Church Fatigue, Part 2

All around the country, Christians are experiencing church fatigue. They are not bored with Jesus, they are bored with rituals, traditions and routines. It seems like on Sundays, very little thought is put into the service – and it shows!

The problem is though many are restless, they just don’t know what else to do. Last time I shared what Jennifer Taylor said in her blog. Here is a pastor’s reply:

""Jennifer, I know and feel exactly what you're talking about. (Here's the usual disclaimer) I'm not a 30-something. I'm a 50-something. Now here's the UNusual disclaimer. I'm the senior-minister-preacher-worship-minister for our congregation. I'm the guy who is in charge of making it all happen each week. And much of the time, I MYSELF am bored senseless with what we do. I have a masters degree in worship ministry, from a program full of very hip California-types, who are all about "engaging worship" and such. And yet I experienced the same boredom in so many places where I've visited, from coast to coast. Every week is a struggle to make things more interesting, more engaging, more fulfilling - but just about each week, I fall into the same formula, the same songs, the same lineup and order and blah blah blah. Some weeks, it works. Some weeks, it doesn't."

The church in the West has been set in stone for such a long time doing the same old traditional formula, that we have succumb to the place where we do not even know what it means and why we are doing it. If we do not follow the same age-old template, we wouldn’t know what else to do.  And so pastors like this one working within this traditional age-old template, believing the template to be sacred and immovable, cannot visualize any alternative – like try to move things around a little bit; change the running orders, jazz things up more, and introduce some new songs – anything but the same old boring routine.  Since the template cannot be changed, pastors and worship leaders simply embrace it and step into another boring moment in the twilight zone.

In the mean time, the church remains restless and many stop coming looking for other alternatives.

Jennifer Taylor quoted Brett McCracken in blog as saying that 70% of young adults between 18-22 are turning their backs on church. The Western church is declining at a rapid rate. I read where less than 20% of Americans now regularly attend church services. If this kind of trend continues, church attendance in 2050 will be half of what it was in 1990. Only about 6% of Western churches are growing faster than the population growth surrounding it.  This means that the formal church as a whole is losing lots of ground. People are simply bored and are walking away from it.

When the church is hemorrhaging so much of its members, and those that remain loyal are become restless, we can only conclude that something terrible has gone wrong.

But is the church without hope? Is she destined for utter failure and final destruction? These trends would cause one to think so, but I believe there is hope.  In fact, behind the scenes the Holy Spirit is at work!

End of Part 2