Dear friends,
Last Tuesday, I received an emergency phone call from Medicine Hat Alberta. One of my brothers-in-law had died suddenly. Wednesday (during our Pastor and Staff Cruise), I learned that the services would be held on Friday evening and Saturday of last week, and by the time I arrived home from an evening meeting with Hope City Church leadership, I learned that I would be mc’ing the Friday evening gathering and then conducting the funeral and internment on Saturday.
It was a real rush time-wise to pull the services together, and for Karen and me to arrange emergency transportation and to travel to Coalhurst, Alberta on such short notice. By God’s grace it all worked out well.
Harry was a good brother-in-law, and though he had struggled in life and with failing health due to aggressive diabetes, he “ended well.”
The service was held in Bethany Lutheran church in Tilley Alberta, a little country church that had been planted by Karen’s grandfather in 1933 as a Danish-Lutheran Church, serving Danish immigrants. He was a real evangelist, who, as a church planter in the depression years, lived in a sod-roofed underground house on the prairies. Services were held in Danish until being changed to English in 1957. It was Karen’s home church, and she and I were married there. It holds a special place in our hearts.
As we visited with family, we learned of the church’s struggle and decline in recent years, to the point of where there is now conversation about closing the church or at least pursuing sharing a pastor. The cemetery is growing in population and fiscally sound. The church is declining in population and fiscally precarious.
Is such decline for a church inevitable, or can it be avoided and even reversed? I have shared the concept of church lifecycles. This states that without intervention, a church’s “aging” and decline to its death somewhat predictable. While the trajectory of a church’s lifecycle is perhaps common, with prayerful action, it can be avoided and the church can again thrive.
As I visited with the dear people at Bethany Church, I observed three reasons for their decline. These might be the “three d’s” for church decline:
1. Demographic Reality.
Though the church was founded by and for Danish immigrants, the culture of the region has changed a lot in more recent years. New farmers are largely “Mexican-Mennonites,” and these do not relate to the traditions and “culture” of Bethany Lutheran Church. The church has largely maintained its traditional forms and customs of worship.
2. Denominational Decline.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church has adopted the blessing of same sex marriage and has endorsed the ordination of practicing homosexuals (2011). This initiative came from the leadership of the denomination and was pushed on local churches. Some churches decided to leave the denomination. Some churches, having “nowhere to go,” plugged their noses and voted to stay. Many individuals left the churches, and have found their way into evangelical churches with other affiliations.
Decline in this matter has been accompanied with decline in commitment to the integrity and authority of God’s Word. Once foundational to the Lutheran Church, this branch of Lutheranism has adopted a somewhat ambiguous position on Scripture.
I met several people at the funeral who no longer attend Bethany Church. They have moved on to Bible-based evangelical churches and have no intention to return – ever. This loss is sad.
As has been said of some other denominations, ‘In their bid to become relevant, they have become irrelevant.”
3. Decline in Mission.
There is a “parish mentality.” The mindset is that the church exists to serve the people of the parish. People come to the church as consumers of the church’s services and ministry – and as donors to the church budget. There is weakness in conviction of the “priesthood of all believers,” and of the urgency of mission. This is true for both the clergy and the laity.
Meanwhile, the church cemetery is growing in “attendance,” as the church attendance declines.
These are my observations, and I suggest that these can be applied to a variety of other church settings. What do you think?
In these comments, I do not wish to critique the Evangelical Lutheran Church so much as to learn from them. We in the EFCC are not immune, but are called to be witnesses of the Gospel – to live and share our faith!
How is your church doing – is your church facing any of these “three d’s?” Revitalize is about living and sharing the gospel in the EFCC – and beyond!
The church that is not a witness of the Gospel to culture will become a “victim” of culture,
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Please see our Five Minutes on Friday, with news on the LPD – and photos of Bethany Lutheran Church at the link below:
Five_Minutes on Friday June 9,2017.pdf
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LPD Women in Ministry Facebook Page. Karen has set up a Facebook Page, and invites all women church ministry staff and pastor’s wives to join. The purpose is communication, encouragement and prayer for one another.
To join the Facebook Page, please simply search “LPD Women in Ministry” and click ‘Join” Pastors – please inform your spouse of this opportunity.
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