Decline & Renewal in West Coast Churches of Christ, part 3

"Happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" (Leo Tolstoy, from the first line of Anna Karenina).

Perhaps the same could be said about churches. It's not hard to find commonalities in healthy, happy churches. Nor is it hard to step outside the world of practicing believers and find common threads in why unchurched people don't go to church. Together, we could list multiple books written about both subjects.

But it's hard to sum up the failings of declining churches. How have we messed up? Let us count the ways!

Each church's struggles are unique. Leadership personalities play a role. Sexual sin sometimes plays a role. Changing demographics play a role. Decisions about worship style can play a role.

But that's just what we see from the outside. The causes of church decline are often far more trivial. We rarely notice these unique factors, but they often stack up and create layers of disappointment and dysfunction.

For example, we sometimes blame elders for one bad decision. But rarely does one bad decision lead to a church's decline. It's not just that someone gave one wrong answer. Instead, it was likely a lack of attention to detail over a lengthy span which fostered an environment where "all the people did what was right in their own eyes" (Judg 21:25).

The truth is that we all want our churches to thrive. We long to produce healthy followers of Jesus Christ who make a difference in our communities. We want to believe in the future.

But do we have a future? Will our congregations be part of the landscape here on the West Coast in twenty or more years? How can we play a meaningful role? We'll specifically address those questions in April.

Throughout the month of March, however, we'll hear stories of decline. We’ll hear from West Coast church leaders past and present. We'll see some truth in Tolstoy's statement. Each story of decline is unique.

But there will be threads of commonality. We'll likely hear that we have fellow travelers whose stories of struggle and concern aren't entirely different from our own. And perhaps then we will have the courage to begin talking openly and honestly—not just about an idealized past or a disappointing present—but about a shared future toward which God is calling us.