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Other Voices
Friday, Oct. 31, 2003

By Eddie Hammett

"Too much entrenched traditionalism here, I'm afraid. Just mostly people who want to be comfortable, come to a social club, pay their dues and expect pastoral visitations all the time. Oh, and sing music they've known for years that is within their acceptable boundaries. I know it must make God's heart long and yearn that we would find more than this." These words from a recent e-mail reflect the angst many of our clergy are living with during these days of transition for the church.
Our culture has shifted many times over the last decades and most churches have changed very little. Somehow they believe that staying the same is being faithful. How can this be when who we are and what we are doing as the people of God has turned many of our churches into "hotels for the saints rather than a hospital for sinners"?
Now many churches are facing critical days as membership and finances are decreasing, the faithful church culture leaders are rapidly dying out, remaining leaders are increasingly afraid to take risks, membership is increasingly self-absorbed and more concerned about their comfort than fulfilling the Great Commission or the Great Commandment.
We say we believe the Bible from "cover to cover" but our behavior and values certainly do not seem to reflect that in many churches. There are some severe and crippling consequences for the church when most members and leaders decide to live in their comfort zones rather than seek to please the Heavenly Father.
Consequences of staying comfortable in church
Now I understand wanting to live inside my comfort zones. I too have personal preferences I enjoy. Where does a person's need for personal comfort end and a person's commitment to the costliness of the gospel begin? Where does one leave personal comfort and personal preferences about worship styles, hymns, pastoral visitation expectations and the way we prefer to do church to embrace the biblical mandates given to all believers "to go into all the world ...;" "to take up our cross (no comfort there) daily and follow Jesus"? Now for me that is the real question. Until our leaders and church members get to that point I'm not sure many of our churches will reach the new generation and many of our churches across this country will close their doors and become "recycled churches" turned into bookstores, restaurants or community service centers.
Will our current leaders and membership decide to preserve their comfort so much and so long that they will sabotage the future of their churches? God will use His church to accomplish His purpose - but unfortunately not every church with a steeple and a pastor is functioning as His church.
What are some consequences for the church that decides to live in comfort rather than on mission in the world?
¥ The community grows while membership decreases.
¥ The spiritually thirsty who might visit or need a church will not likely find help or a place that is open to them. We often sing the great old hymn "Just As I Am," but we really expect people to get it together and become 'like us' before they come to our churches.
¥ The church will lull their pastors into becoming a chaplain and one whose primary duty is to care for the membership - particularly those who are active and faithful contributors to the budget. Unfortunately, this job description doesn't have roots in the biblical call for the "equippers of the saints."
¥ Many pastors/clergy will become depressed, disillusioned and weary of trying to get their people to go on mission rather than expect them to become caregivers. These clergy are now leaving the church-based ministry for ministries in secular careers.
¥ The church's decision to stay comfortable will likely lead many members to stay immature in their faith-life.
¥ The church will expect their clergy/ministers to become caregivers rather than equippers and thus the membership will create unhealthy dependencies on their clergy and the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers will not be lived out.
¥ The church will talk about outreach and "come grow with us" but the members' inward-focused behaviors and expectations of themselves and the clergy will prevent those people outside the active membership from feeling welcomed and invited.
¥ Many churches that continue to live in their comfort zones will simply die out after the generation of current members die. Southern Baptists haven't been reaching people under 40 for decades and now most of our congregations are filled with senior adults who desire living in comfort zones that continue to prevent our churches from reaching a new generation.
¥ The lost will go unreached and our churches will turn into museums for our saints rather than mission outposts.
The dialogues and seminars I've conducted on this topic have indicated that many of our leaders and churches want to do better at fulfilling the biblical commission for the church but don't want to face the steep learning curve. They don't want to take risks. They don't want to make persons mad. They don't want to lead into the future. Most just "don't want to rock the boat." Jesus said we should cast our nets on the other side (a very uncomfortable thing for some) if we are not catching fish by the way we are currently fishing.
I think there's great wisdom in this teaching of Jesus - what about you? What legacy do you want to leave? Will you be seen as one who contributed to the death of your church or one who took risks, moved from their comfort zones and helped birth the future of your church?
(EDITOR'S NOTE -Hammett is an author and leadership and congregational coach for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina [BSC]. He will be leading a breakout session Nov. 11 at the BSC annual meeting titled, "Keeping People Over 60 while Reaching People Under 40").


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