I struggle with this whole discussion, not just on a blog, but in ministry life in general. I completely agree with the direction of your blog, but differ in how we address the problem. I think “winning” and “baptizing” as many people as possible is an important part of a comprehensive strategy, but worry that we may baptize 100 and only actually disciple 5. I struggle with the reality that a church can have 100 new members in a year, regardless of how they join, and yet the overall attendance, offerings, etc. never change from year to year. Many people talk about the “front door - back door” issue, but to me it’s deeper than that.
The Great Commission calls us to “make disciples.” I have been somewhat discouraged to see the loss of interest in discipling people that has been demonstrated in our churches, and even in our convention over the past 20 years or so. Our emphasis on planting new churches is, in reality, feeding this “sheep shuffling” problem.

Greg

My current church is experiencing and expecting further astronomical growth primarily due to population booms in the area. I have noticed a decline in the number of baptisms recently and pray that this is not due to “sheep shifting.” Honestly, I have noticed a great deal of membership transfers over the past year as well. Families in our age bracket (34-42 year olds) seem that they do not have their priorities in check. They’re looking for the flashiest or coolest new congregation “gimmick” so they get the most of a church experience.

We had a new, second congregation start up in November modeling an area church in their more relaxed environment. My concern is the REASON for attending church in the first place…to put forth your own effort as a Christian and make your relationship with Jesus a reflection of your own personal efforts/ gifts. Church is what YOU make it. If you go about worship from a backseat approach, then that’s all you will get in return.

There is another enormous church in the county. Enormous. They have so many activities going on to draw people in that the actual Sunday morning worship seems disjointed. Speaking of sheep, I have felt herded in when visiting here with nobody really reaching out to fellow believers. Whenever I speak to people who attend this church, their priorities are out of line. My fear is that new programs roll out at my local Baptist church, that the sheep will shift over for the fun as at this location. Can we please keep the Christ in church?

Your Brother in Christ,
Brett

You raise a critical issue facing the church and society. I think a tremendous statistic can be traced to the last Presidential election. Regardless of party affiliation something really should stand out to the church. The statistics can be verified but the premise is that while the overwhelming majority of self proclaimed Christians voted for one candidate, and equal majority of people aged 21-30 voted for a different candidate. To me, that seems as if the Church has missed a generation of young people. Why? How? As a former leader in the Christian music and magazine publishing industry this is troubling and humbling to me.

Many years ago I recall being in mega-churches with musicians around the country and they all had state of the art worship centers while the “children’s” areas looked like re-carpeted bomb shelters. Why?

I wonder what would happen to a community if the local churches held building campaigns to build multi-million dollar Youth focused facilities while the parents sacrificed on whatever was scraped together for pews and pulpits. My intent isn’t to be cynical but I often wonder when the church and parents are going to stop standing on the river banks pulling the bodies out and instead start walking upstream and stopping the next generation from falling in the water to begin with.

Wouldn’t it be great if churches filled the pews and then kicked everyone out each year to make room for new un-believers? Of course that isn’t practical because we need to assemble as Christians and we need to mature in our faith and being plugged into a church is critical for that growth. But, my point is in effort to imagine how communities would be changed for Christ if the pews were filled with real disciples that were inspired, taught and led to “go out” into the communities and preach, love, and lead people to Christ.

I believe a church like that testifies to the heart of a loving God.

In Christ,
Frank Chimento

However, I couldn’t help wondering if Baptism is really the litmus test for conversion. I’m familiar with countless churches who insist that their baptism is true while that “other church down the road” isn’t valid. And so those who had been baptized in the “other church down the road” are the newly baptized when they swap churches. Instead of conversion we have furniture redecoration!

Also, I wonder if sheep shuffling is always the case. I have encountered many (from denominational to non-denominational) stray from a given church and even walk away from a belief in Christ. When those who stray and become “agnostic”, atheist, or any other belief we as a Christian community drop in numbers. Thus, there might be more than transferring when one who moves from church “a” to church “b”, it might be a survival move to continue nurturing their faith. Oftentimes, regrouping is needed in a battle to make the charge stronger against the frontline. Perhaps instead of swapping what is occurring is regrouping.

There is no doubt that I agree with the answers to both your questions. We should always be about reaching those who are without Christ. I only wonder if the return of a prodigal son should count as much as the blind who now see.