Reality #1: The Collapse of Church Culture

Preached:  April 28, 2013

Scripture:  Exodus 19:3-9; 1 Peter 2:9

Series:  Sermon 1 in the series:  “This Present Future:  4 Realities for Walking by Faith”

Based on book by Reggie McNeal:  This Present Future:  6 Tough Questions for the Church

Sermon

In 1987 the world still looked and acted much the same as it did in 1977 or even 1957.  Americans still watched TV on the same 3 networks as they did 30 years earlier – although pesky VHS players and new cable stations like MTV and CNN and ESPN were beginning to open more viewing options.  Americans still woke up to newspapers delivered to their doorsteps and devoured the news over a cup of coffee.  In 1987 – we were still in the middle of the Cold War.  Students still practiced nuclear drills because thousands of Russian nuclear missiles were aimed at our shores.  At the same time, US Air Force officers stood guard at missile silos in North Dakota ready to send a counter response if needed. 

            In 1987 – we were still hurting from the Challenger explosion the year before.  Oldies stations on the radio still played the Beach Boys or the Beatles.  

            At First Baptist Church, Cornelia, we were celebrating our 100 anniversary with much pomp and circumstance.  In 1987 Mark Weaver was our pastor.  We sang from the 1977 Baptist hymnal.  The youth group still remembered singing such famous Baptist music as Celebrate Life.  We still had Sunday night church and training Union.  Blue laws still were enforced throughout Georgia.  There was no lottery.  No one scheduled community or sports tournaments on Sunday morning or Wednesday nights – those were church nights. 

            In November of 1987 – the quietly building popularity and phenomena of what had been a great counter cultural, underground, Athens – GA based rock band would finally break through to the mass market.  The rock Band REM had been playing together since they met at UGA in 1981.    In 1987 – with the release of their album Document (1987), a powerful and coherent musical statement, the band moved to rock’s forefront.  According to Rock historians, REM paved the way for much of the success of the alternative rock bands of the 1990’s.  In November 1987 – REM released a single that is as much prophecy as it is great music.  The song is called – “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”

            The verses of the song fly past you – staccato, fast, breathless lines – separate words and ideas thrown together for rhythm and power.

            Then, the chorus begins.  It’s hard to miss it’s haunting phrasing -

It's the end of the world as we know it

It's the end of the world as we know it

It's the end of the world as we know it,

            1987 – is as good as any year to acknowledge that the world has been changing dramatically ever sense.  The world that I knew when I graduated 26 years ago – really doesn’t exist.  It was the end of the world as we knew it – we just didn’t know it yet.    

            And – I’m not simply talking about the media or the technology – the culture as we knew it is gone.  The world has changed.  The ground has shifted from all that we knew and understood in 1987 or 1957 or 1927.

Reality #1 of our present future is this:  Our American church culture has collapsed!

            Underneath the semblance of an American culture propped up and influenced by Christianity, the tectonic plates have shifted.  American culture no longer accepts the church as a player at the table in public life and can be downright hostile to us.  Our values no longer dominate the way Americans believe or behave. 

            We see this reality of the collapse of the church culture in the

·         Demographics of our country:  Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church — half of what the pollsters report.  At the same time - Church attendance is declining yearly.  Mega churches continue to grow – and smaller, family churches continue but churches like ours are getting squeezed in the middle. 

·         It’s estimated that by 2050 – just a little over 30 years from now – church attendance will be half of what it was in 1990. 

It’s the end of the world as we know it! 

·         Generational:  it’s estimated that 20 percent of Millennial (1980-2000) identify as “born again Christians”

·         And for those who still believe – A growing number of “churched” people are abandoning the church.  - They aren’t leaving because they have lost their faith, they are leaving the church many times as a last ditch effort to preserve their faith

It’s the end of the world as we know it! 

Reggie McNeal in his book, This Present Future:  6 tough Questions for the Church, says that when we in the church face the reality of the collapse of the church culture – we often ask the Wrong Question:  How can we do church BETTER?

            Faced with the diminishing returns on our investment in time, buildings and energy – we keep trying to figure out how to do church better.  Programs for church growth and church health fly off the selves – constantly overpromising and underperforming.  We keep looking for the next thing – is it a new worship service or a new way to market ourselves or a purer doctrine that will finally save us?  We are lulled to believe that activity is the same as genuine spiritual vitality. 

