The Erosion of Middle American Local church autonomy
As I write, I look out my window on a landscape sleeping under the domination of winter. A blanket of white has settled over the Wyoming Mountains leaving one to wonder if spring will ever return. Elk and deer paw through crusted snow to find the remnants of summer browse and eek out a meager existence tottering on the brink of starvation. In a similar way, it seems a blanket of cold has settled over the American Church.The saints are left fending for themselves on the hills, scattered by numerous voices clamoring for their money and allegiance to the latest junk food diet of generic spirituality. In this environment, Christians can quickly be drawn to men and ministries promising them the coveted “green pastures” of Spiritual food. However, these “green pastures” may not always be as lush as they initially appear to be. Furthermore, rather than prompting true growth in grace they may simply spark a spirit of comparison that is always looking over the fence at the “greener grass” in some other church.
Without a doubt, the information age has given birth to a glut of Christian thought being available in print and audio forms. Anyone, anywhere can simply point and click and listen to the latest sermons of any major American Pastor. It was not many years ago that the majority of Christian home libraries were composed of several key reference books and a handful of devotional classics. Today on the other hand, vast amounts of information are cheaply available through the Internet or can be quickly purchased at the local Christian bookstore. While undoubtedly this rise in Biblical literacy has stimulated Spiritual growth in some, Paul’s adage to the Corinthian church has held true: “knowledge puffs up.” With the plethora of opinions available; Christians have become increasingly fragmented into their various theological and philosophical camps. Like the Corinthian church that was divided over Cephas, Paul or Apollos; today’s church is divided by big name Christian entertainers running major entrepreneurial ventures to promote their own name. We become Purpose Driven, Seeker Driven or emergent. Some church’s adopt pop methodologies and degenerate into the sinking sands of the seeker driven mentality. Anything goes to fill the pews and pad the pocket.
In the wash, local church leaders find their people immersed in these conflicts of allegiances and the local church quickly becomes fragmented along “party” lines. And so, viewing the carnage from “fly over country”, I find myself increasingly concerned over this erosion of loyalty to the local church.
I believe this erosion manifests itself in several ways and finds its root in several well-meaning methods employed by major Christian leaders. Without a doubt, we all like to feel like we belong to something larger than ourselves, and that our lives will make a major impact for time and eternity. Thus it becomes very easy for us to measure impact by numbers and growth by the bottom line. Anyone in ministry who is honest would have to admit that he has often found himself rating his ministry by these very dubious criteria. For many churches in rural America, change and growth come very slowly. Now matter whether you are talking about spiritual growth or the more outward expressions of church growth; it takes a huge investment of time to see real, lasting change. Impatience is the bane of all of us. If our church is not on the up take in two years, we become quickly disillusioned and look for a more progressive ministry to lead.
Statistically, the largest proportion of American churches finds its average attendance to be under 100. Pastor’s of these local assemblies preach diligently and work to gain momentum in a stagnate Church atmosphere. It is very easy for people to become disillusioned with the same old Sunday service week after week, and to tire of hearing “Aunt Sally” tentatively pluck out hymns on the old ivories, when at all the big city venues the Church presents itself on the big stage of culture with light shows and glitz and glitter.
Most churches that grow to mega church proportion do so on the backs of very effective preachers. Highly gifted communicators seldom stay in small rural churches. The temptation to climb the ministerial ladder of success is very powerful. Soon the gifted migrate to ministries where they can have increasing influence and a louder voice. Before long, these ministries host ministry conferences to teach their methods (whether Biblical or not) to other local churches. Floundering churches often send delegates to these conferences hoping they can catch the wind of God’s blessing. Generally Church leaders quickly adopt these methods seeking to adapt them to their local setting. Thus the methods and philosophies of these churches quickly dominate the Christian landscape.
