Standing at the Crossroads

Crossroads

In the life of any church, intersections in the spiritual road appear. Many times, these crossroads require the church to choose paths that do not converge at the other end, but lead to different destinations. Churches struggle to make what they believe to be the proper decision, knowing that whichever road is chosen will have a profound impact on the future of the church.

However, both roads can often lead to the same place, where one path meanders and slowly winds to the end while the other takes a more direct route to the final destination. Sometimes, the "scenic" route allows us time to reflect on the beauty and magnificence of everything God provides for us, while the more direct route forces us to focus on the task at hand. There is rarely a "bad" choice when both paths lead to the same place. It becomes a matter of deciding whether timeliness is essential to the task at hand. In either case, God has provided us with the free will to decide which road will be taken.

As a church body, there are pitfalls involved in haphazardly choosing one road over the other. More importantly, the body itself can be harmed if church leadership individually chooses different paths without any clear overarching vision for growth and prosperity. While the end goal may be the same, taking different approaches in reaching that goal can lead to confusion, hurt feelings and an inability as a church to reach the final destination. Success is based on the essential elements of having a united vision to move forward and choosing the same path for all aspects of the ministry.

However, there is another decision that a church can make. Many times, the easiest choice is to simply stand in place, therefore negating the need to make a choice of direction. The decision that is made is to stick with the status quo- "if it's working for us now, it will meet our needs for the immediate future." In previous generations, this would have been an acceptable approach, as lifestyles and spiritual needs evolved at a much slower pace. Communities were more self-reliant and isolated because the technology of the day was not as robust as it is today. Values and morals were consistent because the standard was based on faith and tradition, not on influences or trends originating halfway around the world.

We now live in an "always on" society, where public opinions can change from day to day and the influences on our lives can come from any corner of the globe. We see a move towards the secular and away from the sacred. Political correctness has replaced societal morality as the measure of social acceptance. Separation of Church and State has devolved into Denial of Church by State. Today's church has to demonstrate the ability to overcome society, instead of simply fitting into society. More importantly, church leadership must demonstrate the vision and courage to take the church to a place where it positively influences society and changes lives.

The Struggle against Modern Society

As I reflect on my fifty years of life, I am often blown away by the myriad of changes society has undergone in that time. I grew up in rural New England in a middle class family, living in what we thought to be a big village of about 8,000 people. Locking the front door at night was optional. My mother's challenge was not figuring how to get us out into fresh air, but how to get us inside for dinner and bedtime. Our choices on the one television in the house consisted of the 3 or 4 grainy channels (depending on how strong the wind was blowing) we were able to pick up from the Albany, NY region. To this day, I can name almost every family that lived within a two block radius of our house, and they knew me as one of the Stephenson boys (if not by full name). The only businesses open on Sunday were the few restaurants that served breakfast and lunch. The only computer in my high school was one that was rolled out by the Science Department at the annual Science Fair- it was the size of a bar refrigerator and ran off punch cards (I still don't know what it actually did, but it looked real cool).

Fast forward to today. I lock my house tighter than a drum, not only to protect my family from the unknown threats in our lives, but to also deter some of the people we know and love from making bad decisions. I am thrilled beyond words when one of the kids announces that they want to play a sport, because I know it means that they will get some form of physical activity and fresh air. I stopped counting at 100 channels when trying to figure out the television options available on any one of the half dozen TV's in the house. I've lived in this house for over eight years and can name most of my immediate neighbors, but can't tell you the name of the family living directly across the street (let alone anybody living even a few houses down the street). Any hour of any day, I can now find a multitude of businesses open to provide me with anything my heart desires. And we have almost as many computers as televisions in the house that allow us to work and play in ways that used to be the things of science fiction movies.

