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****************************************************** webminister@webminister.com February 2000 - #2
IN THIS ISSUE:
****************************************************** Church scandals and an inward driven church do not relate well to the community for representing what the church should stand for. Warren W. Wiersbe wrote "The Integrity Crisis" in 1988. Wiersbe states: "We are facing an ‘integrity' crisis. Not only is the ‘conduct' of the church in question, but so is the very ‘character' of the church. . . . The church has grown accustomed to hearing people question the ‘message' of the gospel, because that message is foolishness to the lost. But today the situation is embarrassingly reversed, for now the ‘messenger' is suspect." (p. 17) To the unchurched, the question is "Why should I come to your church?" In the next few months, this Newsletter will present major issues in turning a "teflon" church into a "velcro" church, i.e., people will stick and not slide back into the world.
****************************************************** Hoge, Johnson, and Luidens found "fundamentalists" to be as well educated and to having occupations typical of the surveyed sample. Those claiming to be "fundamentalists" were "open, generous persons who were trying to live according to Christ's will for them." Most are strongly committed to marriage and family. They have a lower divorce rate (about one-fourth as many as the survey sample), more are currently married (97% to 79%), more are in their first marriage (97% to 82%), and more have children (94% to 76), and have larger families. Fundamentalists are strongly committed to their churches. 91% attend once or more during a week compared to 26% for the rest of the sample. 91% are active in some group or committee in the church. They are more likely to participate in Bible study groups, prayer services, and spiritual growth seminars. They have less confidence in organized religion, and still less in public schools, preferring to send their children to private Christian schools or home schooling. Most became involved in the church, not by theological or moral considerations, but after following a parent, spouse, or friend into a fundamentalist church. "Time and again the fundamentalists complained that mainline churches fail to preach the gospel, fail to teach the Bible, fail to set standards of Christian conduct, and fail to create a close spiritual fellowship. . . . In short, the church and its activities are more central to the lives of fundamentalists than they are to those active in other churches." ( pp 69, 95 - 102)
****************************************************** Mac Lynn in an article in "Church Growth Magazine" in October, 1998, [http://4churchgrowth/chur4160.htm]stated: "Churches of Christ exist worldwide in a grossly disproportionate pattern. Half of the congregations and two-thirds of the members are found in the United States. Or, to put in more graphically, one-third of the members of Churches of Christ reside in five American states: Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas." The webminister has concluded one important fact a number of years ago about the 190+ years of Restoration History. The churches of Christ have inherently ministered to its members at the expense of evangelism and planting new churches. From a historical point of view, the most populated states were settled by a young enthusiastic church growth movement. This followed the migration routes over the Cumberland Gap into Tennessee in the 1820s, Alabama in the 1830s, and Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas in the 1840s and 1850s. Church planting in other states arrived mainly from the migration of individuals and families who established smaller urban churches. THUS, CHURCH GROWTH CAME MORE BY FAMILIES MIGRATING WITH THEIR FAITH THAN BY AN EVANGELISTIC MISSION OR PURPOSE OR CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENT. In the 2000 edition, the Lynns have added the web site address for those churches which submitted one. Distinctions of those adhering to the AD70 (a unique view pertaining to the Lord's coming and kingdom prophecies being fulfilled in AD70) and PM (Pre-Millennial) have been deleted either because this is difficult to categorize or these teachings are no more a prominent burning issue of the declining number of churches advocating these views. Most of these churches have moved toward being mainstream churches. Mac Lynn concludes "THERE NOW APPEARS TO BE A DOWNTURN IN NUMBERS ESPECIALLY IN THE BIBLE BELT" (emphasis mine).
****************************************************** One church established an Internet Ministry team to create a web site for the church. While they have been online for almost six months now, they identified two primary purposes for the web site: "1. To provide a means of communication between members of the congregation and between the congregation and the staff. 2. To provide ministry to the unchurched and nonbelievers.
****************************************************** "They Smell Like Sheep" can be bought from Barnes and Noble with a 30% discount for $11.19 (hardback) plus shipping and handling at http://webminister.com/barnes/book5014.htm.
****************************************************** I need your comments, so e-mail me at webminister@webminister.com. Let me know if you want to "unsubscribe." In His Service, The Webminister |