We live in a difficult time for the Christian Faith. Churches that have been healthy meaningful communities for many decades are loosing membership and are having difficulty understanding what is happening to them. Religious periodicals are filled with stories about this issue, especially since a major study came out in January that shows that over the past decade mainline churches like RLC have lost over 25% of their membership and the losses seem to be increasing.

While there are a lot of factors contributing to this the one thing that it does not mean is that the Christian faith has lost its meaning for the upcoming generations. In fact it seems to be exactly the opposite. Take a look at the sales of Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life that we studies a few years ago. It has sold over twenty million copies in the United States and books like The Shack are seen in grocery stores and other places where religious books are not often found. Many believe that there is more opportunity to reach people with the Good News than there has been for centuries. One reason for this is that the church no longer needs to be driven by the culture. Since the sixties people no longer attend church because it is expected of them. Instead people are in our churches because they want to be here and are earnestly seeking a relationship with God. That means that we as a community in Christ are free to follow Jesus’ leading instead of trying to keep up appearances for the community around us. Though there are obviously challenges, the times we live in are filled with opportunities as well.

Look for example at the huge interest in books like Harry Potter. Far from being a negative for us it is a clear beacon showing us a huge need in the lives of the people in our community. They are looking for transcendence, something larger than themselves in which to believe. Our culture for the last two hundred years has been trying to explain away the mysteries of life but not only has it not succeeded but it has left people with a hunger for the very mysteries of faith that people have been trying to resolve. Jesus, unlike Harry Potter is a reality, a reality which through faith in him can bring us into the very presence of God. As the Body of Christ we need to play our part in leading those around us into the mysteries of God.

People are also looking for significance. If people really believed that the one who dies with the most toys wins they wouldn’t flock to volunteer for the Peace Corps and Habitat for Humanity. Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life is a part of this hunger for significance. Christians are rediscovering that God has a purpose for our lives that means are churches need to be more than a Sunday morning place.

The other thing people are hungry for is community. Many churches no longer provide this. Instead they have become places of obligation where people meet to pay their dues to God, coming and going without ever truly connecting to the people around them. In this church follows culture.

People no longer socialize as much in face to face situations. Instead we are trying to fill our need for community on line through Face Book, Twitter and other internet sites. This is not something that has gone unnoticed. People want friends, they want community. We are well aware of how our jobs and obligations have isolated us. There is a void in our lives that only God can fill.

The problem with the church today is more a loss of credibility. We have tried too hard to look like a perfect community, something that is always easy to see through. People are looking for transcendence, the presence of God, they are looking for true meaning, for purpose that can only have been put in place by God’s own intent at the creation. And finally they are looking for a community that will connect them with that transcendence, give them purpose beyond themselves and allow their live to have not a transitory meaning but a meaning that connects them with eternity.

These are the very things that Jesus promises with the Gospel. This means that if we at RLC orient ourselves around our transcendent God, seeking to find and fulfill Gods purpose and seek to accomplish these things as a welcoming community where God’s mercy and love truly overflow into the world around us we will gain in credibility and meaning to the community around us.

Churches are not dieing, they are however changing. We are not moving away from Jesus’ calling, but shedding some cultural baggage and moving back toward Jesus’ true intent for the Body of Christ. This is a time for hope not grief, for what we are experiencing is rebirth, the true resurrection pathway that always is a characteristic of the people of God.

Here at RLC we need to seriously consider how we too can gather ourselves around these three elements and allow God to lead us into the future that is intended.

Pastor Jim Bliss
May 2009