In a day when the majority of churches have either reached a plateau or are declining in most aspects of measurement, there are many speculations about a remedy to render the church both effective and efficient in a culture with dire needs. However, most adjustments in ministry are just that, rather than a drastic overhaul to match ministry to the glaring need.
Messages on evangelism, prophecy, history, and the like, will result in new believers and some adolescent Christians; but very few are nurtured to maturity. That being the case, there is much infighting and competition, but precious little in the way of true discipleship. The seeker sensitive movement has given people what they want, rather than what they need, which has resulted in large numbers in attendance in a short time, but few disciples, at a time when true disciples are the need of the hour! It is reminiscent of comparing the growth of an oak and a squash; the squash will grow very quickly, but a strong oak will take years.
In order to understand what must take place, it is necessary to analyze what has brought us here in an overview of the history of a typical church in recent generations. Understanding the pattern of the waxing and waning of a church can lead to the solution that the Holy Spirit would bring about to revive the church and set a new course.
Since churches have been built primarily on evangelism, to the near exclusion of discipleship, various programs and incentives have been implemented which substituted activity for productivity, to a large degree. Most such programs were designed and implemented in human strength and wisdom.
As will be seen in the following diagram, the life of the church begins to sag and is bolstered by more programs with the eventual conclusion that a new pastor with differing gifts will be the 'shot in the arm' that is needed. When a number of solutions and pastors have been tried, the church may be reorganized; and the process is started all over again, or it may be declared dead and have its doors closed.
Rarely is it discerned that it should not be allowed to die a natural death but, rather, be guided through a spiritual death and resurrection to minister in the power of the Spirit. Just as an individual believer may try all sorts of self help, Christian and otherwise, prior to coming to the end of himself and finding victory, it is my conviction based on four decades of experience, that a church can, and should, experience a similar transformation. Since most have never been through this process, they do not know there is a bottom, nor that the Spirit will transform the life of the church and give a whole new lease on ministry.
Since comparatively few believers have been guided through this process, it will be obvious that few, indeed, are the churches which will have been transformed in this way. Since it is difficult to guide one believer through the death/resurrection process with his full cooperation, it will be vastly more difficult to convince a church, consisting of mostly fleshly believers, that such is the problem and the solution. As a comparison, it is much easier to turn around a canoe than a large ship!
During the downward progress to the Cross, there will be much resistance, both voluntary and involuntary. For the church to experience victory, it will be necessary for the individual members to experience such victory. Once a number of individuals have appropriated the Cross, they will have to lead, by lip and by life, others who have yet to enter in. When a church recognizes the downward progress for what it is, it is possible (and preferable) to heed the signals and submit to the Cross voluntarily rather than wait until the inevitable happens where there is no choice. In other words, it is not necessary to go all the way to the bottom and learn the hard way when we can become obedient and cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He purposes to do a deeper work in the life and ministry of the church.
However, just as with the individual believer, most churches will have to exhaust their own resources before casting themselves on God's merciful intervention. With the wealth of materials, media, and resources at its disposal, there is much to bolster human wisdom and dedication in the discharge of ministry. Since "everyone is doing it", there is little reason to question an approach to ministry that has numbers and facilities to buttress the appearance of success. The mega churches have had success based on numbers, but they are finding that they have made few disciples and, therefore, have gone the wrong direction.
Usually, it is only as the indicators all turn in a negative direction that our Lord can get the undivided attention of the leadership for a prolonged period of time. When they have given it their best shot and must admit defeat, God can use it to open them to an answer not previously considered. Sometimes, it is only at this point that they will be ready for an answer rather than an argument!
As with the individual believer, so with the church, it always boils down to an issue of control, however defined. If our Lord is to take control, the church must lose control. If it has not lost control, it is yet in control; if it is yet in control, it is really out of control! Losing control is always a frightening prospect, even though we know that His control will be infinitely superior to our own. The way ahead is uncharted, but the Holy Spirit is eminently qualified to navigate troubled waters to His destination for which He will receive all the glory.
Needless to say, it will require leaders who have undergone the process to supervise during the transition, and afterward, as the church enters upon a spiritual ministry which was heretofore unknown. Not only that, but it will be called upon to coach other churches in the same process. Just as individual believers who find victory need fellowship with other such believers, revived or renewed churches need to band together to encourage each other and to inspire other churches which, knowingly or unknowingly, have the same need.
Whereas the individual must learn the daily walk in the Spirit, the individual church must learn the expertise of daily ministry in the Spirit with few guidelines to pattern after. In past major revivals, the process was mostly administered by the sovereign working of the Holy Spirit. Due to leaders' lack of understanding of that which He had done, the revival fires soon died out and the church was back to its fleshly self to repeat the whole process over and over and pray that the Spirit will do it again!
The church cannot speak to the world with one voice until the Cross becomes central and replaces the program-centered ministry which we have known for most of the last century, with rare exceptions. Just as in individual witnessing, where the lost need to see Jesus in a believer's life before his witness is effective, the world needs to see Jesus, not man-made programs and answers, in the Church. It is impossible to follow the world and lead it at the same time!
Holding up the banner of the Cross presupposes living in the shadow of the Cross. The Church must lose its life based upon living and witnessing in human strength, while asking for God's help, and demonstrate to the world that our Lord yet lives through His Church.
We have seen the Holy Spirit reveal Himself in individual lives for the past 40 years; it is my contention and conviction that He will do the same through individual churches which will obediently yield to the death/resurrection process as herein briefly described. This rationale is outlined in more detail in Handbook to Happiness and You: A Spiritual Clinic by the author.
However, both pastor and people will necessarily be swimming against the tide of public and theological opinion when embarking upon this path! It will be fraught with obstacles, as well as resistance from Satan. He was defeated at the Cross; and it is losing our lives and the life of the church through the preaching of the Cross, the power of God, where Life in resurrection power is yet available! As with the individual so with the church, once it is accepted that the church must come to the end before it can start at the beginning, cooperation with the Holy Spirit can hasten the progress to the Cross so that resurrection life may be released.
The world must see a church triumphant if it is to be taken seriously! Once the miraculous is commonplace, the Church will have again earned the right to speak for God, and the world will once again stand in awe of a Holy God.
- Charles R. Solomon
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