Why Can’t We Find Pastors…or Anyone Else? (Copy)

I work with a lot of churches and while every church has its own unique personality, every church seems to have a few things in common. Most churches are having some kind of discussion about their style of worship. Some are dealing with changing demographics in the neighborhoods around their church. Yet, everyone it seems is dealing with the challenge of finding enough volunteers to run their ministries. Children’s and Student ministries, ushers and parking lot volunteers – whatever the job, no matter what kind of church, the problems are consistently the same. We can’t find enough volunteers.

Recently, while in conversation with a church staff, I heard the same things I had heard before. The staff was frustrated – almost to the point of tears – about their failure to secure enough people to effectively work their programs. The reasons and excuses are always the same. The members feel like they’ve done their time. Others feel they don’t have the gifts or training the tasks would require. Others have commitments on the weekends – travels to the beach, lakehouse or now, travel teams for baseball, softball, volleyball, chess and robot tournaments. The details vary from church to church, but the result is always the same – stressed out staff and understaffed ministries.

Here’s the first question I want to ask: Do the traditional ministries offered by most churches still serve their purposes? We don’t do anything the way we did fifty years ago. We don’t do our banking, our jobs, our entertainment – we don’t even drive the same way we did even ten years ago. Yet, we do church the same way. Age graded ministries follow the same basic format they’ve always followed. Sunday School is the same. For a long time, Sunday School served a vital role in the discipleship and community functions of our churches. Now? Those same needs are met in other ways.

I’m not saying we need to cut anything or stop doing any particular ministry. I am saying we need to stop and ask some hard questions. What are we trying to do? How are we trying to do that? When and with whom? We can’t assume anything. Not anymore. Resources – including people’s time – are too valuable.

The second question is a little tougher. If people continue to tell us there’s always something more important than being at church, are they members at all? If something is always more important than serving the people of Jesus or being engaged in a kingdom ministry – are they followers of Jesus? Let’s face it. If you walk like a duck and quack like a duck – you’re a duck. If you don’t walk like a duck or quack like a duck, you may not be a duck. If we don’t go to church, or read our Bibles, or get involved in some kind of redemptive kingdom ministry, are we really followers of Christ at all?

I have a good friend who’s child is in travel ball. They couldn’t attend on Easter because they had a tournament in Indiana. Now, think about that. They couldn’t celebrate the greatest moment in the history of the world because they had to watch their child play ball.

Really? What’s more important than Easter?

Yes, I know since we started broadcasting our church services, it’s easy to stay home and watch church. Watching church is not being the church. We are called to be the church. That’s different. I know the experts are predicting a great falling away from the church in the coming years. I’m not sure there will be a falling away but rather those who aren’t serious about following Christ will simply stop trying to fake it. On more than one occasion, Jesus asked some hard questions and the crowd walked away from Him.

I think it’s time we ask some hard questions about what it means to be the church in our post everything culture. I think we need to ask some hard questions about what it means to follow Christ in our pagan culture.

We may not like the answers, but until we’re honest with ourselves, I don’t have much hope of anything changing.

This essay was first posted in Scot McKnight’s newsletter.