Let me make it very clear that I am not saying that life was better then or now because of the things I've listed here. Life has changed. I grew up in a much simpler time and now enjoy a much more convenient lifestyle. I have thanked God on more than one occasion because I was able to get medicine at 11:00 in the evening to help fight a sudden fever with one of the kids. The ability to follow my beloved Red Sox and Celtics from more than halfway across the country is one of my special pleasures. I am better connected to friends and family now than at any time in the last twenty years thanks to the wonders of the internet. But there is a part of me that wishes for a blend of the two lifestyles- a blend that takes of advantage of today's conveniences while returning to a value system based in scriptural foundation and where God is loved and not loathed.

The problem with my dream for a more spiritual society is that the very conveniences I have described are what get in the way for many people. Who needs God when everything a person could desire is at their fingertips? The answer, of course, is that everybody needs God. Nothing we have is the result of man by himself. Everything we have is the result of God's love for us. He provides the computers and internet, the cell phones and cable channels, Wal-Mart and McDonalds. But for many, it is easy to lose that perspective because it all comes so easily to us in today's society. Why would I consider myself a broken sinner in need of a savior when all I have to do is push a couple of buttons to see the latest episode of "Desperate Housewives?" We have it all. Or so we think.

A Return to Faith

Growing up in the sixties and early seventies, everyone went to church, if for no other reason than you didn't want to be known as "that family" that didn't. This is not to say that I am a proponent of forced worship, but to this day I am convinced that the mere existence of church as a staple of life contributed to the higher moral standards we were exposed to as kids and teenagers. However, the Church of that generation was able to serve the community-at-large in a much different way than it does today. The memory I have of church in that era is one of great bible stories. I remember that through my teens, I was exposed to some of the greatest biblical teaching around. I knew the books of the Bible. As I look back, it was very fitting for the times. However, if I were to ask for a "do-over" in preparation for my life today, I would most certainly demand more life application of those stories.

There was nothing wrong with the church upbringing I had. Because everyone went to church, there was no need to convince anyone that there was a real life need to apply the Holy Word to their lives in a way that had completely escaped them. The problem (as I see it) is that life became more convenient and society changed, but the church didn't. Or at least it didn't change quickly enough.

Many of us have seen the numbers. At a business meeting of the local Southern Baptist Association a couple of years ago, our Director of Missions stated that in the mid-70's, over 75% of the people in the Pikes Peak region regularly attended church. Today, on any given Sunday there are 500,000 people in the same region that do not attend church. Professional football and car racing are more important to most than the need to reach out to God. Churches now find it important to find ways to draw people in and even more vital to show them how the teachings of the Bible apply to their modern life. What was so obvious and easy thirty years ago has become a daunting challenge for today's Church. Many churches now stand at the crossroad of discovering how they can be more effective.

There is Hope in the Crossroads

The Bible teaches us that the battle is far from over and that the best is yet to come for those who believe. My personal observation is that a younger generation is finding their way back to faith and God. This younger generation is one that doesn't remember a simpler lifestyle. Life has always been "always on" for them. And yet they show up at churches, hungry for God and looking for ways to build their faith into their lives. They bring their young children and an enthusiasm that somehow skipped my generation. But they bring new needs to the church. This is a generation that is media-centric and technology-savvy. They require more energy in worshipping God and focus less on tradition for the sake of tradition. In short, they are the first generation to seek life application to show the way through a very hectic and chaotic life of conveniences.

For many churches, this is a crucial crossroad. How can a church blend the need to be relevant in today's society with the church upbringing of an older congregation? How does a church cross generational lines without offending one or not meeting the spiritual needs of another? The answers to these questions are actually quite simple. It falls upon church leadership to bring the flock along at a pace that soothes the anxiety of the older generation while showing the younger generation that their needs are recognized and being addressed. Churches can be too quick to change without realizing that the younger crowd started attending services and programs before any changed occurred- they are there for a reason. Finding a comfortable transition can be lot easier than people realize. Through thoughtful prayer and dialog, picking the right path becomes as easy as placing it all in God's hands.