MondayMorningInsight - Leadership & Encouragement for Church Leaders

What Happened to the Mainline Churches?

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Thu, July 28, 2005
Viewed 27
(8) comments so far

In one of the beginning paragraphs he writes, "Why did the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City collapse on September 11, 2001? The National Institute of Standards and Technology subsequently concluded the combination of the intense heat, the inadequate fireproofing, the design of the floor trusses, the grade of the steel used in the construction, and other variables in the design meant that the buildings could crumble if the unexpected should happen. The unexpected came on a sunny September morning when the fuel-laden wings of two commercial aircraft traveling at nearly 600 miles per hour cut through those exterior walls and the fuel ignited."

The buildings failed because they met with conditions they were not designed to respond to. Schaller believes that Mainline Churches are crumbling because we have met conditions we were not designed to meet. Schaller asks a very piercing question, ?When the actual outcomes do not match the desired results, whom do we blame?" Schaller lists three reasons that our churches are crumbling.

1. Inadequate human resources--We simply have not produced the leaders we need for today.

2. We have designed our churches "...to serve a foreseeable set of circumstances. When the circumstances changed on us we did not change our systems

3. It is three times as difficult to be an effective pastor today as it was in 1955. Peoples' expectations of the pastor have changed and the context in which we live and do ministry has changed.

Your thoughts?

James Swanson has an interesting post on his blog about why so many churches are in trouble (particularly many mainline churches). James says: Lyle Schaller has a new book out called "A Mainline Turnaround". I have just started reading this book but as most books do it really sparked some conversations within me. In his first Chapter he writes about ‘What Happened?’ to the mainline churches…

Comments

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Gerry on Thu, July 28, 2005

First, I would like to see more about point 2. What does he mean by that.

Second, I believe it is fairly obvious that mainlines lost touch with their constituency. You can only pound the single drum of social justice for so long when the person in the pew is overwhelmed by the junk in his or her personal lives.
sillyputty on Thu, July 28, 2005

let me translate schaller’s findings into language i can understand:

1.)lack of mentoring

2.)lack of prophetic vision that goes beyond our immediate needs

3.)lack of relevant training for leading into today’s context

but i really think at the heart of the death of a lot of mainline churches is the weak theology (especially Christology) and the lack of discipleship from the pulpit to the pew…mainline denominations, just like any church from even the most conservative perspective, can easily find itself struggling to maintain its traditions instead of advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ into a world that may frighten us…i am completely discontented with my mainline denomination (American Baptist)..

you cannot see what you will not look at…mainline denoms were so busy looking back that they forgot to look forward…
pjlr on Thu, July 28, 2005

Wow, the reasons mentioned are what I inherited when I accepted my present position 4 years ago. And we’re not even a mainline church:)

Your exerpt is enough to make me want to go out and get the book. Thanx
Bernie Dehler on Thu, July 28, 2005

1 and 3 make sense, but I didn’t get #2.

...Bernie

http://freegoodnews.blogspot.com/
BeHim on Thu, July 28, 2005

[The buildings failed because they met with conditions they were not designed to respond to.]

I know where the author of the article is going but I must point out, no lie can stand against The Truth, so in the end, when something fails, it is usually because of what we are standing on. Also, failure in the world and flesh is different than failure in the Faith (opposite in many or most cases).

[1. Inadequate human resources—We simply have not produced the leaders we need for today.]

Amen. As important, what kind of leaders are we producing? Those who are fully capable of standing on the Word of God or those who seem they can because they are always smiling, singing and in such a great mood.

[2. We have designed our churches “...to serve a foreseeable set of circumstances. When the circumstances changed on us we did not change our systems]

I love how one person responded to a statement that: “we should plan our churches as though they would be around for 400 years”, how that would change the perspective. The person responded: How much more would our perspective be changed if we knew our churches would be around for only another 40 days. Priorities would drastically change wouldn’t they. Also, which “perspective” has the stronger Scriptural foundation.

[3. It is three times as difficult to be an effective pastor today as it was in 1955. Peoples’ expectations of the pastor have changed and the context in which we live and do ministry has changed.]

Thank God He doesn’t change. The Ministry hasn’t changed, the people have. In what way? Sin has increased and this has changed the ministry. We are not here for the expectations of the people but what does the King of Kings and Lord of Lords expect.
Peter Hamm on Fri, July 29, 2005

I don’t suspect it’s actually 3 times harder to be a pastor today. I think it’s just 3 times harder to figure out what being a pastor MEANS today in the mainline church, because we spent so long forgetting that pastors were supposed to equip people to do the ministry, the work of the church. At some point, they started just doing all the work instead of equipping the real ministers… the saints.

just my $.02
JLB on Sat, July 30, 2005

>#1. Inadequate human resources—We simply have not produced the leaders we need for today.

>#2: We have designed our churches “...to serve a foreseeable set of circumstances. When the circumstances changed on us we did not change our systems.

My own recent experience with a mainline denomination connects these two points. Summary: they seemed more interested in following their SYSTEMS and tradition than THE SPIRIT and wherever His wind blows.

The whole story, if you have the time http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif ...

I recently went through a situation in which a mainstream protestant church was interested in me, but my denominational background is different, though virtually identical theologically. In spite of the local church’s interest, the denomination’s head office had no “check box” on their required form that allowed someone ordained in another denomination to apply for such a pastorate - even with some kind of probationary period or ordination council examination.

Since the form was sent to me by the church in electronic form I created a new line item and “checked” it, and included an explanation of my situation.

I sent a copy to the church electronically, and they instructed me to also send a copy to the denomination’s office (by hardcopy, as the head office did not permit electronic submissions; what year is this?!). A few days later I received a call from an administrative secretary in the denomination’s office, who was appalled that I would alter their form, and told me there was no procedure for one of their churches to accept someone ordained by another denomination. “You cannot serve in one of our churches,” she said several times, as if I were trying to overthrow their denomination. I told her that THE CHURCH had contacted ME about their interest and I had just followed their instructions. “You can’t; it’s not permitted.”

In the face of such resistance, the local church thanked me for my interest, and withdrew me from consideration.

By the way, in researching the denomination, I found that - because of their shortage of ministers - they do have several programs with excellent incentives for college and seminary-aged people to “fast-track” into their churches. But they have no mechanism to permit an EXPERIENCED pastor from another denominational background to pastor - even a person who is desired by one of their local churches which fits a very odd cultural profile!

I understand the need to protect the faith from heresy, but my own denomination’s doctrines are virtually identical to theirs.

The denomination’s hierarchy has created a neat and tidy system for filling their pastorates, and keeping track of them all, but they’ve created it while wearing blinders, so it’s too inflexible to accommodate what should be acceptable exceptions.
kd on Sun, July 31, 2005

It seems to me that churches have forgotten Who they are serving, not a denominational god, but the God of us all.Amen.