Jump Start # 1072

2 Corinthians 7:13 “For this reason we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.”

  We are looking this week at some of the reasons why small churches tend to stay small. It is frustrating when things aren’t right. They could be, but they are not. It’s that way in a marriage. It’s easy to be short with each other.  You know how the marriage ought to be, but it’s not. That’s frustrating. The same goes with a congregation. It could be awesome. It could be so helpful and beneficial. But often it’s not. That is so frustrating. There are internal reasons why some small churches remain small. They will continue to be small until these internal issues are improved upon. Until the people involved take the steps to make things better, they will continue to struggle. There are issues that smaller congregations face all the time. They struggle with finding gifted teachers to teach classes. When they do, it is very often that those teachers never get a break because there is no one else who can or will teach. Smaller congregations struggle financially. There are things that they simply cannot afford to do. Keeping the church building from falling in is often about all they can do.  It is frustrating to witness congregations struggling year after year with no changes, no improvements, and no ideas as to what to do.

One of the internal reasons why small churches remain small is that they are stale. Stale is not the same thing as old. I’ve been to some old church buildings and some old congregations and they are growing and healthy. Stale has nothing to do with age, but everything to do with atmosphere. You know what stale bread and stale crackers are like. UGH. Dry, stuffy, boring, lifeless, going through the motions—been there. Seen that before. You can often tell a stale congregation the moment you walk into the church building. It’s not bright and inviting, it’s just the opposite. It looks like someone’s garage or storage shed. Junk lying around. Trashy looking. Dim lights. The tract rack is stuffed with old tracts that no one reads. There are papers and Bibles and stuff everywhere. The classrooms are dingy and trashy. The atmosphere is stale. Sometimes those are the brightest spots of a stale congregation. It only gets worse. The members drag in late, as if they are headed to surgery. Many of them do not even have their Bibles. The worship is unorganized and disjointed. The song leader leads stale songs in a slow, go to sleep manner. He leads the same songs, the same way, every time. The prayers are the same. Lifeless. The sermon lacks passion and is dry. People stare off in space. Another Sunday done. Nothing accomplished. Nothing new. And the folks wonder why they are not growing. They will have two Gospel meetings, always one in the Spring and always one in the Fall. They are not sure why, but that’s when they have them. A few friendly faces from other congregations might visit once in a while but that’s it. The boat has a slow leak and no one knows how to fix it. The lifeless church dwindles with every funeral.

It doesn’t have to be that way. I know small groups that are amazing. Their worship is incredible. Stale does not have to be your destiny. Too often, stale churches put all of their hopes upon the next preacher. They view him as the knight in shining armor who is going to come and rescue them from a slow death. They don’t realize that within months the new preacher will be having second thoughts about moving there. He sees the situation as it really is. The stale church doesn’t want to do anything and they expect him to do it all. Without help, without participation, without teamwork, the preacher will either move away or he too becomes stale. A stale preacher working with a stale church is about as pitiful as it gets. I’ve seen it. It makes me want to scream. I see all kinds of things that can and should be done. But stale folks don’t want to do that. They’ve gotten used to being stale. The taste isn’t so bad after awhile.

A friend said to me the other day, having read this series so far, “I can’t believe you are writing these things. No one mentions these things.” I thought at first that I was in trouble or had crossed the line. I asked him if I ought to stop. He said, “No. Never. These things need to be discussed.” Stale churches fall into that category.

Our verse today, Paul’s thoughts about Titus, shows the opposite of stale. Titus was refreshed. We like refreshments. We enjoy fresh sheets, fresh fruits and fresh breezes. It’s the stale that turns the stomach. It’s the stale that leaves us empty, dry and disappointed. Years ago, someone in the congregation filled in for me when I was out preaching elsewhere. He used to preach. He complained that so many were sleeping while he was preaching. He asked me to listen to the CD. I hate doing that. His lesson was accurate, true and helpful, however, it was stale. I told him that his sermon was like toast. It was good, but I like a little jelly on my toast. The next time he preached he reported back with much enthusiasm, “I had jelly on my toast.” That’s the difference.

The antidote to staleness is passion. Passionate prayers, James calls it fervent. Passionate singing, Paul said to sing with thankfulness. Passionate preaching. That has nothing to do with volume, but everything to do with heart. Preachers, you are telling the thrilling story of Jesus, how can you not get excited. Pour your heart and your soul into your sermons. Leave nothing back. Give it all. Preach your best each time.

