Beyond attraction

I'm looking forward to David Fitch's new series of weblog posts on church growth and when they will not come. Here's how it begins:

A lot of my interaction with students, pastors and church planters is over the issues of post-Christendom and the revolutionary change required of us who seek to engage those outside Christ with the gospel. It truly is stunning to recognize how things have changed in this country over the last fifty years. Over and over again I hear the stories of churches and the lament "all we're doing is shuffling discontented believers from one form of church to another." Or I hear "another mega church has moved into the area and emptied out three traditional local churches." It's post Christendom and we're competing for customers.

For those who refuse to enter this ugly frey, we are left to plant churches and think about the Christian life in a different way. There simply are not a ready made group of people out there ready to join your church-plant in just a few months of your beginning (hallelujah). Salvations don't just fall out of trees . . . and disciples take several years to grow. There are no simple techniques or boot camps. I'm ok with this. For indeed church planting now has to be life on life - sustainable over many years.

This is the situation of "when they will not come." It is church planting, church pastoring and church life as it is after the "attractional" nature of the church has disappeared. Now all we have left is "us."

Amen--as long, of course, as "us" includes Jesus.