Treatment and prognosis for Heamorrhaging (section 2)

If This is the first time you have come to the website, you will find it easier to understand if you read the introduction on the left first, and then the previous blogs before reading this one.

In his book “Unleashing the Church” Frank Tillapaugh he talks about the discovery by Richard Haverson who at the time when the church had a membership of 7000, he found that if he wrote down every task that needed to be done in the church, from cleaning to preaching, he could only find 365 roles, so with a bit of basic maths, if church members only had responsibility for one of those roles,  it would follow that 6635 people were attending church, but actually had no other reason for being there than actually to attend.  From this discovery he realized that very few people were likely to be given the opportunity to serve.  From this conclusion Tillapaugh then goes on to write about what his church has done in Denver.[1]

When people are involved in serving and in the life of the church, it is more likely that they will attend, and contribute to the life of the church, and that they in turn, will grow, mature, and be actively concerned for the life and health of the church.  Some research by Fuller theological Seminary suggests that if a church is more than 10 yrs old, it takes 85 people to lead one person to Christ.  If a church is less than 3 years old, it takes only three people to lead one person to Christ. [2]

So a summary of the treatment and prognosis:

-   In the event that there is a problem as a result of divisions, disagreements, polarizations due to members following different personalities or groupings.  This will need a lot of prayer and wisdom.  In some cases it may just be a natural development and resulting in a church planted somewhere else.  If not treated with wisdom and love the result will probably be a new church resulting from a church split. A split arises when a group of people within the church has a disagreement that becomes irresolvable and causing a lot of heartache and bad feeling.  A church plant results from the whole church agreeing to branch out and begin a new work, where, hopefully, there is no church or Christian witness, this can result in life and health and growth, both for members and numerically, when approached positively.  Splits arise because someone has probably undermined leaders, or people in the congregation, and instead of addressing the issue it has moved from a sore, to a growth and results in lack of faith or trust in the leaders or other members of the church.  This is the work of our enemy, and must be addressed, otherwise there will be a fall-out, not just of members leaving the church, but some even many throwing aside their faith completely.  Both Jesus (Matthew 18) and Paul (1 Timothy 5:19f) give instructions about accusations against other members or leaders, and it needs to be addressed.  Unfortunately so often today people don’t actually want to address church discipline, or are afraid of being accused of heavy shepherding – there is a place for it, in the treatment of a sick church if it is to recover and become a healthy church. 

-          -  in the event that people are leaving because of lack of commitment, is to get every new member and every new Christian in the church, involved in the life and work of the church, as soon as possible, not only will you see the new Christian maturing, but you will see the church growing in maturity and numerically.  From this it is easy to see that the prognosis is good.

O Lord, have mercy upon us,that our church may not be losing members, but growing and we are looking to expand and start new churches.

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[1] Unleashing the Church, Frank R. Tillapaugh Regal books, 1982

[2] http://www.simplechurchathome.com/Why.html

 

Treatment and prognosis for Heamorrhaging (section 1)

If This is the first time you have come to the website, you will find it easier to understand if you read the introduction on the left first, and then the previous blogs before reading this one.

Treatment and prognosis

In the medical world, the reasons for haemorrhaging are checked out by a series of tests and treated accordingly. If there is a knife, glass shard, or other foreign body causing the bleeding it must be removed first!  If there is a lack of platelets – a transfusion of platelets can be given. Lack of factor 8, or the lack of other anti-clotting factors, present their own problems but there are ways around them. 

In  the case of the spiritual world of the church, the haemorrhaging problem is not detected until there is a big problem which is not as easily addressed as in the medical world.

In mega churches they may well have a problem but they don’t actually notice.  For example, say there are 500 people attending services week by week.  The first week of the month the leaders look out to see a full church of 500 people.  The following week the leaders look out on a congregation of 500 people, so they assume all is well.  But of the 500 people attending the first week, how many were in the congregation of 500 on the second week?  It is possible that 25% of the first week’s congregation did not attend the second week, yet an additional 25% attending on the second week, were not present on the first week.  Through a month of four Sundays, how many of the church’s members actually only attended 1 Sunday service?   This would be very hard to measure, and unfortunately pastors, leaders, ministers may look out on a large congregation filling the church week by week, and hardly think about all the individuals that go to make up the attendees of the church.

In a smaller church, however, of under 60 members, under 30 or under 10 members, if someone is missing from just one week, their absence is noted immediately, because their presence is valued and people are concerned for them and it is likely that if no one knows what has happened i.e. they are on holiday or have already told folk that they will be missing from church on Sunday, there will be a visit, or a phone call very soon after the service has finished.

