I just received a copy a of Dr. Flavil Yeakley’s newest research entitled, Good and Bad News: A Realistic Assesment of Churches of Christ in the United States 2008.  I thought I would share some of his statistical research and let you decide what is good and what is bad:

1.  From 1980-2000 Assemblies of God led the way in growth with an increase of 58.9%,  2nd was LDS (57.3%), 3rd was Catholic (30.6%), 4th was Christian Churches and Instrumental COC’s (27.6%), 5th was SBC (22.1),and 6thwas Non-Instrumental Church of Christ (2.1%).  All other major Christian denominations declined, with the United Church of Christ  (-18.9%) and the Presbyterian, USA (-21.7%) losing the most.

2. 83.5% of alumni from Christian Colleges and Universities associated with the Church of Christ are members of a local COC congregation.

3. 93.8% of all COC adult members are either single or married to their first spouse.  Only 5.4% are divorced and single, or divorced and remarried.

4.  Churches of Christ rank 12th nationally in number of members (1,264,000+), but we rank 4th in number of congregations (21,791).  Comparatively, the SBC has some 16 million members and some 41,000 congregations, Christian Churches and Instrumental Churches of Christ have some 1.1 million members, but only 5,471 congregations.

5.  The averqage Church of Christ has about 60 members and about 75 total members and adherents.  The average Christian Church has about 211 members and about 263 adherents.

6.  From 1990-2000 the Christian Church grew by 16%.  That ranks second, only behind the LDS, who grew by 16.1%.

7.  Churches of Christ declined from 1980-2007 in the following states: Missouri (-18%), Texas (-3.8%), Oklahoma (-7.1%), Illinois (-5.9%), Kansas (-9.3%), Michigan (-7.5%), Arkansas (-2.0%), Massachusetts (-18.2%), Oregon (-4.3%), Ohio (-1.2%), North Dakota (-41.7%), Alaska (-16.7%), Vermont (-23.1%), Nebraska (-3.9%), New Hampshire (-6.3%).

As you can see, the research represents a “mixed bag” for church leaders.  I would argue that one of key ingredients of the recent success of the Christian Church has been their ability to nurture and maintain a sense of unity.  No other religious group is so closely related to non-instrumental Churches of Christ. 

I think the research also demonstrates a new era of mission concerns among our churches.  Domestic missions has taken a back seat in many places, and many of the traditional “mission states” have seen a dramatic decline.  In some areas, like the industrial Midwest, it may that this decline is the result of changing economic conditions and population shifts.

Having said all that, I would recommend that those interested get this work (if you do not have it already) and look at it closely.

Would love to see what you think the numbers are saying.

For the sake of time and space, let me begin by saying that I am assuming that the present model for growth and evangelism is no longer effective and should be tossed aside for newer models.  Two things have happened recently that reinforce that notion.

1.  A congregation in the area has sent out noticed of their annual Spring Gospel Meeting.  I have attended their gatherings in the past, and find them very sad and pathetic.  They always bring in someone to preach the steps of salvation to a room filled with believers — 75% or more over the age of 60.  In the 5 years I have been attending, I have yet to see a single response and I have yet to leave feeling more “faithful” for attending.  This year our neighbors are bringing in a director of one of the most conservative, traditional, and divisive schools of preaching in existence.  I can only conclude that the tone will change from “steps of salvation” to what it “really means to be faithful.”  I am confident that much of the teaching will center around modern attacks against, and future dangers, facing the “one true church.”  I cannot attend.  My heart will not allow me to be party of anything that is so divisive and potentially so mean spirited.  Besides, this guy wouldn’t fellowship me anyway, and I have heard all of the “Version sermons — Music sermons – Rubel Shelley sermons – Max Lucado sermons – What’s Wrong with our Christian University sermons” – I care to.  I could, however, use a little hope.

