Out behind the sanctuary on the grounds of most churches in the snowy north there used to be a long shed. Covered on the top and three sides, it was usually open on the south side. That’s where church attenders stowed their horses and buggies during the service.
They started tearing down the sheds around 1915. I’ve read a lot of church histories, and many report how the space was needed for automobiles. I remember as a child seeing a few of the sheds used for storage, but the records say by the mid 1920s most were demolished.
The horse shed gave way to the parking lot. But those same histories don’t report the paving of the lots until the 1950s. You can imagine during the intervening 30 years the rainy Sundays when the old horse lot was a muddy mess.
In our time, a lot of walls have come down. And we don’t yet know what to do with the space that has been created. And if the sheds are any lesson, it will be some time before we know what, if anything, will replace them.
One nation, individual The Berlin Wall was demolished in 1989, and eventually a divided nation was stitched together. The new Germany has made much progress, but reunification is an ongoing process. The new nation is not like either the former western-oriented republic or the eastern-dominated state. Germany today is a very different and evolving entity.
In our time many walls are falling, and the effects are felt in the church. Trade agreements are making allies of enemies. Travelers can cross the borders of some European Union countries without visas. Several nations, Germany among them, are debating sanctioning dual citizenship. Israel already has it. More and more we see ourselves as citizens of the world.
Racial barriers are down, and interracial marriages are on the rise. Walls around ideologies are dropping, and people move easily between faiths and denominations. Migration of second, third, and fourth, generation Catholics into Protestant churches is increasing. So is the departure of Protestant Christians to non-Christian faiths. Institutional loyalty is dead.
Rising from the debris of our lost values is the new value on the individual. The “me” generation has given way to a “me” world. The question is, how will the church, the ultimate “we” organization, adjust?
United, rising Part of this individualism is classic adolescent rebellion. When we asked the young lady who became our daughter-in-law what she liked about our son, she replied, “He’s opposed to most of the things my father favors.”
Likewise, a nation of individuals has arisen from rejection of the things that united the generations who endured the depression and world wars: appreciation for conformity, commitment to a cause, and sacrifice for the greater good.
We once built community, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, through the sense of belonging. Clubs once popular—Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary—are struggling because of decline in institutional loyalty. Even Sunday school, which operates in some sense on the club model, is in trouble.
So, how do you build community?
You use some means other than conformity to promote community. The easiest way to consolidate a group is to give them a new common enemy. A more scripturally sound way is to develop shared experiences in support of a common cause.
People don’t want to belong to impersonal national organizations anymore. They care about what happens in their hometowns and in their backyards. In the future successful organizations will emphasize their local work. Habitat for Humanity is a nationwide operation, but to the volunteer pounding a nail into a door jamb, it’s about that house he’s building and that family who will be living in his neighborhood.
Local churches, especially those with denominational ties, must learn to emphasize their local nature. People don’t join denominations. They join local bodies of believers. Even global missions have local connections. Draw them for your congregation.
Create opportunities for relationships. You may win your members to a new Bible study on the promise of an excellent learning experience, but their long-term motivation for attending will be the relationships they develop. Megachurches only survive because they encourage attenders to bond in small groups. Smaller churches will thrive if, they learn to nurture relationships.
Pastor and author Leith Anderson says in his church’s second construction project, they doubled the width of the hallways. That’s where people gathered to talk. The architect called them “extravagant corridors,” but the church wanted to make relationships easier.
The customer’s right One hundred years ago, most shoes were sold in pairs, identical pairs, left shoe and right shoe interchangable. Only after wearing them awhile did the shoes become molded to one foot or the other. Industrial improvements, driven by the consumers’ growing desire for comfort, forced manufacturers to adjust their product.
The individualism of our time has given rise to consumerism, and the consumers are forcing change—even in the church.
Every pastor knows the feeling of being “shopped.” Visitors to churches are quite open about comparing their experience to a mental checklist of expectations. We asked new members of our congregation, “Why did you pick this church?” Many said they liked the worship atmosphere or the services available for their children. No one said, “Because I’m committed to this denomination.” The comfort factor drives the church member just as it does the consumer.
Retailers have discovered this. No longer are restrooms in the basement or behind closed doors marked “employees only.” They are just inside the front door, where consumers want them. And they are large and luxurious just like consumers want them.
For churches, the lesson is about size and placement of restrooms, but much more. Today childcare is not a privilege but an entitlement. So the church must provide childcare at all church events.
Today worshipers want to attend on their timetables, so multiple services on multiple days are offered. The Saturday night service is as much for convenience as anything.
Today consumers have an entertainment orientation, and whether we like it or not, pastors must acknowledge the influence of those expectations.
A church in my town promises visitors: “We won’t beat up on you, and we won’t bore you.” They understand the mindset of the people they seek to reach. They have flourished without fanfare and without advertisement.
The church of the future will take individuals and make of them communities, take consumers and make of them servants—a little more intentionally than the church of the past.
Lyle Schaller is a church consultant living in Naperville, Illinois.
Copyright © 1999 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
