Let the Games Begin
How the American Church Got Here and How We Can Change
If it meant hoisting the crystal chalice of the Professional Bowling Championship over your head, would you tackle the enemy in lane seven in the throes of their back swing without hesitation to win, or would you at least think about it first? Seriously, how many of us, in the heat of battle at the local bowling alley on cosmic night, would eviscerate your best friend, sending them three lanes over, just so you could claim the last three onion rings on the sample platter? After repeated looping of that YouTube footage, the reality sets in that maybe there’s been a moment in time where the thirst for victory overtakes reigns of sanity. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
From whiffing the ball atop the tee while the right fielder picked Dandelions, to hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy on national television, competition is engrained in all of us from the earliest stages of life. You’re not remembered for the trophies almost won. There’s no category for being stopped one yard short of a Superbowl victory. American culture is all about the “W”.
In all fairness, there was a generation who introduced us to the Participation Trophy, but we’ll let that marinate for another article.
Gently ease your index finger off the left button of your mouse and move away from the “x” on your Chrome tab, I know what you’re thinking: “Oh great, another ‘everyone just have fun and play fair’ pep talk from a guy who placed third in the 800 meters at the Jr. High Cross County meet thirty-five years ago. Where three of you bounded off the starting line and ended up on the winner’s podium. Hit the eject button and head back down to your van down by…”
The apostle Paul penned “Run, so as to win the prize,” which has been translated in the American church bible to mean, “Win at any cost.” Welcome to the church where the ends justify the means. Winning has a way of attracting those longing for winners, who willingly drink its Kool-Aid for whatever fills a seat, unfazed by its recipe. Truth has a long history of being twisted and manipulated into finely crafted elixirs that tantalize the tongue on the way down, only to be vomited years later from spiritual indigestion.
Winning is measured by seats filled, services added, campuses built, and coughers filled. Full transparency here, but pastors do find it more fulfilling to preach to seats with people in them. At issue, however, is the lengths we will go to fill that seat. Insecure egos meteorically rise or catastrophically plummet on the state of that seat. We’ve turned into salesman who lovingly guilt you into repeatedly occupying said seat and placing the yoke of unrealistic expectations on those who serve around us to ensure the ‘no vacancy’ sign of winning stays on.
Blame the pastor! They’re an easy target, so we’re excused from any culpability in this crazy, twisted game we play. But can you image living through the era where church attendance numbers were posted weekly on walls all over the country for congregations to determine how worthy the person behind the lectern was of receiving a paycheck? Image receiving an employee evaluation every single week on your job performance and your livelihood hangs in the balance. We turned pastors into employees whose only metric for success was bodies in a chair. Entire counseling centers should be made available for any pastor who endured those weekly job evaluations over decades. Your success rises and falls by the numbers on the wall. So, are pastors to blame? Maybe, but we created this monster, and we made the rules.
Did we stop this insanity? No, we perfected it. We became people we never dreamed of to remain employed for the sake of winning. Honest apology for how real that just sounded. Instead of numbers on walls, computers spit out spreadsheets calculating the various metrics on the science of fillings seats. That’s how we know if we’re winning now.
So, is it wrong to track attendance? No, it’s what we’re doing with the data that’s taking us down the path of insanity.
Let’s break this down:
We’ve been trained to believe that success means full auditoriums.
American Church attendance has consistently declined over the decades.
We must fill these seats to keep our jobs.
This is exactly why mega churches were given such a prominent platform in our country. They were winners, and in our blind lust we followed them down this path of winning. How were Mega Churches winning? By producing entertaining and engaging services to lure in the apathetic masses. I’ve heard this in a song somewhere: “Here we are now, entertain us.”
Pastors gave up their mandate to unapologetically preach the Word, equip the saints, tirelessly reach the lost, and make disciples. They surrendered their narrow road convictions for enticing the masses with gatherings and events unconnected to the church’s mission. It was all about the numbers. It was all about winning.
This game has its casualties. Christ followers who simply wanted to join a family and worship together, only to find they were a statistic when tragedy struck their lives. Or pastors who followed the call of God on their lives to love and serve people, only to be met with the constant pressure to perform in this game we call church. The show must go on. We became people God never intended us to be, to win a game God never intended us to play.
Jesus gave us the playbook for the church. We are to be servants who lead selflessly. We are to keep the Word of God. We are to love one another unconditionally. If we win at anything, let it be ridiculous grace and mercy that causes the world to put down their trophies and pursue a prize that lasts for eternity. That’s a game worth playing.
(Over the next few articles, we’re going to unpack the lengths we’ve gone and the expectations we’ve made of what winning became in the American church.
Stay tuned…)
Well said! A big difference between numerical breadth vs discipleship depth
I’m looking forward to that series of articles.