Decline & Renewal, 8: Ben Ries Guest Column

Editor's note: I have the amazing fortune of being able to publish several guest columns. Throughout March & April, you'll read thoughtful words from church leaders like Tim Spivey, Andy Wall, Stan Granberg, Aaron Metcalf, Rick Gibson and more. I previously told the story about the College Church of Christ in Fresno. Previous guest articles have come from Sean Palmer and Steve Martin.

My third guest column is from a preacher in the Pacific Northwest. Ben Ries is a gifted preacher who has an uncanny knack for perceiving and communicating the realities that we face on the West Coast. Ben Ries grew up in Iowa and moved with his family to Vancouver, Washington when he was in high school. After a stint in youth ministry at the East County Church of Christ (2000-2005) followed by graduate studies in Texas, he has preached both in Bellingham, Washington (2007-2010) and Federal Way, Washington (2010-present). Ben’s article helps us understand church decline through the lens of the Church of Christ at Federal Way.

The View from Ben Ries

The Church of Christ at Federal Way is getting smaller. This is a fact. A fact we no longer choose to avoid or sugarcoat. We lament this fact in elders’ meetings, we chat about it over cups of coffee, and we reference it in our Bible classes. We. Are. Declining. In the year 2000, our church was averaging a robust attendance of around 325 in Sunday morning worship. We had multiple adult Bible classes for people to choose from, two worship services, and any number of ministries that catered to children and adults of all ages. This season of our church’s life produces a deep sense of nostalgia for some and is perceived by many as our “glory days.”

The decline started slowly in the early 2000s. People began voicing discontent and eventually began leaving our congregation over changes in worship and leadership. Changes like singing during communion, a worship team, rearranging the chairs for worship, women teaching mixed Sunday morning Bible class, and women ministry leaders forced the hand of many individuals and families to either adjust with the changes or find another church. Many—if not most—have chosen the latter.

I wish I could say it stopped there and that we’ve been experiencing a season of numerical growth as of late, but you’ve probably already guessed that I’m not able to say that. People keep leaving. It’s not a mass exodus of sorts; it is more like a slow bleed. While individuals and families continue to leave over the changes in public worship that move us closer to gender equality, people are also leaving because of how we engage our community.

In recent years, we have attempted to relinquish some of the control that was once perceived as a necessity for church growth. We have discovered that opening our doors and providing a dynamic worship service, engaging ministries, and helpful resources for the community no longer create the disciples it once did. In light of this, we’ve tried to imagine ways for us to surrender our need for everything to be done on our terms and on our turf and, instead, go to our neighbors and risk placing our lives on their turf and on their terms. We’ve tried (and are still trying) to be like the 70 sent out by Jesus in Luke 10. We take very little for the journey and we go out trusting that God has prepared people who will share in our peace and will extend hospitality towards us, even if Jesus has yet to move into their lives.

The great thing about this commitment is that we are experiencing the movement of God’s Spirit in ways we would have never imagined. We have built some lasting relationships within our community, people know us, people trust us, and we can say with all honesty that our neighborhood would know the difference if we dropped off the face of the earth. The more difficult reality, though, is that we’ve learned this approach demands a great deal from those “being sent” and many in our congregation aren’t overly interested (or don’t have the time) to invest in our community in this way. This leaves many people frustrated on two levels: 1) Because our identity is no longer limited to Sunday mornings, but rather, found in places like an elementary school and a homeless shelter, those who choose to not participate feel left out and uncomfortable that “mission” and “evangelism” no longer look like it used to. 2) The place of connection that does remain for these individuals and families (our Sunday morning worship gathering) has gone through enough changes over the years that it too no longer provides the comfort and stability that it once did. And when you no longer connect with the overall mission and find yourself unhappy with the worship services, what reason do you have to stick around? Well, for many of the 325 people in our congregation a good reason could not be found.

So…here we are…a church that has grown from 325 to 125 in the span of 13 years. The question for us is no longer, “Are we a dying church?” because we know the answer. The cold, hard facts speak for themselves as every day we seem to be moving closer to our own death. And so the new question we keep asking ourselves—the question that many suggest is ridiculous and naïve—is this: “Is there a chance that God will bring new life out of our death?” We're crazy enough to believe that he just might and, right or wrong, we are willing to die to see the answer.

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Bio:
Born and raised in Davenport, Iowa, Ben Ries moved to the Pacific Northwest when he was a junior in high school. He is a graduate of Cascade College (BA, Biblical Studies), Abilene Christian University (MDiv), and is currently working on a Doctorate of Ministry from Lipscomb University. Before accepting the position of preaching minister at the Church of Christ at Federal Way in 2010, Ben has served as a youth minister or preaching minister in Oregon and Washington since 1998. Ben and his wife, Jen, have been married 14 years. They have three children, Emma (13), Aiden (10) and Izzy (8).