Posted on 03/20/2023 9:07:52 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The New Testament, from Acts 2 to Revelation 3, is about the local church. That is a big portion of the Bible!
The local church is God’s plan A to carry out his mission on earth, and He did not give us a plan B.
Sure, the local church can be messy. It’s made of imperfect members like you and me. We are all sinners. No local church is close to being perfect.
But God made it clear that Christians are to be connected to a local church. Anything less than our commitment and devotion to our church is nothing less than disobedience to God.
And the base level of our commitment should be gathering. Our most common form of gathering is the worship service. But I stand amazed at how many Christians view the gathering of church members as just another optional activity. It competes with sleeping in, busyness, sports, and just plain apathy.
The watching world sees our lukewarm commitment and rightly concludes we are not committed to the Savior who gave us our churches. If we don’t take Jesus seriously, why should they?
At Church Answers, we have been engaged with church leaders for years. We asked them to discern the base level of commitment of their church members. Though these numbers are not precise, they do represent the essence of what we’ve learned. We classified church members into four categories according to their frequency of attendance. We did not include church members who never attend. They should not be on church rolls anyway.
Category Frequency of Attendance Estimated % of Church Members
Core 3 to 4 times a month 30% Marginal 1 to 2 times a month 25% Fading 4 to 10 times a year 25% Cultural 1 to 3 times a year 20%
Core
For the core, the local church is a priority. They demonstrate commitment more than offering excuses. This group likely provides 80% to 90% of the church’s financial giving. They are the first to volunteer and the last to complain. They are the core of the church. They are not perfect, but they are mostly a joy to many. We estimate they account for about 30% of the membership in a typical church.
Marginal
Some churchgoers might be uncomfortable with our categorization of someone who attends once or twice a month as marginal. Frankly, many churches have elders and deacons in this category. But these members are, at best, every-other-week attenders. Their commitment to Christ’s church is lukewarm. We estimate that the marginals account for 25% of the membership in a typical church.
Fading
A church member who only attends four to 10 times a year is likely on the way out of the church. They will soon be in the last category, cultural, or they will drop out altogether. They are “fading” away. We estimate that the fading account for 25% of the membership in a typical church.
Cultural
In the past, this category of church members was much larger. The cultural church members attend church sporadically, one to three times a year, just so they can say they are part of a church. They think it is necessary to identify as a Christian or a church member to be accepted in the community for business, political, or relational reasons. Though we estimate that the cultural account for 20% of the membership of a typical number, this number is declining. Most people today do not think there is any cultural benefit to identifying with a church.
The church’s response
One of the major reasons for the lessening commitment of church members is, simply put, many are not Christians. They are Christians in name only. They have minimal commitment to Christ’s church because they have no commitment to Christ.
We need to be cautious about estimating if groups of church members are Christians. We cannot ultimately know their hearts. Still, based on ongoing anecdotal evidence, we estimated the percentage of Christians for each category of church members:
I recently wrote a book, I Am a Christian, to address this reality. While this book can certainly be used in a new members’ class, my primary purpose was to speak to those who are already church members but are not likely Christians. The book asks straightforward but biblical questions that get to the heart of an individual’s belief.
My prayer is that I Am a Christian will open the eyes of church members who are not Christians and that it will be a great resource of assurance to those who are Christians. Even now, church leaders have begun using this book as a next step of discipleship in their churches.
The essence of it all
To be absolutely clear, my theology does not suggest that church membership is a condition of salvation. Salvation is by grace alone when we put our faith in Christ.
But the evidence is strong, if not overwhelming, that many church members have not truly become followers of Christ. A commitment to Christ without a commitment to His church is contrary to the teachings of the New Testament.
An inactive church member, in many ways, is an oxymoron. It is time to address the problem of marginal, fading, and cultural church members.
Because, ultimately, it is a Gospel problem.
Originally published at Church Answers.
Thom S. Rainer is the founder and CEO of Church Answers , an online community and resource for church leaders. Prior to founding Church Answers, Rainer served as president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. Before coming to LifeWay, he served at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for twelve years where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama and earned his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
I try to attend once a week, but I also believe perfect church attendance will not send you to heaven, and I don’t think not attending church will send you to hell. Only faith in Jesus Christ gets you into heaven, and refusal to trust Him as your Lord and Savior sends you to hell.
There is a huge difference between salvation and discipleship. Salvation cost Christ everything and us nothing. Discipleship costs us everything. Jesus commands us, not to save the world, but to make disciples, of which church participation is a necessity.
The Cultural are what are known as C & E Christians. C & E being Christmas, and Easter.
it really is a joy to get to church with the Body if you’re in right relation to Jesus. King David said it best:
Psalm 27:4
“One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD...”
I’d rather be judged by how I live my life, not what I do for one hour a week.
Same here. Some people who attend Church weekly are some of the most mean-spirited people I know. Others, who haven’t attend in years, nicest most caring I know.
I’d rather be judged by both.
A true Christian is known by God as "Sabbath people". They observe Passover, not Easter, and Tabernacles, not Christmas. Will you be one that He says "I never knew you", after you protest to Him that you went to church every Sunday? All the other things are just "traditions of Men" given by denominations. God has one denomination,...believers in the Word of God.
Any church that closed for Covid should stay closed forever
From my observation, the closures, for even a couple of months has cost the churches dearly in attendance. If was a bad decision based on bad data. Our church went to online for 9 weeks but did go back to in person as soon as it realized the hype was worse than the risk. It has cost members.
We do an online (zoom or google meets) every Wednesday small group of elderly members who are still concerned. Yet the meet family for dinner or have family gatherings. I find this to be intellectually dishonest. I still meet with them because it gives me a chance to possibly change their mind. One is getting cancer treatments and does need to be careful about exposure. The others are on their third year of fear/isolation.
Sad way to spend their twilight years.
The author forgot the 5th class: CEO. That stands for Christmas, Easter Only.
You must consider why some do not attend, as has been mentioned in the past. I will not go to any church lead by a female, support gay activities, insists on being a member, coming every week and midweek meeting, that you are not saved if you don’t tithe. you are not saved if you don’t speak in tongues. Just begin a list of things that I seen in my hunt for a church. No, these are not excuses, but do not want to hear or experience such evil. What goes in your stays in your brain.
And
we are told to not forsake fellowship. Is not encouraging each other and praising God at work or recreation or over diner with friends fellowship?
agree!
I love being with my church family.
And he cometh to his disciples, and findeth them asleep, and he saith to Peter: What? Could you not watch one hour with me?
3-4 hours a month is a paltry amount to witness to the Lord communally. He suffered a horrible and shameful death and we say "Lord, its MY life and I'll do with it however I feel and be happy if I decide to get out of bed 3-4 times a month for you". Incredibly, we are ungrateful.
You also don't get to choose how you are judged. We will be judged by the Lord how he sees fit according to His law. The Third Commandment has not been abolished.
We used to call them Chrieasters, they show up Christmas and Easter. I am happy they show up even for that, but they crowd the church and make it hard to get a seat.
...and we almost cut out the “E” in our UMC church. A few Easters ago, the Easter topic was Nelson Mandela and the ANC. Not much mention of Jesus, HIS promise, and resurrections. We definitely faded away. Now they are fighting to keep the majority conservatives Christians from leaving due to their stance on homos.
I tried going back to church but I simply cannot stand the deafening band music. I get more peace, tranquility, and spirituality in my yoga class.
Remember the Big Bang episode where Sheldon’s momMary Cooper, says, “You start changing the words to the prayers, next thing you know, you’re in a church with a guitar.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.