2.  Our small town has a tradition at the United Methodist Church.  Each year they display a wide variety of Nativity Scences ranging from expensive collector series to mangers made from macaroni.  The display is open to the public for two weekends each December, and is quite good, and well attended.  Some people travel from as far away as Atlanta, Auburn, Columbus, Macon, etc. just to see the Nativity Scences.  This year we were approached and asked to join with the United Methodists, Episcopals, Baptist, and Presbyterians that make up our downtown churches and create a “walking tour” that would begin at our church and end up at the local museum on our square.  Each church could welcome visitors, it would be promoted through our local media and Chamber of Commerce, and the Nativity Scenes could be displayed anywhere and in anyway we saw fit.  Guess what happened?  A few people from our church objected for “traditional” reasons.  The idea was pitched in public, no one objected, but immediately an effort was initiated to destroy any chance of participating.  Now the elders are afraid to act, and here we go again — saying we want to reach out to our community, but not meaning a single word we say.  What could the objections be??

a. We Shouldn’t Celebrate Christmas?  OK — then why do all of our members put up Christmas trees in their homes, lights on their houses, presents for their friends and family, attend and host Christmas parties, and everything  else Christmas is all about????

b. We Shouldn’t be Like “Denominational” Churches.  I don’t know if you have noticed or not, but the Churches of Christ are just about the most denominational people in the world.  We just give it another name — “Distinctiveness.”  I have been looking around, and what I find is that “denominational” churches are feeding the hungry, serving the poor, offering classes for the illiterate, adopting schools, offering help for those with addiction problems, fighting abortion, trying to combat drug abuse among children, and on and on — all in the name of Jesus and for His glory.  It is not enough to say you have the truth.  The truth is useless you actually do something with it.

c. We Have Never Done Something Like This Before.  Maybe it is about time.

I could go on, I guess, but hopefully you get the point.  So many of our members are looking, waiting, and hoping for a “Breakout Moment.”  Too bad that a few are allowed to kill the spirit of so many.  When are we going to do something more than meet, preach, eat, and send a few bucks to a missionary somewhere that we don’t even know?  When are we going to engage our communities, make a difference in our neighborhoods, and offer our cities more than condemnation for not attending our church?  To be bound by such senseless traditions is pointless, discouraging, and the very best way to become even more irrelevant in our towns.  I am very angry.  I am very sad.  I am very fed up.  I pray the we can experience a “Breakout Moment.”  It won’t be today.

  The other day someone asked me to explain the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18.  It seems the anxiety of discovering that we are stuck in a materially structured society was a bit unsettling for my friend.  We talked about the danger of getting caught up in “things,” but I did not want him to miss what I believe is the central teaching of the passage.  So, I said, “Let’s tell the story in today’s religious climate.”

Imagine that Jesus was around today and passing through our town.  He meets an older man one day who says, “Good Teacher, what  must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered.  “No one is good — except God alone.  You know the commandments (here is where I substitute Jesus’ words to what I imagine) — Hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized, go to church 3 times a week, sing the right songs the right ways, read the correct version of the Bible, etc. . .”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing.  Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.

The story, and my adaption, points out the central flaw of many people’s view of salvation.  No matter how hard we try to wrap our minds around the concept, we still end up trying to gain salvation through our own actions and efforts — the individual difference being only the extent.  This is why Jesus begins the story by reminding the man the “God alone is good.”   He reveals that there is no secret formula, or sequence of actions that creates salvation.  There is only God, who grants freedom and life to those who trust in His power to save rather than their own ability to perfrom perfectly. 

It is not a question of rather or not the commandments are good or bad — that is immaterial.  The only thing that matters is God’s eternal goodness.  We say that grace is a gift, that salvation is the work of God, and that there is power in blood — but when we qualify these realities and water down their effect through a partial dependency upon ourselves, we become just like the man in Luke 18.  That is why the “punchline” to the story is so powerful — “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Materialism is a great evil.  But depending upon our own righteousness to achieve salvation is a scandal and a heresy.  The call of Luke 18 is not a call to poverty, but a challenge to depend solely on God’s righteousness for salvation.