As a young person, in a church of less than 30 people, we had gathered for the normal Sunday morning service, and we waiting for it to start.  We always had a breaking of bread/communion service in the morning, and as we waited, I noticed that the bread and wine had not been prepared, and was missing from the table at the front of the church.  I approached one of the deacons, and pointed out the fact, which seemed to have eluded everyone. The responsibility for the bread and wine belonged to one of the elders.  A phone call was immediately made to his home, but there was no answer, so the deacon and a nurse from the congregation went to his house, which was relatively nearby.  They found that the elder had collapsed and was lying on the floor as a result of a stroke.   He was rushed to the hospital and survived.  Had this been a big church would the absence of one person be noticed so quickly or followed up with such speed? (Ignoring the fact, that this elder had a responsibility that was not fulfilled!) 

 Sadly the matter of pastoral care is much harder to address with a congregation of 100’s of people.  It is also possible that within large congregations there are people who want to remain anonymous, wish not to be noticed or followed up, so that they can miss church attendance whenever the feel like it and not have to answer phone calls or visits inquiring as to their absence the previous Sunday as they were relaxing watching ‘the game’, or ‘went fishing’, and would prefer that no one knew. 

How is this matter best addressed?  Probably Jethro’s advice to an exhausted Moses in Exodus 18, would be a good pattern to follow.  Place mature people in leadership roles/pastoral care roles over tens  and fifties, or an appropriate number.  They care for the handful of people in their care, and if bigger problems arise which they are unable to cope with, those who take responsibility for their care will come alongside to help. 

Problem No 9: Haemorrhaging

If This is the first time you have come to the website, you will find it easier to understand if you read the introduction on the left first, and then the previous blogs before reading this one.

Symptoms and cause

In the human body where there is a wound, gash or ‘gap’ so that blood flows out of the body – the body has many different stages to help the blood stop flow out, and then to bring about healing.  The first stage is that platelets in the blood stream will group together around the wound and help plug the hole, then there is a series of chemical reactions that occur when the body is alerted to the loss of blood. There are thirteen clotting factors which will work together resulting the blood clotting and forming a “scab” and beginning the healing process. There may be a scar, where the scab was, other than this, skin is formed and everything goes back to normal.  In a parable story of haemorrhaging in the church, you could compare it to many things, but for the purposes of this parable I will compare it to members leaving the church, faster than new members are coming in.  

Some churches I have known have been vibrant and growing with every generation being represented from new-borns, to the mature elderly folk, all living and worshipping together making for a well-balanced welcoming church where no one feels left out or alone.  Then a while later, sometimes years later, sometimes a matter of months, I have visited the church – the same service time, the same pattern of worship, but the once filled, vibrant church has just a smattering of people – frequently just the older generation have remained, and the younger ones have left – young parents with their children are hardly represented at all.   What happened?  Sometimes there are clear reasons why – the church is in a small town or village, and as the children grow up and move away for university or work, they don’t return, and there are no new people to take their place.  Others have had disagreements and splits and as a result a group of people left en-masse.  In some situations the church building was too small, so it was decided to plant a daughter church – allowing anyone who felt that they wanted to join in the church plant to do so.  After a while, “the remnant” felt bereft, as the loyal members or leaders  who stayed behind were unable to carry the church forward, having lost the main “movers and shakers” which resulted in more people leaving to join the church plant, or leaving for another local church.  Another reason for people leaving the church is that when they first became Christians and joined the church all was well, but rather like the parable of the sower, when worries or problems came along, or temptations of numerous kinds, the new Christians find being a Christian or meeting together with others, was not all that they hoped for, and they will begin to drift, frequently not seeking out another church but joining the ranks of nominal, backslidden or Christian “has beens” – feeling that somehow Christianity didn’t come up to their expectations, and just stop going to church altogether with the exception of the special occasion or event.  Statistics will tell you that the number of people attending church has declined, but the number of people calling themselves Christians is still high.  In the UK census of 2011 it was reported that the number of people calling themselves Christians was about      33.2 million people, or 59.3%down[1]  In the USA it is thought to be 73%[2].    

Another possibility for dwindling church attendance is that many people have jobs and professions which forces them to work on Sundays, in the past it was usually, doctors, nurses, police and the emergency services that were unable to have every Sunday off, now almost every profession can be affected – so it’s not necessarily that they are throwing their faith aside, but that they are trying to juggle jobs/family and church.  Others find that their work is so stressful and they have been exhausted by the week that has passed, and are preparing for a hectic week ahead, Saturday is used to catch up on all the jobs around the house that didn’t get done during the week, the washing, cleaning, shopping, paying bills, visiting family, and on Sunday they just want to “crash out” and relax  and church attendance doesn’t meet the criteria of relaxation.