The antidote to staleness is grasping what worship is all about. We come to see the king (Isaiah 6). Clean up the church building, it’s God’s house. Have a work day and pitch the trash. Paint the walls. Get brighter lights. Get rid of those old lengthy tracts that no one reads. Fill the tract rack with bright and inviting material. Find things that are colorful. Display sermon CD’s in an attractive manner. Go visit a school and notice the classrooms. Model that. Make classrooms inviting and alive. Notice what people see when they walk into a building. A while back I took a group of elders to Target. We stood in the entry way. I asked them what they saw. There were things hanging down from the ceiling that were colorful and bright. The bathrooms were easy to find. It was bright and cheerful. I then took them back to their church building and had them stand in the entry way. No signs about bathrooms. A lot of junk lying around. Stuff on the floor. Dark. Stale. They got it. Changes came. Atmosphere is important. Atmosphere reflects attitude.

The antidote to staleness is getting serious about the Lord. Get to worship earlier. Quit dragging in three minutes late. God deserves better than that. If it take that long to get the family ready then get to bed earlier on Saturday night. Lay the kids clothes out the night before. Find all the shoes, socks and things that they need. Especially find the Bibles and spend a few moments going over the class lessons. Turn off the TV in the morning. No radio or videos in the car on the way to worship. Listen to hymns. Sing hymns. Talk of God. Get yourself in the mindset to worship God. The old way is the stale way. It’s not up to the church to change my staleness. I must own my faith and take charge of things.

These suggestions are only the first level of solutions. There are many more. Staleness begins to go away when leaders start asking the question “Why?” Why are we having a Gospel Meeting? Just because? Why are we teaching this subject? Why are we doing this? We have inherited a form of worship from the past generation. There are things and patterns that come directly from the N.T. There are judgments about how we fulfill those commands. How many songs? What time do we meet? What is the format? What worked for one generation may not work for the next. Can’t change what God requires, but how we get about that can. Staleness never considers that. It needs to be looked into.

Let me share a couple of things that we are doing where I am at. This is only said to be helpful and nothing else. Staleness is one thing you will not find at the congregation where I worship. Ideas flow. Plans, goals, themes, and the question “Why?” is part of our DNA now as a church. If it’s right with the Bible and it will help us, we will do it. If no one else has, that doesn’t slow us down at all. We are focused on getting these people healthy and ready for Heaven. We love God. We say that. We stand behind that. It takes money to do things. Too often congregations have sent nearly all their money to help support preachers in other places, while they allow the home congregation to grow stale. Maybe it’s time to rethink that. Color—we use it a ton. Color handouts. Color sermon note cards. Color bulletins. Black and white when out with black and white TV. Get with the times. Short, to the point, bright tracts. Gone are those long, detailed tracts. Few, if any, read those today. Change the length of classes. Change the format of classes. Change the length of meetings. Change the number of meetings. Change the purpose and direction of meetings. Put thought into what you are doing. Ask “why?” often. Look at things from the perspective of a visitor. Fix up the website. Clean up the building. Make the place say, “We want you to come. We welcome you.”

These Jump Starts are a by-product of this freshness and goal producing congregation. It is a new idea that we experimented with that is working well. Recently, Zack, our amazing other preacher, and myself, took a month of Sunday nights for a special series. The pulpit was removed and we had two chairs, a table and a plant where you’d normally see the pulpit. We talked in a conversation mode and a question and answer format between us. It was amazing. The congregation learned so much. We didn’t deal with fluffy things. We talked about “The New Norm.” Our subjects included, living together unmarried, homosexuality, pornography, and we ended with the social media. These topics need to be preached. A fresh and inviting way of doing that helps so much. Nothing stale about that.

Why do some small churches remain small. They are out of ideas. They have no plans. There are no goals. It’s the same way as it was twenty five years ago. And the way things are looking, it will be just the same in the next twenty five years, if everyone can stay alive. Death is the greatest threat to a small church. With no influx of new people, the congregation gets smaller and smaller until serious consideration must be given to whether we can continue to exist. No money to do anything. No passion to drive ideas. Staleness, like mold on a wall, just takes over. The atmosphere is discouraging.

Open up the checkbook and spend some of the church’s money. Get things going. Straighten up inside and outside. Get after things. A church doesn’t have to be stale. We let it become that way. We can turn it around. Visit a healthy and growing congregation. Ask them tough questions. Get ideas from others. To do nothing, is to give up. To do nothing is to throw in the towel. To do nothing, is to admit defeat. Do you think that God is pleased with that?

Roger