Part of what is crippling the American church may actually lead to its renewal.
Over the past few generations, the people–the church–have formed an entrenched mindset. It’s this: the work of the church–ministry–is something the people pay the professionals to do. The laity’s role is to simply watch the paid staff work, or perhaps to make a financial donation.
Being a light in the world? Showing God’s love? Talking with others about faith? Doing the work of the church? Well, “that’s what we pay the pastors to do.” This embrace of the professionalization of faith has extended to providing music, to working with children and youth, and to praying aloud whenever the people gather.
And the people have gotten the hint, whether intended or not. When, in the real world, the topic of faith comes up, people often default to: “You should talk with my pastor.”
This mentality is draining the church. It’s galvanizing the spectator orientation that besets so many congregations. It’s reducing the community of believers to what the professionals often call “giving units”–butts in seats, with wallets.
A BREWING BACKLASH
But now, increasingly, some people are losing their patience with being mere Sunday spectators. Sociologist Josh Packard noted this in his research on those who have left the organized church, the people we call the Dones. In his book Church Refugees, Packard explains how many Dones walked away because they wanted to pursue ministry interests but felt roadblocked with church bureaucracy or professional control. And many abandoned their churches because they found the professional monologue format of church gatherings dulling their spiritual growth.
Packard warns that churches are losing some of their best people. And this phenomenon spreads across all generations–including Millennials, who have sparse interest in passively watching a religious show.
Every congregation must choose how to proceed–to stick with the status quo of current church methodology, or to promote the priesthood of all believers.
Churches that stick with the status quo will likely see more people leave, or continue to nod off into spectator slumber. And some people will choose to exercise their frustrated desire to participate by elbowing their way onto church boards and committees to make inappropriate power plays.
It’s far better for congregations to proactively encourage a culture of participation and joint ownership in the mission of the church. Embracing this outlook can provide the hope and impetus for the church to grow in its effectiveness and witness in the community.
Some practical steps for leaders to create a healthy uprising in the pews:
- See your own role not as solitary minister, but as equipper, encourager, and cheerleader for all the ministers, the people.
- Remind the people, often, about your role and about their true role in doing the real ministry of the church, putting their faith into action.
- Provide training for the people to be salt and light. It’s not enough to preach about it. People need safe opportunities to practice how to naturally glow their faith. A new resource, Activating God Space, guides your people to actually experience being the church in everyday life.
- Find ways to involve everybody in the mission and the message, on Sunday, and every day.
- Blow up the bureaucracy and make it easy for people to pursue their passions in ministry.
For leaders, there’s a healthy side benefit to this repositioning. When the people catch the spirit to be the church, there’s less pressure to hopelessly “do it all.” You’ll experience less exhaustion and burnout–and more joy in seeing the Body of Christ share the load together as God intended.
The answer to the “problem” has been going on for a very long time. Gathering in the “style” of the assembles , Plymouth Brethren, solves a lot of the issues. The pastor – clergy will have to look for new work.
Kathleen writes on Facebook: “Seeing this lived out in our Respite ministry which went from staff led to lay led. What a beautiful thing!”
I am in the UK and it’s the same here. Sadly, over the last 2000 years the ‘Church’ has evolved into one of the largest spectator activities in existence. Belief in the ‘priesthood of all believers’ has gone out of the window and it’s the selected few that do everything. This no longer satisfies….hence the drift away from the established church, both the ‘old’ established and the ‘new’ established.
Love the direction you are headed with this, Thom! However, you won’t be surprised to hear that I think there is one more step that is necessary to truly implement the priesthood of all believers. That step is implicit in your title “Uprising in the Pews”.
The word “pew” by its very nature says “spectator” (not priest!). For the 50 years that I’ve been a Christian, the church has always affirmed the priesthood of all believers with it’s words but the very nature of what happens in “church” meeting denies that very doctrine. The pastor is up front doing the work of a priest while the people are in the pews watching the show.
How can we truly live out the priesthood of all believers? Only by returning the church to the home as was the biblical pattern. Only in a small setting like this can everyone truly function as priests. Stop calling the church building the church building. Repurpose it as a training center where priest are trained to function as priests. (Keeping in mind that lecture is the least effective form of training.)
I recall the time when we got rid of our wooden pews which were collapsing from time to time and replaced them with comfortable plastic chairs. We would put them out in a horse shoe design to enable at least some face-to-face interaction – it would last a week or two, and back they were in straight line ‘toaster rack’ formation. So many people actually don’t want to practise the priesthood of all believers because its much easier to spectate, wear masks and blame the up-front people when things go wrong. My wife and I have been involved in organic house churches for the last 9 years, and there’s such a difference with 100% participation (no ‘sermon’) producing disciples and not just ‘Christians’ (Bonhoeffer said that there is no such thing as a Christian who is not a disciple (‘mathetes’ = learner or apprentice)…
Great comment, Erroll! My experience has been the same.
“And some people will choose to exercise their frustrated desire to participate by elbowing their way onto church boards and committees to make inappropriate power plays.”
