Message from the Moderator: November 2016

Dave Whitten, District Conference Moderator, 2017

The Church of the Brethren is struggling with a decline in membership. As a result of this decline we struggle with an identity crisis. We’re not sure of ourselves any longer. And with the rise of the megachurch and the notion that big is better, we the smaller churches, have developed an inferiority complex. We have come to believe if we can’t do it like the megachurch then there’s no place for us. But as Gideon reminds us God does extraordinary things with ordinary people.

I read an article from Christianity Today entitled, Your Kids Don’t Need a Megachurch written by Amy Julia Becker. She writes:

We hear a lot about megachurches—defined as congregations that have 500 or more attendees on average every Sunday. . . . Still, according to the Harford Institute for Religious Research, 177,000 churches—about 60% of US Protestant congregations—have fewer than 100 attendees each week.
The median number of worshippers on a Sunday morning is 75. So our church is the norm. It is easy to bemoan the lack of programs and professionalism, the tight budget and sputtering sound system, but I find myself increasingly grateful for its blessings.

Becker writes that their current church has one Sunday school class for children, Kindergarten to the fifth grade. Most Sundays they average about 6 to 8 kids and roughly 60 adults in worship. Small churches do well preparing children for the future. For her the basics are instilled there:

Church involves worship, prayer, Bible reading, and people who love them. That’s it. No bells and whistles. No performance or productions. Just the frail and broken body engaging in the healing work of Christ.

Kids these days don’t need more kid-specific programs.  Society provides plenty of opportunities there. What kids really need today is to engage in more intergenerational happenings. And that’s where the small congregation comes into its place. Where else do you find opportunities to engage multiple generations like a small church? My child feels safe, loved, nurtured, and valued by all members of this church. What more do we want for them?

The winds of change are blowing through church. We seem to have lost our way, unsure of our place. But God reaches out and calls, “O people of valor.” “Go with the strength you have . . . Am I not sending you” (cf. Judges 6)? The call of God on our lives has not changed!

Jill Southern-Jones, in a devotion from her website, writes:

God does not always call the qualified but always qualifies the called. God doesn’t always call the most likely or the most humanly gifted people. The anointing from God, which is needed to fulfill our call, will be there for us. Remain faithful to God and to the call He has placed on your life and you will be fruitful. What he calls us to do He also enables us to do.

Let’s embrace our place!