The "Church is in Decline?" Which one?

Just yesterday I went to my mailbox and retrieved my mail. One of the pieces was a newspaper I get from a large organized Christian church fellowship (they do not call themselves a denomination). The front page article was entitled "Church in America Marked by Decline." Being a follower of Jesus and a member of his church, this sparked my interest.

The first two sentences reveal that this publication was not at all talking about the Church, but rather their individual fellowship of churches. Here's what it said: "The church in America is shrinking. The number of men, women, and children in the pews has dipped to the lowest level since a comprehensive effort to count members began in 1980..."

As I read the rest of the article, I was a bit put off by the fact that this author first of all was referring to his brand of church as "THE Church," and second of all that he was making the assumption that only those who gather on Sundays in pews are members of the church. Admittedly, I see his point and appreciate his concern; however, there are two big problems I see with the attitude and point-of-view shared by this author.

First, if followers of Jesus in different denominations (whether they call themselves one or not) do not begin to embrace the fact that there are "Christians" in other denominations, we shall never be able to attain to the unity spoken of by Jesus and the apostles. We cannot continue to be a force for good in this world and beat down the gates of hell if we do not join hands with our brothers and sisters in different denominations. [Note: I personally disagree with denominationalism at its core, but this still does not negate the fact that most of the people in those denominations are my brothers and sisters in Jesus.]

Close to the end of the article, they listed several things that might be contributing factors to the decline of their church. One of which was very interesting: "Others said churches have focused too much on institutional loyalty and not enough on the message of Christ." (If I had penned those words myself, I would be called a church-basher.) Furthermore, the next article in the paper had a tag line that read, "Four congregations with a cappella and instrumental Sunday worship services are excluded from 2009 directory." What?!? Once again, this article is not about THE Church, it is about their particular brand of church. In my honest opinion, this is the reason these--and many other--churches are seeing drastic decline in membership. The Church universal is not in decline. Large denominations may very well be declining due to their focus on perpetuating their system of Christianity, but the Church worldwide is growing by leaps and bounds!

The second problem I have with the attitude and point-of-view shared in this article is that making the assumption that the church is only identified by the number of people sitting in pews on Sundays is dangerous--if not downright blasphemous. This article made many references to "pews" and "buildings" as descriptions of how they identify church members. While I would agree that this has been the common practices for "Christian-counters" throughout the ages, it is not a reliable way to determine the number of people who are actually following Jesus. On the other hand, maybe it is not followers of Jesus they wanted to count, but rather "church-going" people. 

In one of the follow-up articles, this newspaper made a big to-do about church size that I found very interesting which bolsters my point about them only using church buildings to gather their numbers. The headline read, "Wherever two or more--or eight--are gathered." The article highlighted a church in this fellowship that was not counted in their most recent census because they do not have a building and therefore no one knows they really exist as a church. This little church is made up on only eight folks who gather each Sunday morning in a home. (I would consider them a church.) The article said they had no minister. Really? (I'm sure they meant there was no paid preacher on staff.)  Once again, the Church is not in decline. This particular denomination is, but not the church worldwide.

I guess the point is that if followers of Jesus continue to centralize and attempt to statistically track their own brand of Christianity, then they are very likely to be largely impotent in the war against sin and the spiritual forces of darkness. As someone in their fellowship suggested, "[The church has]  focused too much on institutional loyalty and not enough on the message of Christ." 

It is time to understand that all who call on the name of Jesus alone for salvation make up the Church. It is time for followers of Jesus to stop assuming that those who aren't sitting in pews on Sundays are not their brothers and sisters. It is time to recognize that the way we have "done church" for the past 1700 years is not entirely biblical and is largely ineffective at carrying out the Great Commission. 

The Church is alive and active and growing. Whether we see it or not.

Simply,

Jason