Thursday, February 01, 2007
Shrinking Western Church?
Leading Christian statistician, George Barna, at a recent gathering of the House Church movement in the USA said that about one million Americans are leaving the traditional church.
What are people looking for now? Could it be there is a weariness with structure and possibly a problem with content?
Regarding this there is a growing concern in the heart of many about the way we 'are' and 'do' church. Increasingly people seem to be searching for simplicity, authenticity and a genuine expression of 'the priesthood of all believers' whereby ordinary believers are discipling and nurturing others. The church models, where the back of heads, or an out of reach stage performance, is what we see for most of our time in church, have become too impersonal for many. People want to interact more with what is going on in church gatherings and be in community with those who gather. They also want better content - stuff that they can recall and apply in their lives. Our bullet point, dull PowerPoint presentations and our three point sermons are forgotten almost directly after delivery.
As we grapple with making church more interactive and community focused, can we also help truth stick in peoples' hearts and minds by learning the art of storytelling with dialogue? Can we bring that into our church gatherings more? Bramuel Musya in Podcast #38 mentions how he led a storying dialogue in a Western church (which had 250 or more people present!!). Check out this link to hear that podcast if you missed it!
See Barna on how House Churches are more Satisfying to Attenders than are Conventional Churches:
click here
What are people looking for now? Could it be there is a weariness with structure and possibly a problem with content?
Regarding this there is a growing concern in the heart of many about the way we 'are' and 'do' church. Increasingly people seem to be searching for simplicity, authenticity and a genuine expression of 'the priesthood of all believers' whereby ordinary believers are discipling and nurturing others. The church models, where the back of heads, or an out of reach stage performance, is what we see for most of our time in church, have become too impersonal for many. People want to interact more with what is going on in church gatherings and be in community with those who gather. They also want better content - stuff that they can recall and apply in their lives. Our bullet point, dull PowerPoint presentations and our three point sermons are forgotten almost directly after delivery.
As we grapple with making church more interactive and community focused, can we also help truth stick in peoples' hearts and minds by learning the art of storytelling with dialogue? Can we bring that into our church gatherings more? Bramuel Musya in Podcast #38 mentions how he led a storying dialogue in a Western church (which had 250 or more people present!!). Check out this link to hear that podcast if you missed it!
See Barna on how House Churches are more Satisfying to Attenders than are Conventional Churches:
click here