How's That Working Out?

To paraphrase James Carville, “It’s the demographics, stupid”. The current power structure of churches in America today is overwhelmingly white and aging, and they are trying to remain relevant to a population increasingly brown, young, and female. And don’t even get me started on the culture gap between the existing power elites of the faith and the groups they are trying to attract. It’s like asking the problem to solve the problem, good luck with that.

Maybe we’ve got it all wrong. Not about Jesus, but perhaps we need to change our borders. Traditionally, the border between the sanctuary and the community it belonged to was firmly fixed at the edge of the church property, our whole focus was in getting outsiders to enter the sanctuary. But what if we took the church into the community and ministered to them where they are? What if we went into the community and stayed, rather than conducted community outreach like some sort of cross border raid designed solely to take hostages and drag them back to the sanctuary? 

 It seems to me we view the “Nones” as obstacles rather than opportunities. When asked, most of them view Jesus in a positive light, they might not think He’s God but a lot of them view our Savior as a pretty cool dude. Well, so do I, turns out we’ve got a lot in common. So why not meet them at that common area of agreement and see what happens when we show real interest in their lives, not their tithes.

Look, they’re not coming to the sanctuary, maybe they’ll never come. But salvation has nothing to do with location and everything to do with relationship. So maybe we need to start coffee shops/book stores, theatre groups or after school programs similar to Boy’s Clubs, places where community can occur and “Nones’ reached where they are.