I am a member of that generation that remembers the big full-color Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog — especially the big Christmas “wish book.” When it arrived, everyone took their turns looking through it. Hardware, clothing, appliances, kitchenware, sporting goods, and — yes, yes, yes — toys were all found in those wonderful pages. And Sears is where we went to get so many of those things.
So now, if you read business forecasts, there are many predictions that Sears will soon disappear! When I was a child, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States. Now, after 125 years in business and a 2005 merger with K-Mart, the retail pair last year lost $170 million dollars.
What happened? As the marketplace changed, Sears tried to stay the same. They didn’t respond to the things that were pulling customers away. They didn’t update their stores, offer the right merchandise or make it clear why customers should choose them over other retailers. And with the K-mart merger, these two retailers within the same company were competing with each other.
I see some vital lessons for the church in this situation, because there are plenty of churches that are also in decline today. Baptist leader Ed Stetzer, church planting leader Drew Goodmanson, and organizations like the Pew Forum have all analyzed the church landscape and found these sobering facts:
• In America, approximately 3,500 churches close their doors and cease to exist each year.
• Half of all churches last year did not add one new member through conversion growth.
• Around 2.7 million people completely drop out of church participation each year.
• Only 15 percent of churches in the U.S. are growing.
On top of all of this, my involvement in Baptist denominational life has shown me that the problem is even worse at “higher” levels. Denominational entities are experiencing tremendous drops in giving, participation and interest.
We need to be clear on what we are doing that we truly expect will reach and hold onto new participants in our church family. Some self-righteous “they just ought to come” is a great way to bring a church to a permanent end.
While our message of abundant and eternal life in Christ must never change, our approaches must change to reach a changing community. Jesus told us that the “new wine” of the gospel requires “new wineskins” to contain it.
So here are some questions to consider as we work to accomplish our God-given mission:
• Are we doing what will attract the lost, or just what pleases the already-saved?
• Among those who don’t know Christ as Lord, what needs are they searching to fill that God is ready to meet through us if we’re willing?
• What unique needs are we trying to meet or are we just redundant and ultimately unnecessary?
In one Midwestern town, after a severe storm, the newspaper carried an article that said, “The tornado that destroyed the Methodist church last Tuesday seems to have done no real damage to the town.” Could that be said of us?
The once legendary retail giant Sears may, in the near future, cease to exist. And I doubt, beyond its employees, that anyone will really notice.
Let’s not join them. Let’s be about our Savior’s mission.
Al Thompson ([email protected]) is pastor of Hillsboro Baptist Church in Crozet, Va.