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Written by Jan Linn
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Monday, 06 June 2011 19:15 |
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There continues to be a lot of hand wringing in churches about the loss of members in general and low attendance in particular. But what is not being said is that decline is less about churches not knowing how to attract people and more about the church’s failure to be faithful to the message of Jesus that is about peace and justice and radical faithfulness to the God of Abraham and Jesus.
This is what churches in decline should be discussing. Trying to figure out how to grow your church is simply not the point. The real point is how to be faithful to the call to love mercy, do justice, and walk humbly before God (Micah 6:8). The prophetic movement in Israel arose because of injustice, because of social inequity, because of the abuse of power by kings, because the worship of human creations replaced worship of God. This was Jesus’ heritage and he lived up to it. He spoke of nations being judged by the extent of their help to those in need (Matthew 25:31-46). He said hell would be filled with the rich who walk by the poor and don’t even notice them (Luke 16:20-26). He said loving your neighbor extended to loving your enemies (Matthew 5:44). This is who Jesus was and what he said was important. If your church is not trying to work on these demands, then it is playing at church instead of being one. This is not about how effective a congregation is in meeting the demands of the gospel. It is about an all encompassing desire to meet them. Are the core values Jesus lived and preached core to the kind of church your congregation wants to be?
My experience over many years in congregational ministry is that they are tangential, if a concern at all. This is what has to change if the church is to have a future worth having. Change is never easy, but it can be achieved. The call upon us is to be prophetic congregations in the tradition of Nathan confronting King David about his adultery with Bathsheba compounded by the murder of her husband Uriah (2 Samuel 12: 1-15). Prophetic ministry is all about speaking truth to power, whatever that truth is to whomever has the power. We don’t know all the truth there, but, as we say here at Spirit of Joy, at least we can speak all the truth we know
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