Recently a group of leaders from a church had a meeting. During the meeting, a concern about decreasing Sunday morning worship attendance was expressed. During their discussion, the leaders brainstormed possible solutions. Other than reaching out to invite friends and neighbors, no specific solutions were suggested. One of the church leaders shared their frustration about the difficulty in finding leadership among the membership, commenting, “The same people are always doing the work.” An additional observation was made, that without programming, it’s hard to build enthusiasm and participation in the church. The leaders were left with questions: Which comes first, programming or attracting people? What is our purpose, drawing people to God or drawing people to programming 

Such conversations among “mainline church leaders” are not unusual or recent. Mainline churches are collectively comprised of the American Baptist Churches USA, the Christian Church / Disciples of Christ, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, and the Presbyterian Church. These churches accounted for more than 30% of American church-goers in 1975. By 2018 that number fell to 11%, according to the General Social Survey, a data collection project of the NORC, the “non-partisan and objective research organization at the University of Chicago.” 

The reasons for this decline in “mainline churches” have been studied and written about for many years. Potential factors leading to declining attendance are many: 

? Lower retention rate for mainline churches– “only 45% of those raised in a mainline church continue to practice the faith throughout their lives.” 

? Cultural shifts—Pew Research Center reports 26% of Americans were unaffiliated with religion in 2019. 

? Greater affluence gives people more options, such as more travel etc. 

? Competition with kids’ activities on Sunday morning 

? Blended and single-parent families 

? Less frequent church attendance by members. Church Consultant Thom Rainer points out that if a congregation averages 200 in worship but if one-half of those members miss only one out of four weeks, the attendance drops to 175. 

? The cultural disappearance of guilt for not attending church. 

I could continue to list additional factors, but I want to return to the question asked by the church leaders, “Which comes first, programming or attracting people?”, “What is our purpose: Drawing people to God or to programming?”. These are excellent questions. These are the kind of questions that keep pastors up at night. They are the kind of questions that do not have easy answers. If the answers were easy, we’d already be implementing the solution. 

As I think about these questions, I think about how we just started the Advent season. Advent is a time of waiting and preparation. During Advent, we wait for the coming of Christ. We wait to celebrate and remember Jesus’ first coming as a babe born in a manger. We wait for the coming of Christ in our daily lives. We wait for Christ to come. 

As I ponder during this season of waiting, I ask, “For what reason did Jesus come?” Jesus came to dwell with God’s people. Jesus is Immanuel, which means God with us. Jesus came to save people from their sins. Jesus came to invite people to belong to a community of people. Jesus invited people to belong to a community that would participate in a movement, a movement called “the kingdom of God.” 

As I think about Jesus’ first Advent, Jesus’ first coming, I’m struck by the importance of relationships. As I think about the challenges churches have faced even before the pandemic, I ponder the role of relationships. Our relationship with God. Our relationship with one another as fellow members and friends of Grace Baptist. Our relationship with our neighbors. What is our purpose? According to Jesus, “To love God and our neighbors” is the greatest commandment. We’re called to be a neighbor. After he told the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said, “go and do likewise.” 

As I close this pastor’s report, pondering the importance of relationships, I’m left with another question, “How might we revitalize our relationships with God, one another, and our neighbors?” 

I hope to see each of you soon during Advent. 

God Bless, 

Pastor David