Any traveler to Western Europe will marvel at two aspects of the local churches: how intricately and monstrously beautiful they are as well as how empty they are of parishioners. From Westminster Abbey in London to Notre Dame in Paris, churches built to point glory to God now contain a massive and constant flow of herding tourists. These churches are relevant to their community only in that people, locals and visitors alike, use their premises for a nice place to eat lunch.
Many tourists to these churches are shocked and frustrated to find out that they actually have to wait and remain quiet for the few services that still take place with the remnant of loyal churchgoers. For centuries these European churches stood as the focal point and heartbeat of the local community. They now are the focal point and hub of the local tourist industry.
Believers in the United States should not make the assumption that we are free and clear from this dilemma. In fact, we are just a little further behind on the road of irrelevancy. The European church is a harbinger of continued decline in the American church if our churches continue to be nonessential.
Believers in the United States should not make the assumption that we are free and clear from this dilemma. In fact, we are just a little further behind on the road of irrelevancy. The European church is a harbinger of continued decline in the American church if our churches continue to be nonessential.
Not only is the problem of church dropouts an age-old dilemma that spans across the Atlantic, the problem has worsened here in the United States over the last twenty-five years. From the period of 1990 to 2004, the United States population expanded by more than 18 percent.6 During this same period the percentage of people attending church declined by about 3 percent.7 Not only is the church not keeping up with population increases; it is losing ground. In fact, Hawaii is the only state in the union that experienced church growth that outpaced the population growth during the first five years of the new millennium. The rest of the forty-nine states saw declines in church growth relative to the population increases.8
The rapid nature of the American church decline in the last three decades rings a loud alarm bell. Are we really paying attention? Or do we think that the problem will solve itself? It will not. Before improvement occurs, individual churches need revivals among their people. The problem exists on a national scale. But the solution remains with each church on a local level. Individual churches must champion the cause on their own.
These churches must make a decision to become essential in the lives of their congregation and community. This book doesn’t contain all the answers. But we hope that it will be an invaluable tool for helping your church shift from nonessential to essential.
Rainer, T., Geiger, E., & Rainer, S. S., III. (2010). Essential church. Nashville: B&H.
