Can a small, very traditional church make it?

I hear some of my colleagues decrying smaller churches that, as they put it, are stuck in the 1950s (or earlier) and which are so hidebound and traditional that they will never survive in the 21st century. I am told to prepare for the closing of thousands of SBC churches who refuse to change.

Yesterday as I drove to a nearby church to worship, I considered that I might be visiting one of these churches. I knew it was small although I had not heard anything about it for at least ten years or so.

My wonderful wife wasn't feeling well, so, after promises that I would behave myself, I went alone.

The red brick church and everything about it screamed, 'old timey,' right down to the singing of the Doxology when the men brought the offering to the front and to the closing hymn, 'Blest Be the Tie That Binds.'

You cannot get any more traditional that that.

I was greeted by several folks in the parking lot and again when I entered the building. Guess I stood out. No anonymity here.

The church had not had a pastor change and I knew the man but not well. We chatted for a moment in the aisle.

I took a seat in an empty pew about middle ways back. In this church folks like to sit toward the rear and all the back pews were taken. If the sanctuary were a canoe it would have tipped over backwards.

My pew was empty, save for me, and stayed empty the whole time. No one sat by me, talked to me, or messed with me after I was seated. I occasionally like a little solitude but this was a bit too much.

It's my thinking that people sometimes don't know what to do with guests in church. As a pastor of average sized churches that might have 100 or so in a service, when I saw a guest come in and sit alone, I would enlist someone to go talk to them and sit with them. It makes me cringe to see a guest sitting alone while the regular church folks are smiling, laughing, and chatting with one another all around.

Not good.

The service included a greeting time and during that an older lady with a big smile came up to me and asked if I was the 'preacher who used to be at First Baptist'.

'Uh, yeah,' I admitted.

"Well," she continued, "all those people on the other side of the aisle from you are staring at you."

I looked. Sure enough they were.

"You think it's my stunning good looks," I asked her, "or my bright red shirt?"

"Maybe both," she said while laughing.

I felt better.

So, I ask you: Is this a church that is going to die a quick and merciful death?

God only knows.

Would it help you diagnose it if I said that about one-fourth of the 50-60 folks in the service were children and teenagers and there were more young couples than senior couples? If this church is going to die, they will have to do it with an average age younger than any of the churches I pastored.

Would it help if I disclosed that the music leader was a young, well, boy? He had to be a teen but was nonetheless quite competent in leading the music.

Would it help if I mentioned that the pianist was very young herself but very accomplished as well?

Would it help if I described the choir of ten people as singing, and singing well, a very challenging 'special' that blessed me?

I get a little weary of the critics who look with disdain on churches like this one and who pronounce their inevitable demise.


People get to vote on killing churches every Sunday. This church isn't getting many such votes, seems to me. 

 

On a Sunday when you know it's not your best

Early into my semi-retirment/pastoral hiatus my wife and I visited a prominent church nearby and did not have a stellar experience. I could have had a rock in my shoe that Sunday morning but it appeared to me that we were not all that welcome. The preaching (the pastor was out that Sunday) was, well, unfortunate.

We finally got around to returning yesterday, an unintentionally long delay, and we had a very good experience.

Prior to the service, after we had found our seats, a man came up and spoke to us. I looked at my wife and whispered, "Staff guy?" Later I found out he was indeed a staff guy. OK, so you get a little less credit if you are on the payroll and are also friendly on Sunday. I still liked it. After the service, I even got a warm hug from someone who recognized me. That certainly registers high on the friendliness scale.

The music was very good. The pastor preached, was very well prepared and delivered a message that had some unction to it. No phoning it in for this long tenure minister.

It was a good Sunday morning in God's house.

Which brings me to what all pastors know to be an issue: What about a Sunday when we know that the service is not so hot, sub-typical, and we are not at our best?

What if you have a first time visitor at your church who is exposed to some musical near-disaster, grumpy congregants, and/or a homiletic train wreck? Things like that happen, as if any pastor needs a reminder of such.

Perhaps the best way to look at this is to understand that we shouldn't show up on Sunday morning with the goal of impressing visitors or congregants. In fact, God help us not to.

Worship God. Preach Jesus. Sing His praises. Bless His holy name. Worship in spirit and in truth.

Am I wrong to believe that most believers who have some level of understanding about church will find that sincerity and genuineness will show through even on a Sunday when the service is not your best?

I think not.

It would be helpful in such cases, indispensable really, to remember that Jesus is always sufficient and when He is put forward in a worship service, it will work out just fine.

It's not about the music quality. It's not about how friendly people are. It's not about the pastor delivering a homiletic masterpiece.

It's all about Jesus.

So, trust the Lord and stop all that hand wringing over what visitors might have thought about your sub par Sunday service. It's not about them, either.

Hope you had a great Lord's Day yesterday.



  



 

A visit to a Calvinist church...

For five months of my pastoral retirement/hiatus I have visited various churches - large and small, friendly and unfriendly, good music and deplorable music, Biblical preaching and sans Biblical preaching.

This past Sunday I visited an SBC Calvinist church. More accurately,  rather than being a 'Calvinist church' it is a church whose pastor is a Calvinist.

It's about as Southern Baptist as you can get.

Being highly trained in such things, my Calvinist radar was at its maximum setting. I immediately noted the absence of dour faced, long bearded elders roaming about, neither did I find a joyless group of worshippers resigned to their predetermined fates.

The tieless pastor had no horns, did not snort fire, and no smoke came from his nostrils. The word "Calvin" was not enunciated a single time in my hearing.


Actually, my wife and I have worshiped there several times and the congregation is the friendliest that we have encountered and that without even having a canned greeting time planned in the service.
The pastor is a friend whose preaching I have enjoyed on a few occasions.

I doubt the most rabid anti-calvinist would find anything to gripe (or blog) about in this church. It is a typical SBC congregation, several decades old.

Concerning my reformed brethren, while I have written about some things I am wary about, as well as somethings I like, in personal interaction I find far more to like than dislike.

Sure, I read that some of the brethren are extremely wary of any connection to ACTS29 network churches that receive church planting support from our North American Mission Board, and that explained partly on the basis of Calvinistic beliefs. To these I would say, scrutinize all you want. If you find a NAMB church plant that does not conform to the Baptist Faith and Message, speak up.

I've seen and heard Calvinist pastors destroy SBC churches, and that directly out of their unwise zeal for Calvinist theology. These have concerned me and still do.

But, I will likely return to this church. Perhaps it is providential and/or irresistible that I do so.

Easter from the church pew...

...looked pretty good to me yesterday. Jesus was preached. The resurrection celebrated.

The sunrise service had about one third of the attendance of the main worship service, that would be at the sacred 11:00 hour, and the weather was near perfect, cool not cold, with the timing just right on the sunrise, and no trains noisily rumbled by during the short service.

The light breakfast ('light' would be Southernese for heavy but just not as heavy as it could have been, sausage and biscuits light) was very good and the fellowship was warm.

I attended the church I used to pastor and was greeted warmly. The interim pastor is doing a great job, always preaches well, and I enjoy hearing him. He is among the sensible brethren who communicate to the Easter crowd that he is genuinely glad they came to worship.

In what promises not to be the beginning of a new Easter tradition, my family and I ate lunch at the Waffle House which was serving purple waffles in recognition of Easter. While I believe I understand the thinking behind that, I'm not sure it works well, purple not being a very appetizing color no matter what sits on the plate ready to be consumed. Think beets here.

God is good. Jesus is wonderful. Bless His holy name.