Boy, have I seen that. Much like the uprising in politics, I’ve seen the same kind of mentality in the Church, which usually only leads to more frustration and infighting.
My view is to be in the world as part of small groups such as book clubs and other avenues outside of our “church”. This is to reach individuals who would say they never go to church.
Our problem is that we serve in a denomination where the priesthood of believers is actually discouraged. Our model is “clergy-centric;” only the rightfully called, trained, and ordained are allowed to lead. And our denominational leaders wonder why we’re in decline.
Our problem as you refer to Douglas is much deeper than the denomination we belong to, but you’re right about being clergy centric. As far as the leaders wondering why we’re in decline; I don’t think they wonder to hard or at least if they do they certainly haven’t listened to those that have tried to explain it to them.
I have found these same truths (as to why they don’t listen nor act) in the world just as much as I have in the Institutional church. It usually comes down to the love of money, power, position, buildings, having to fight the good fight of faith and possibly (and probably) losing it all. We are much darker than we know or care to admit.
Men love darkness no matter what we call ourselves and it is a battle from beginning to end.
18 years ago my husband and I left the church for this very reason, we did not leave God and have grown exponentially. we decided to go back to church, it took a bit of searching and have now been 3 months at this church. It’s logo is: “Church has changed, check it out” it hasn’t changed, I’m bored, mainly because “the show”, isn’t that good. Last Sunday, the pastor called people forward for prayer who ‘needed it’, he never called up a ministry team, for some reason he wanted to do it all himself and because the offering hadn’t been taken up as yet, each person got a five second prayer and then abandoned in their pain. I find this spiritually abusive. I don’t have to be used in the church (after all, I have just arrived there) but why would I want to stay, what’s there to hold me?
Great article. Have you heard of the book, God Space? Sounds interesting.
Marty
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Yes, Marty. The God Space book is included in the Activating God Space kit that I mentioned in the article. The book and the kit are highly recommended.
This reminds me of a very good book I read a few years ago, “The Open Church”. It advocated the priesthood of the believer and every member functioning as we are directed to do by Paul in I Corinthians. The book’s author, Mike Rutz however rather naively stated that pastors would welcome a fully functioning body and actually feel relieved that they aren’t expected to do it all. In all my years as a believer, I have known very pastors who didn’t see this as a loss of control. Of course the pastor is the overseer, the shepherd of the flock, but not a one-man -show; sometimes it’s rule-by-committee. My husband and I are part of a very small church, and our pastor is open to participation in a way that I’ve never seen in a large congregation. Rather than try to look and act like a mega-church, small churches have a wonderful opportunity to do things that would be very difficult in large ones. How refreshing that would be!
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I was involved with a growing church with a pastor who appeared in the beginning encouraging participation. It appeared that when he received his ordination papers, he placed himself on a pedestal and knocked anyone who he felt was a threat to his dominance. I as one of two elders once asked about why he was doing something during the service based on scriptural principles. This was the first time in two years that I attempted to fulfill my responsibility as elder outside of approving his salary increases . His reply was, “I do not want to get into that”. I felt that my position was only to rubber stamp. I left and though they purchased a building, their numbers diminished while the pastor continued his dominance. He contracted a life threatening disease and the church had to bring in preachers from outside the church likely because he discouraged any in house leadership outside of himself. Unfortunately, this is not out of the ordinary situation. As the Pharisees in Jesus’ day who removed any threat to their dominance, many in leadership do the same today. It appears that many in leadership ignore Jesus’ words, “Let the greatest among you be servant over all”.
The ‘professionalisation’ of religion like politics has resulted in an empty faith that doesn’t fulfil. Hence the drift away from Christian faith. Get back to Jesus and see what church He wants for us, and not what we think He wants…?
I think there are some foundational issues we can readily point to that have contributed to the problem including the one you stated, however I would like to get to even a more foundational cause of this problem. As believers we must not take our eye off the ball (sort of speak). What we are talking about with Jesus and the church is a Life, not so much as a gathering place, whatever that may look like. I am not speaking against gathering because surely we are to gather but, whenever and with whomever and wherever we gather we must enjoy Life because that is who Jesus is and why He came so “you may have Life”. He says “I am the way, the Truth and the Life and in another place Jesus says that He came to give you Life, and Life abundant. Even as individual brothers and sisters we must learn what it is to enjoy Christ in the most foundational ways if we expect to enjoy Him together as the Church. When you do gather, have something of Life to share with others and watch how feverish that becomes in those who desire Life.
[…] Uprising in the Pews […]
In the fast pace world we find ourselves living in today I find myself struggling to keep up with all the demands I find myself faced with. I think the church needs to be sensitive to this ever increasing problem and not load their people up with a lot of busy work that does not serve the purpose of Christ. My need is to find a church that offers me an opportunity to to sing, to pray with others about our needs, to be encouraged by the sharing of scripture. I leave knowing I have been saved by grace and realize the importance of sharing the good news when the opportunities arise.