            Ultimately – because churches and individuals have asked the wrong question – we have responded in one of three ways: 

1.      Withdraw from culture:  We have set up our own Christian sub-culture and adopted a refuge mentality.  We lament the loss of cultural support of our values and start talking about “us and them”.  There are those inside the church and those outside the church – and we really don’t want to cross.  In order to move from unchurched to church –people need to clean up their ways – and become more like us. 

2.      Fix the culture:  Christians have been trying to fix our culture for decades.  We have tried legislating our values – only to see these values used for political gain by politician who desire power as much as our vote.  One of the great lessons of the past year in American political life is that Christians will not be able to fix our culture through political means. 

3.      Sell out to the culture:  Some churches simply sell out to the culture willing to do anything to grab the spotlight of the culture.  One pastor and his wife built a bed on the roof of the church and stayed there for a week taking TV interviews.  Another promised $10,000 to one lucky person who came and sat in the right seat – we might fill up this sanctuary that way.  Another new church had the pastor preach a really nice sermon on marriage without ever opening his bible on Easter Sunday – with no word about Resurrection – the very Sunday we have to talk about it. 

It is the end of the world as we know it!  Yet … that’s not the end of the chorus is it.  For all of you REM fans – you have been completing the chorus already in your heads.

It’s the end of the world as we know … and I feel fine! Yes, the world is changing.  Yes, the church culture is collapsing – but here is the truth:  God and God’s church is still doing fine.  The collapse of church culture does not equal the death of the church.  In fact – God is doing just fine, thank you very much. 

            As McNeal says, “the church culture of North America is a vestige of the original movement, an institutional expression of religion that is part a civic religion and part club where religious people can hang out with other people whose politics, worldview, and lifestyle match theirs.”  As Jesus hung on the cross – he never thought the impact of this sacrifice would be reduce to an invitation for people to join and support an institution. 

            The death of this civic religion allows us to rediscover God’s original purposes for us as Christians and as a church. 

The tough question we must face is this:  How do we de-convert from Churchianity to Christianity in order to recapture our Mission as God’s People?

            The central act in the Old Testament is the exodus.   In this vital story – God intervenes in human history to liberate his people from oppression and slavery.  As this people are moving across the wilderness from Egypt they come to great, mysterious mountain called Sinai.  Moses, God’s leader, for this movement, goes up the mountain.  There God tells Moses why he has delivered his people from slavery.  Listen to Exodus 19:5-6:

“Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.”

            God was transforming this nation of slaves – into a priestly kingdom – a holy nation.  The power and importance of this mission was not lost on the Hebrews.  In Egypt, the royal priests were very powerful – just beneath the pharaoh.  They now had a powerful, important assignment:  The Hebrews were to represent God to the whole earth – they were to tell the whole world of this liberating, loving God.

            If the exodus is the central act of the OT, then the death and resurrection of Jesus is the central act of the NT.  Jesus takes on sin and death in order to liberate and deliver us and give to us abundant, everlasting life. 

            When Jesus liberates us – he does so for a purpose.  As I said on Easter Sunday – through the resurrection, Jesus transforms us for a mission.  We are now something new, something we were not before.  Listen to how Peter reuses the word spoken to Moses by God. 

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,[c] in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  

First Baptist Cornelia – You are a chosen race.  You are a royal priesthood.  You are a holy nation.  We are god’s own people.  We are god’s People.  We have been transformed into God’s people – not to be right when we vote.  Not to have privileges in congress or in the county council or the state house.  Not for everyone to love us.  Not to have it easy. 

We have been transformed into God’s people – so that we might proclaim the mighty acts of Jesus – to our neighbors, to those who look differently, or speak a different language or who don’t know the secrets to our Baptist tribe.  This is why Jesus has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”   Thanks be to God. 

Over the next month, our walking by faith team will begin presenting a new future for First Baptist Cornelia.  We will be asking our leadership and our church to not settle for the wrong questions – but instead to face the tough questions that the next 5 years will hold.  As we face this future and these questions together – We will see God grow us as the People of God.  Deconverting from churchianity to Christianity will not be easy – but the blessings of God will be immense. 

            We will truly be able to sing:

It’s the end of the world as we know … and I feel fine!