Years ago I met one of our church “Alumni Association” members at a funeral reception. You know, those social settings with weak coffee and sandwiches with the crusts cut off. I introduced myself to a person standing by herself and she told me, “I used to go to your church.”
“Is that right?” I said with mild interest.
“Yeah, but my husband was transferred to another city and we moved our membership.”
“But you are back now in the neighbourhood?” I inquired.
“Oh yes,” she replied in a clipped tone, “we moved back a couple of years ago.” Sensing she was on a roll she said, “We called to transfer our membership back here but I was told by your secretary that we’d have to stand up at the front on a membership Sunday and confess our faith in Jesus.”
“Yes…” I said cautiously, sensing this story had layers to it, “that’s right, we like to celebrate new and returning members with the congregation and together rededicate our lives to the Lord.”
“Well, I just told your secretary
I wasn’t going to do that.”
Pastorally, I said, “Oh, are you uncomfortable standing up in front of large numbers of people?”
“No, don’t be silly,” she said, “I speak in front of crowds all the time.”
Really confused now I said, “Well, what was the problem?”
She replied sardonically, “Well
I made a confession of faith a long time ago when I was a teenager during confirmation. How ridiculous! How many times do you have to confess your faith in Jesus, really?”
I blinked and took a breath. “Well, we are recovering sinners, so I suppose we need to confess the Lordship of Christ every day; sometimes multiple times in the day. It would be like a husband saying to his wife, ‘I told you
I loved you once on our wedding day and I don’t need to ever say it again.'”
She snorted. “Well, I don’t know about that. Besides, we called another church and they were more than happy to take our membership—and pledge—without asking us to do a thing.” She turned on her heels, teacup and crustless sandwich in hand, and walked away.
Today, the Holy Spirit is shaping and equipping mission communities to be places so different from “country clubs of religion.” The Field of Dreams adapted line, “If you build it, they will come” approach to worship and witness has shipwrecked on the shoals of secularity and consumerism. Judging a church’s effectiveness based on “noses and nickels” alone with its assumption that offering a “quality worship service” will be fulfilling the Great Commandment/Commission is wearing thin. Despite how good the coffee is or how “friendly” the church describes itself, more and more people in the Gen X and Millennial category pass by the church and see it as something irrelevant to their everyday, ordinary lives.
Theologian Doug Hall notes in Why Christian: “The Christendom into which I was born … no longer exists—pockets and vestiges of it notwithstanding. Few people in the Western world today are ‘caused’ to be Christians by the sheer accident of birth. Many may start out that way, but fewer and fewer find inherited Christianity reason enough to stay Christian.”
It’s an exciting time to be a follower of the risen Christ these days as membership becomes less and less valuable as a marker of commitment. Of all places, the Vatican is leading the way with Pope Francis offering us a glimpse of what true gospel witness looks like in this time and place. Catholic priest friends of mine are very clear—nothing will change doctrinally under Francis, at least not in the short term. What has changed, however, is a visible, authentic witness to the gospel that calls people to practice what they preach. As Francis states in his incredible work Evangelii Gaudium: “The Gospel joy which enlivens the community of disciples is a missionary joy.” Francis declares that Christians have a fundamental choice between an “evangelizing Church that comes out of herself” and a “worldly Church that lives within herself, of herself, for herself.” Francis has given the worldwide, small “c” catholic church the challenge of becoming “missionary disciples” sent forth to live and proclaim the gospel—a far cry from the passive outsourcing of baptismal vows to paid clergy that the worst of the mainline Christendom church encouraged. Our worship glorifies the Father, Son and Holy Spirit by sending missionary disciples out to seek and save the lost.
A few years ago my wife Laura officiated at a large funeral for a young person killed in a ski accident. As you can imagine, the church was full of Gen Xers and Millenials. For many, it was their first time in a church. The next day she received an email from a young mom who asked Laura to meet her for coffee.
In her grief and confusion, she poured out her heart in the local coffee shop and grappled with the definitive claims of the gospel presented in a Christian funeral. “That place you work, the church,” she said hesitantly, “I’d like to come again and keep asking questions but I don’t know.” She paused for a moment. “Is it okay if I just show up on Sunday or is it like a private club where I need to be sponsored in?”
Ouch. And yet, as the Holy Spirit got a hold of that person’s life, it was a pleasure watching her come to life in Christ as an adult convert. Technically she “joined the church” and became a member but when you ask her what happened she will simply say, “God got a hold of me and now I’m a disciple of Jesus.” May it be so—again and again.
About Ross Lockhart
Rev. Dr. Ross Lockhart is associate professor and director of the Centre for Missional Leadership at St. Andrew’s Hall, Vancouver.