Admittedly there is much that can be learned at these conferences. However, when laymen in the pews begin to evaluate their church against these methods and then become disgruntled at their Pastor for not producing the same results, things are askew. A conversation I had several years ago in a hospital room made an indelible impression on me. I was visiting a man in our congregation that had had appendicitis. His granddaughter, who lives in a neighboring town, was in to visit him as well. She had just returned from the west coast where she had been at a conference for young leaders. She remarked to me that “the greatest preachers” in America were all there. I know we all have the tendency to set up idols, and knowing some of these men, I know their intention was not to appear as great. However, she sadly seemed to be denigrating her Pastor (whom I know as a gifted preacher) and discounting his influence and ministry in his local community. Lest I sound immune to this, I recognize I have not been. I well remember going to Bible College and being influenced by very godly men who were also gifted preachers. I remember how that exposure tended to make me think less of the local church that I was raised in. However, the older I get, the more I find myself admiring the tenacity of my Pastor, who all through my youth consistently preached the Word in season and out of season and stayed by the stuff.
Another major erosion of local church authority comes from the printed page. Once mega church Pastor’s gain the unflinching support of their followers, virtually anything they say is regarded as gospel truth. Aspiring followers eagerly await the newest published resource from these pulpits. As these men reach celebrity status, their movements take on a life of their own. If they speak to an issue or raise a concern and a local church pastor voices a different conviction, he is often disregarded in favor of the popular view. In the void, the Pastor is left emasculated to speak to the issues as he sees them because to do so risks the ire of significant portions of his congregation.
While study Bibles can be a great tool, they can also lend themselves to this problem. Notice sometime how many different study Bibles are on the market these days. Each purports to be the latest scholarship and best tool for understanding God’s Word. Some are the by-products of editorial teams while others are primarily the work of a single man. Where once study Bibles contained reference helps, cross-referencing systems and Book introductions, today they contain running commentaries on every Biblical passage. While these commentaries are admittedly helpful on several fronts, they also lend themselves to abuse. What Pastor or teacher has not been approached after a sermon and confronted by an individual who’s study Bible offered a different interpretation of the mornings text. Of course this is not necessarily a bad thing if the congregant is approaching the subject with a teachable, humble spirit. However, when it becomes an argument over a system of interpretation woven into a study Bible, it can quickly degenerate into a verbal fistfight. Study notes in Bible’s cannot be lengthy enough to wrestle with many Biblical variant views of interpretation. However, they do lend the author a consistent plank to weave his overall Hermeneutic into the text. Many times these interpretations consist of the “hot-topics” in Doctrinal circles. When the average person peruses a study note, he will often equate similar authority to the note as he does to the text itself. If a Pastor finds himself disagreeing with the predominant study Bible in use in his church, he quickly finds himself in the minds of many of his people attacking the very text of Scripture. Thus when a celebrity leader speaks on a passage, he may as well be speaking “Ex Cathedra” in the minds of many people.
An unscientific study I did recently proved to me to be very enlightening. I had picked up my “Old Scofield” reference Bible to read one evening. The Bible is in excess of 20 years old. For some reason I noticed the title page. The words “Holy Bible” were in large print, while in smaller type were the words “Scofield reference Bible.” No one could mistake that the emphasis was on this book being the Bible not primarily the work of any man. I then took out every one of my newer Study Bibles. (and I have quite a few!) I noticed a remarkable change. On the title pages of all these Bibles, the highlighted word was not Bible but the name of the editor who had compiled the notes. Obviously, these men may not be complicit in this crass attempt at marketing; however, it does reveal the huge change that has happened in the Christian publishing industry. There is huge money to be made in Bibles and books and music. Like any other advertising endeavor, name recognition is everything. Take the time to notice in your local Christian bookseller how names are used to sell. Perhaps we need to rethink the way we buy and sell the gospel.
So what’s the point? While it is impossible to roll back the tide and return to the good old days of the Andy Griffith show; this is a call to local church leaders to stand up and be heard. Rather than being swallowed by these voices, we must be proactive and warn our churches of the danger of celebrity Christianity. While it is proper to use these men and ministries to deepen our congregants discipleship, we must also be careful that the latest craze running the evangelical scene doesn’t sap our vision and cause us to run the country looking for the latest answer to all our church’s woes. Our ministries need to be saturated with careful Biblical exposition and passionate preaching. We need to routinely ask ourselves the question: “Would I come to church every week to hear myself preach?” Like an ox that treads out the grain and pulverizes it in the mill so that the raw kernel is in an edible form; we must dissect and analyze the text of Scripture and work diligently to “Preach the Word.” Moreover, we must never be ashamed to run contrary to the latest method (or madness) on the church marketing circuit. Until He returns let us be found faithful, standing at our post, serving the Lord.
