What Happened To Our Churches

Six Perspectives on the Spirit

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Look to the Spirit for Spiritual Energy

Think about a church’s “spiritual energy” as the total of hours and dollars participants give to the shared life and work of that congregation.  Now consider these observations from church consultant Ed Stetzer:

1. The Spirit-oriented Pentecostal and charismatic movements continue to expand, and many are shying away from oddities and excesses in their past, like speaking in tongues.
2. Evangelicals are moving toward the theology of Spirit-filled and Spirit-led ministries.
3. Forty years ago, 30% of the US population self-identified with mainline denominations; now it is about 15%. Their loss of energy is most obvious in empty pews and buildings.

A good way for a traditional church to regain spiritual energy is to focus more on how the Holy Spirit energizes Christian fellowships.  Classical Lutheran and Calvinist theology left the biblical teachings on the Third Person of the Trinity poorly developed. 

My intent is to offer fresh perspectives on what Jesus teaches about his Spirit and how Paul explains the role of the Spirit in Christian church life.  Ultimately the Spiritual energy of a congregation is a reflection of how well the Spirit has energized the individual participants, who add their energy to that church’s fellowship.

A modern term gives focus to the Spirit’s work.  It is “motivation”— the understanding of what moves people into action.  There is no clear biblical equivalent.  Motivation provides the missing link in the classical theology of justification by grace through faith, not by works.  The act of trusting God’s love and accepting the free gift of Christ’s redemption brings us into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, who is God’s empowering presence.  Christ’s Spirit works on our hearts and brings new priorities that motivate our behaviors.  In addition to being saved as a gift of grace, we can also live by the gifts of the Spirit as a second kind of grace.

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The Crumbling Sacred Canopy

Waiting at our local Conrad’s Tire and Auto, I saw a hard-covered book on the history of this 30-store chain. It was started after the War by Joan and Ed Conrad. They were and are a staunch Irish Catholic family. They and their kids went to Catholic schools I recognized from the old neighborhood.

Their story brought to mind a classic Irish Catholic neighbor of ours. Their family’s kids and ours played a lot together. I admire this Mom of seven children. Raised in a faithful Irish Catholic family herself, she did and does go to mass every morning.

As I reminisced, I thought, we know who we are and why we’re here. We are created by God to worship him and to serve others.

Back then both Catholic and Lutheran church bodies had strong institutions, especially with grade schools, high schools and universities. Those institutions are in retreat. The Catholic bishop of Cleveland closed or merged 50 parishes. In the Cleveland area, we lost four Lutheran grade schools in the past ten years, and the city congregations still remaining are barely hanging on.

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Planting Churches the New Way

In 1990, I was called to be a mission developer on the staff of the Ohio District of the LCMS. I was paid district scale, which was generous considering my level of education and that it had been 23 years since ordination. The days of that kind of church planting are gone.

Through a providential set of events, while teaching my D.Min course on Church Management, at 3:00 pm on Monday, January 15, 1990, I felt convicted that God was calling me to plant a new church in the southern suburbs of Cleveland. That call is very comforting when you go through all the ups and downs of church planting.

Since that start in 1990, I know of only one other successful district church plant. This is out of probably 12 attempts. Nobody has ever counted because, I suspect, they don’t want to see the number. From Royal Redeemer, where my work is based, we have had three successful church plants out of four attempts.

My definition of church-planting success is surviving five years and being financially self-sufficient. I have heard lots of young leaders brag about all the churches they planted. By far, most turn out to be small group Bible studies that soon disappear.

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Re-Discover the Forgotten Gospel

It’s there tucked into the middle of John’s account of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the analogy for Jesus beloved by all (John 10: 1-18). In verse 10 Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). A more accurate translation is “that they may have life overflowing.”

Who was Jesus talking about? The sheep, of course. Jesus invited us to see ourselves as the sheep he protects and lays down his life for. There was no suggestion he is talking about what will happen in a future life. He addressed our daily life in this world.

What will be overflowing in this abundant life here and now? I believe the Good Life now will be overflowing with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I trust you recognize that this listing comes from Galatians 5:22, where Paul described the fruit of the Spirit. Understand that “fruit” means what we would call product, that which a business makes and sends out the door. The Spirit produces the inner qualities of love, joy, peace and the other fruit.

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The Controversial Role of Spiritual Experiences in Church Life

The congregations of the once-dominant Protestant established mainline church bodies (Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Reformed) are losing effectiveness in American culture today. The result is the forty-year decline in our memberships and influence. Mainline churches are becoming old-line, old fashioned churches. The driving question today is how we can regain the health and spiritual energy we used to have. My purpose is to offer some new insights and ways to help the Holy Spirit’s work of calling, gathering, enlightening and sanctifying believers through the fellowship of an individual congregation.

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Churches, Too, Now Have to Live in Hard America

“Hard America” is a phrase used by writer and columnist Michael Barone in his book Hard American, Soft America: Competition vs Coddling. He describes changes that have happened in our American society in recent decades. Almost all institutions have run into heavy competition that forced them to change how they operate if they want to survive into future decades.

For centuries churches did their ministries in a soft environment. State churches had, with few exceptions, no competition at all.

The pastor is the key to developing a congregational culture that will be more competitive in Hard America. Most mainline pastors grew up and functioned in Soft America. Many probably don’t have the heart to change their ways. Let’s hope more will take the challenge to become more competitive in our emerging American culture. Soft America is not coming back.

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