ASHLAND, Va. — The No. 1 reason people join churches today is because someone asked them to be part of something bigger than themselves, a specialist in ministry to youth and young adults told the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia Sept. 14.
“In our present tradition, when you join a church you can do two things: you can vote and you can tithe,” said Rodger Nishioka, associate professor of Christian education at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga. “What’s missing is the idea of bringing in the kingdom of God, changing lives, bringing hope where there is despair. Meetings aren’t why people join churches.”
At the CBFVA’s general assembly, “Ni Hao” bags filled with packaged rice share the platform with (from left) Rob Fox, the organization’s field coordinator; Dennis Sacrey of Fredericksburg, Va., outgoing moderator; and Pat Anderson, interim executive coordinator of the national CBF. (Photo/Robert Dilday)
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Nishioka was the keynote speaker at the CBFVA’s annual general assembly, held this year at First Baptist Church in Ashland, Va. Participants also heard from Pat Anderson, interim executive coordinator of the national CBF, and adopted a budget and elected officers for the coming year.
The number of Americans who claim no religious identity is expanding rapidly, Nishioka said, and that poses a challenge for Christian congregations.
“The ‘nones’ are the fastest growing religious population in the U.S.,” he said. “Most are 20- or 30-somethings. They say they’re spiritual but not religious. They believe in something transcendent, something bigger than themselves. But they don’t want to put up with a church business meeting.”
Instead, they’re drawn to church by both “warmth” and authenticity, Nishioka said.
“Warmth trumps great preaching, facilities, music, activities, parking and convenience,” he said. And, he added, visitors identified a church as “warm” when someone spoke to them — though not officially-designated greeters, who visitors believe “are supposed to do that.”
“Warmth happens when visitors sit in pews and someone nearby turns to them and says, ‘Welcome,’” he said.
But he warned that the smaller in membership a church is, the less likely it is to be warm.
“Why? Because it’s a closed group. They’re family churches. Some of them are literally family churches.”
The rise of the “nones” is changing the way congregations engage their communities, Nishioka said, and he identified eight trends he sees at work:
• From tribal education to immigrant education. Churches can no longer expect the majority of those who attend to be familiar with Scripture, doctrines or hymns or other elements of worship. “If you have the temerity to say we’re going to hear this familiar story from Scripture, that’s a problem. You’ve just told a bunch of people, ‘Oh, you just thought this was a welcoming church. No, this is only for the tribe.’”
• From mission out there to mission right here. “There is a reason God put you in your neighborhood. Are you making a difference in the place God has planted you, or are you just enacting rituals and leaving?”
• From reasoned spirituality to mystery-filled spirituality. “I worry that we have put too much emphasis on thinking, on reasoning our way to God. Mystery, awe and wonder are growing.”
• From credentialed leadership to gifted leadership. “I encounter people in congregations who say they don’t care if ministers went to seminary, unless they can show them who Jesus is. … This is shaking up the world of academia and we must respond.”
• From long-term planning to short-term planning. “The world is moving too fast. Leaders need to look no more than three months out. … There are still issues for long-term consideration, but the question for the church is agility.”
• From mass evangelism to one-on-one evangelism.
• From traditioning to experiencing. “The goal is EPIC: experiential, participatory, image-driven, communal.”
• From discipleship to apostleship. “The 20th century church spent a lot of time on discipleship, which was to come to church and teach people what it means to follow Jesus, but we stopped there. The whole point is to be sent out, to be apostles.”
Anderson, who is providing leadership for the national CBF following the retirement of long-time executive coordinator Daniel Vestal, reassured participants that recent resignations by national staff don’t signal a crisis in the 20-year-old organization.
Since the summer, at least six top staff members have moved to other jobs. At the same time, a task force report adopted last June recommends significant changes in CBF structure.
“Transitions in history and shifts in cultures all give us a time of wonderful opportunity,” said Anderson. “I’ve never been more excited at the prospects for CBF. … As I’ve traveled around the country and met seminarians and young pastors, these folks are drawn to CBF for things they see in the movement now and are completely different from the set of attractions which created the movement. The old-timers set in motion a new thing that is now attractive to a new generation of Baptists and is set on a new foundation.”
Anderson said Virginia’s CBF affiliate is “on the cutting edge” of those changes and has been “at the absolute center of Baptist life throughout this and I want you to rise to challenge.”
“I encourage you to look south to North Carolina [and its CBF affiliate] and figure out how to engage folks there. … Look north to the Mid-Atlantic CBF [affiliate], where they need your help and influence. These boundaries between states and countries have become meaningless.”
Looking beyond its boundaries, the CBFVA is focusing this year on the growing church in China, with the theme “Ni Hao,” or “hello” in Mandarin Chinese. During the meeting, “Ni Hao” bags filled with packaged rice were collected for distribution to local church food pantries. Also highlighted was a CBFVA-sponsored trip to China scheduled for May 2013 — the organization’s first mission immersion experience.
Participants adopted a 2012-2013 budget of $154,230, a 3.8 percent increase over the current budget, and welcomed as new moderator Jennifer Clatterbuck, minister to children and families at West Main Baptist Church in Danville, Va. Newly-elected officers are David Turner, pastor of Central Baptist Church in North Chesterfield, Va., moderator-elect; Lee Ann Perkins, a member of Huguenot Road Baptist Church in Richmond, treasurer; and Bland Campbell, pastor of Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Va., secretary.
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.