The Successful 21st Century Church

[Martin Schmaltz]

For a recent conference, I was asked to be one of the members of a panel discussion, our topic was: The Church in the 21st Century. A lofty theme for a two-hour dialogue.

In preparation, I spent much time ruminating on what has been written about the current church situation and what is seen as biblical models of a New Testament church. The following is a few thoughts I jotted down. Now they are not a complete dissertation, but I think, they are good discussion points to starts some dialogue. So, tell me what you think.

Church growth
We are well into the 21st century, yet when someone speaks of church growth it is predominantly from an old paradigm, ie: numerical growth of a local assembly. The typical concept of church growth is to find a better way to attract people to an event on Sunday. The thought is, if we can increase the number in a service, we think we can increase the chances of someone being saved and then continuing to attend on a regular basis. The fact is we are just looking to do what we have always done, just in a more attractional way!

In the traditional, attractional church of the 20th century, the Sunday event is seen as the major point of evangelism, or preaching of the salvation message. This mindset causes church leaders to search out the latest, greatest program that will attract a crowd. The majority of ministries can devolve into programs that actually promote the church, hoping it will inspire those to attend. (believe me, I have been there done that as a pastor!)

Unfortunately, this is still DOING church using a model that is becoming obsolete. Depending upon what sources you read, this way of church appeals to at best 40% of the population; but realistically, about 30% (Hirsch, Salter). So we have the majority of “churches” all scrapping for an ever-shrinking piece of the pie.

Now before you crucify me, I am not saying this is WRONG, just not as effective as it was many decades ago. Also, I am not saying to do away with the weekly gathering. But what we need is a new context/paradigm/box/perspective (buzz words) to see this gathering in to be more Gospel friendly.

So what is the answer to successful church in the 21st century? I believe it is focusing on BEING the church, not how we DO church. Or another way of saying it: grow people, not churches.

Discipleship
Jesus states that He would build his church: He did not empower us to do this. He did give us a commission, not to grow churches, but to make disciples by teaching them to be obedient to His way of life (commandments). If we focus on our part, He will do his.

If the church is to be successful church in 21st century, each born again believer must think like missionaries (missional): Contextualizing a holistic Gospel in the lives of the culture they are trying to reach. What this entails is living the gospel AS good news in the daily lives of those we interact with. It is taking the Gospel beyond the salvation experience and demonstrating its transformational power. It is the application of this transformational power of the Gospel that will result in disciples being formed.

If the church is to fulfill the commission to make disciples, there first must be an empowering and then a sending of the existing disciples. The empowerment process must convey that the believer has been authorized by Jesus to be His representative and image bearer to this world. The demonstration of this empowerment will present a relevant Gospel in the context of the culture they are living.

Relevant
Relevance -“having direct bearing on the matter in hand.”

Now what relevance means to the success of the 21st century church is this: Demonstrating how the gospel reaches into the nooks and crannies of life and address the deepest issues of our existence, reveals its relevance BEYOND the salvation experience.

For each of us, our choices determine the outcomes of our lives and those choices are dictated by our values. The relevant application of the Gospel reveals how the good news of the Kingdom challenges and transforms our values, which in turn, will affect our choices. Each person and culture has ideologies that are deeply ingrained in their value system. In the discipleship process, it is the responsibility of the believer to root these out and present the Good News in a way that addresses these, thus making the Gospel relevant.

So in summary, if the church is to be successful in the 21st century, it must change its paradigm from an attractional model only: to an attractional AND scattering process. The leadership of the local assemblies should focus on training and empowering the believers THEN sending them out to demonstrate Jesus and his kingdom, thus making disciples.

Then Jesus will build his church.