not heard of them
before today. So you cannot say, 'Yes, I knew of them.' You have neither heard nor understood; from
of old your ear has not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were
called a rebel from birth.
(Why does God even care – why doesn’t he go to a
different people then the ones he chose?
Surely another group of people – let’s call them Christians would get it
right.) He did it not for them, rather…For
my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I
hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. See, I have refined you,
though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my
own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be
defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.
SHIFT TO TODAY AND
TO THE CHURCH
We know the church is
not the same as a thousand years ago…or 500 years ago during the reformation –
or 60 years ago in the 1950’s. But now
the church shifts that used to take 1000 or even hundreds of years to take
place do so not even in decades but in a few years. My job today is vastly different than it was
25 years ago and continues to change as the nature of the church changes. Let’s look at some shifts during that and
more recent times.
Shifts Happening That Impact Church
Evaporating
Landline phones
|
Emerging
Increase of mobile phones
|
Possible Impact
Mobility/connection/delivery
system option for CE
|
Denominational
alignment
|
Multiple
alignments
|
Partnership
building surpasses denominational building
|
Maintenance-minded churches
|
Missional-focused churches
|
Church presence more valued
than church attendance
|
Inward-focused
evaluation metrics
|
Missional/outward-focused
evaluation metrics
|
Measuring
church by impact and influence not just attendance
|
Clergy-driven church
|
Lay-driven ministries
|
Celebrating all the people of
God and church in the world
|
Eight-hour
workday/five days a week
|
24–7 workweek
|
Multiple
programming at times and places most accessible and convenient
|
Economic base stressed due to
aging congregation
|
Diversified financial base
|
Using creative funding
sources, technological venues for giving/support
|
Leadership base
for ongoing programming
|
Short-term
teams for short-term programs
|
Missional-focused
experiences led by missional teams
|
Print media
|
Digital and multiple delivery
systems for multiple cultures and languages
|
Multiple delivery systems
designed to communicate for understanding, engagement, and interaction
|
Church facility
base that defines church
Staff-Choir
led worship
Teacher led,
time-bound Bible study groups
|
Church mission
focus that defines church
Lay-led
rotating leadership teams for worship
Leader/team
led, dispersed small group
|
Decentralized
campuses with less focus on facility and more focus on impact
Collaborative
worship planning and leadership models emerge
Coach approach
to adult Bible study in communities, work places & church gatherings
|
Denominationally focused and
distributed curricula
Congregational-based
church
Televisions are disappearing
in many homes
|
Curricula design and
selection from various sources in keeping with church mission
Missional-based
church
On-demand mobile television
programming and movies
|
Curricula designed, written,
and delivered by regional teams, digital delivery only
Multiple forms
(including Internet delivery) of church gatherings and impact
Entertainment, education,
leisure becoming on demand and mobile
|
What does this mean for me –
for us? This means we not only
have to make sure we don’t have an iron neck or a bronze forehead, but that we
improve our flexibility and that only comes with exercise. That only comes with
being present as the first step. We need
to develop more people passionately involved with the growth and relevance of
the church to most effectively impact today’s culture, not bemoan its existence
and hunker in the bunker pretending it doesn’t exist.
Who are those who will rise up regardless of age and not be content to
put in an hour a week at best but willing to commit your life for the sake of
Christ’s church – for it to become the most important quest in your life. If we don’t do all we can, the church that
you have known will cease to exists – just ask the people in the 8000 US
churches that closed their doors in 2013.
Why close? Declining
attendance. When you have 12 people left
there is not a lot of reason to keep paying the electric bill. Who is no longer at church? The Good News is the majority of people no
longer at church are the people on the fringes – the once to twice a month
attenders. The ones with little
investment. I say good news because the
faithful remnant remains. I have proof
in dollars and cents. We had an average
of 50 fewer people in attendance in 2013 than we had in 2012. Sounds alarming? Wait – our regular giving through offerings
was nearly identical to the previous year…with 50 fewer people. What does that tell you about commitment
level of the 50 people who are no longer here? Better yet, what does that tell you about the
people who are still here? Committed.
Look, we do not need to make stuff up for a new culture in a new day –
God is already doing that – we just need to keep our eyes on Him and go here He
is going. If that means pump up existing
ministries of Sunday School, Small groups, Misison Circles in a new way than we
do that. If that means adding multiple
services or even different venues for where we offer worship then we do that. Not where should we move in ministry but
where is God already moving in ministry and how to we best follow him there?
CORPORATE MOVEMENT
Isaiah 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive
it? I am making a way in the desert and
streams in the wasteland.
INDIVIDUAL
MOVEMENT
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
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