Another sign of the times is that many churches offer just one service on a Sunday and an occasional evening service, or event – in that it is not a traditional service, but a celebration, a special speaker, a prayer meeting or something completely different from the normal diet of a Sunday morning.    As a child,  I and my family went to church three times on a Sunday – morning and evening worship, and then the afternoon Sunday school.   Our world has changed, but often the traditional churches have not changed, what they offer today is what was offered 30, 50 or 70 yrs ago.  I am not talking about the proclamation of the message which is 2000 years old and still vital for the life of the Christian, I am talking here about the vehicle through which the message is declared.  

The causes therefore for the haemorrhaging members from the church are numerous – changed lifestyles, life and circumstances, changed priorities, lack of commitment, lack of understanding on the part of church leadership with regard to the lives of church members, rendering church irrelevant to their fast paced lives.  For many the church no longer meets the need for fellowship, friendship, family support, challenge or training in godliness.  The Christian message and life is being challenged by the secular, atheistic world and teaches, or has gradually introduced, yet again, the age old temptation to address individual needs, priorities or aspirations above God’s laws, rules and recommendations as to how to live the Christian life and know the abundant life, and “joy that is full” promised by Jesus himself.

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[1] http://www.vexen.co.uk/UK/religion.html

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

Treatment and prognosis for a church with parasites

If This is the first time you have come to the website, you will find it easier to understand if you read the introduction on the left first, and then the previous blogs before reading this one.

This is the hard bit!  Before you can treat the problems of parasites you first need to discern who they are.  It is not easy to look over the local expression of the body of Christ, and discover that among the people you have fed, and nurtured, guided and helped, there could possibly be anyone who is actually actively destroying the work you believe God has called you to.  This kind of discernment can only be done through the Holy Spirit, prayer, guidance, love and wisdom.  It is also best done as a group of leaders or elders.  Because those who are parasites have adopted a chameleon like lifestyle, but the tell-tale signs will be there.  The person will not be growing spiritually i.e. you cannot see any signs that they are being or transformed by the renewal of their minds, Romans 12:2.  Their attitudes, words and actions have not changed since the time they first came to join you.  They tend to home in on the compassionate and loving people in the church and will have continual crises or problems, which they expect people in the church to help them with.  Many of the problems are of their own making, and they usually won’t take responsibility for bad decisions, are not embarrassed by the fact that they continually ask for help.  They are very good at manipulating situations in their favor, easily cry or have a tale of woe, probably true, or based on the truth, but will present themselves as the victim in an unjust situation, and are unable (more likely unwilling) to correct the problem themselves, hence people rally around them to help them cope and solve the problem.

Unfortunately they bear a striking resemblance to the simple minded, child-like Christian, who is unable to grasp the greater truths of Christianity, and also faces many problems where they are the victim, and are being taken advantage of, because of some mental or physical disability.  In the church they find people who genuinely love them and care for them, and continue to come back to the church, where they feel warm, safe, supported and accepted.

The only difference you can find is that the true parasite will drain everyone dry and when they realize that their veneer of spirituality has been rumbled, they will move on to fresh pastures.  Those with simple hearted and child-like faith, will continue to come, but they need special care and if possible mentors or a group of folk who will be able to be advocates for them, and help them to grow the skills to cope and overcome the problems they will face.

The true parasite often is unable to hold down a job, they are the ones on welfare, who feel it’s their right, and are easily angered should someone suggest that they use the time God has given them to “work” even voluntary work.  They are rarely offering to help serve in the church, and find 101 excuses as to why.  The simple minded folk are happy to help if you ask them to do something in the church.  Preferably in a group, and not on their own, because they will be happy to join and be with others.

The parasites also have special needs, and may require special teaching, which challenges their world view of “I am poor and needy, and you HAVE to help me, because the Bible says, Love one another”.  They need to be challenged about their attitudes, their walk with the Lord, (which will frequently turn out as non-existent, because they are mimicking the Christian life, not living it) their gifts which they can offer to use in the service of the church, and give them tasks to perform.  If they are parasites they will run and you probably won’t see them again, and the church will be able to function again without the same people draining the pastor, leaders, elders, pastoral care team, and diverting their attention away from those who have true spiritual needs.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, help us to get rid of all that hinders the spiritual growth of the church