Only 20%? WHERE IS THE CHURCH?

Only 20%? WHERE IS THE CHURCH?

My family and I recently moved to a new city. In an effort to find out more about our new area I searched for demographic information on-line. One web site contained a lot of information including religious affiliation. I realize that Oklahoma is the outer ring, the sort of fly-over waste land of the western portion of the Bible belt. In fact, when we first moved to Oklahoma City, we were jokingly told (at least I think it was a joke) that there was a law that there had to be at least one Baptist church on every corner. It is good to remember that most jokes have some element of truth in them. Even though we only moved less than 10 miles away, we have entered another universe. I was surprised – okay literally appalled – that in my new zip code of at least 16,000 households, only about 20% of the people claimed any religious affiliation. Many people may not answer surveys but I don’t think that is the reason this number is so low. While this statistic is a disturbing, it also offers some hope.

First, let’s discuss the appalling thing. WHERE IS THE CHURCH? Where are all of the disciples that Jesus gave the great Commission to? I just read a Barna Group survey revealing that between 1991 and 2004 the number of unchurched people in North America almost doubled. The number increased from 39 million to 75 million people. I think there was a very wise man who once said the fields were white with the harvest. It is very obvious that North America is the one of the world’s largest mission fields. It is evident that the Church (big “C”) is not fulfilling her calling given to her by Jesus Christ.

A recent excursion through my new neighborhood gives a little insight into this phenomenon. As of this week, we are about two weeks shy of Halloween. From the looks of things in this area, it must be the most celebrated “holiday” in America. I am not sure everyone celebrates the true "meaning" of Halloween but the decorated houses tell a different story. I will have to wait for a couple of months to see if they put as much effort into decorating for Christmas.

I remember at seminary one of the biggest debates was about recognizing Halloween and letting our kids participate in trick-or-treat. At that time my kids did not know much about the day except that you went to as many houses as possible to get as much candy as possible. In my house, we have a rule that all Reese’s Cup go to dad.  So, not wanting to deny my kids their candy or mine, we let them go. They were never to dress in “scary” costumes and they had to say “thank you” at every house. As they got older, I would tell my son to find out which houses gave away Reese’s Cup and come home and change so he could back for more. Alas, he is too big now to pull this off with any sincerity, much to my dismay and Reese's cravings! I’ll just have to hope his being new to the neighborhood will not be a detriment to my sugar fix. As with my kids, I assume many people have no idea what the real meaning of the day is. That may make it worse. I am reminded of Paul’s admonition to the Philippians: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” I suspect that some of these decorated houses are even inhabited by “professing” Christians. I don’t want to condemn them but it does make one think. Does this send the right message?

As I walked along, I kept wondering why people would put so much effort into this type of decorating. Some were very elaborate and took a lot of time and trouble to construct. As the seasons change, the weather gets colder, the sunlight shrinks, it just seems people need something to get excited about. Again, WHERE IS THE CHURCH? If people only have a release of celebration in Halloween decorations, then the Church has fallen woefully short in being able to reach people with the excitement in the love, grace and  forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

There is good news in this statistic though. If Christians want to truly be Christians and obey Jesus’ commands (which I think is part of being a Christian), they will not have to travel far to find someone in need of what Jesus has to offer. The mission field is right in your own backyard (Jerusalem), in your own subdivision (Judea), in your own zip code (Samaria). You don’t even have to go to the ends of the earth! Your neighbor may be the next person you introduce to Jesus. When Jesus says that he stands at the door and knocks, it is probably at the house right across the street. In fact, he may be knocking at several doors on your block alone. Just think of how many he may be knocking at in your subdivision or in your zip code? The opportunity for the Church is enormous. Yet, we miss these opportunities for a variety of reasons.

The really good news for me as an ordained person is that with numbers like that I have job security. In my own zip code accepting these numbers means there are almost 13,000 households who do not have a religious affiliation much less a relationship with Jesus Christ. My congregation does not need transfer growth – swapping or stealing sheep – when we can go through our own neighborhoods and find many “lost” people, which up to 80 percent of them seem to be. And, we are even willing to share our catch with other congregations who want to reach the unchurched. Our nets won’t break but our facilities might. While it is a headache I would love to have, how would you deal with an influx of huge numbers of people? Any church would have to ramp up everything they do in order to meet the needs of those coming in. I would love to be in that situation and find a way to deal with it. With those kinds of numbers, it should be really easy to fill ministry positions, not to mention the congregation’s softball lineup.

I could go on and on about this topic. But you will have to excuse me. I have to go through my neighborhood and tell some more people about Jesus being the Lord of Life! Want to join me?