“There is cause for hope.” With those bold words on the inside cover of a recent edition of The Observer, members of our denomination are encouraged to believe our churches will soon see better days. And the remedy suggested will be a new national church strategy entitled “The Emerging Spirit Campaign”. This campaign focuses on three main components aimed at increasing the participation of 30-45-year-olds in United Churches across Canada:

Research on the target audience

A national media campaign focused on this group

Development of a ‘welcoming strategy’ for local congregations

Although I applaud our leaders for recognizing the serious situation our church is facing, I fear it might be too little too late. Perhaps before we sink millions of dollars into a campaign, we should ask a few questions such as; “What kinds of churches are we inviting this ‘missing’ group into?” Most 30-somethings I speak to do not respond well to outdated styles of worship, music that doesn’t engage younger generations and programs that are often geared to an aging population. And “What will keep these folks returning once they do come?” It’s one thing to attract people into our churches, but research has shown that if new people don’t get connected to others quickly, they won’t be around long enough to warm a pew. This is one problem we struggle with in our congregation. We get a constant stream of new young folks attending our contemporary service, but moving them into meaningful relationships with others in our church is tough work.

Another question that needs to be asked is whether the “attractional model” is all that effective any more? For decades, the United Church set up shop on any given corner in Canadian cities and towns with the approach that “if we build it they will come.” Unfortunately there is a growing body of research that indicates st the old attractional model doesn't work well in the 21 century.

Lest you think I’m completely pessimistic about the prospects of attracting younger generations, in fact I am not. Faith in Christ has been passed down through every generation for the past millennium and God will give us the resources we need to face the challenges before us. However, I believe they won’t come through the typical means by which we in the United Church approach such problems.

I recently attended a workshop with church futurist and professor of Postmodern Christianity, Leonard Sweet. He suggested the church go in for an MRI; not the medical scan but an acronym for Missional, Relational and Incarnational.

Missional
Firstly he suggested churches and individual believers must become much more missional if we hope to stem the tide of declining numbers. In their groundbreaking book, Invading Secular Space, Martin Robinson and Dwight Smith do a superb job of describing the present state of mainline church life in Western Europe and North America. They conclude that the attractional model of church growth is clearly on the decline. In contrast, the authors believe the best hope to reverse the downward trend is, as the title suggests, for the followers of Christ to invade secular society. Christians need to recover the original impetus that propelled the first believers into a hostile environment. What was that? No less than a passionate faith to follow Christ into the world. They were not content to stay in their synagogues or homes but to live passionately and authentically as followers of the risen Lord in the wider society. For centuries the church has grown most often as believers have lived out a passionate faith in the wider community. The United Church needs more leaders capable of helping to train our lay people to live as passionate followers of Christ beyond Sunday mornings.

Relational
We also need to focus more attention on creating stronger and healthier relationships in our churches. In Acts 2:42-47 we see how the relational aspects of church life had transfromative power to draw people into the fellowship of believers. Now we know most people in our society are hungry for life-giving relationships and the natural place to experience authentic loving relationships should be in the church. When congregations are filled with women and men who have a deep sense of the presence and power of God in their lives, it can’t help but transform all their relationships. And transformed relationships are powerful witnesses to people outside of our churches. We need leaders in our congregations who not only model healthy relationships but who know how to lead people into deeper relationships with Christ and one another.

Incarnational
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” is the way John describes the incarnation of Christ. But when we invite Christ to be Lord of our lives the incarnation moves into our lives. Leonard Sweet takes Paul’s words and describes it this way; “To ‘dwell among us’ and ‘to dwell in us richly’ suggests it’s not a matter of more information, but more indwelling. Jesus is more than a template for our lives. Jesus wants our lives to become a temple in which God can dwell.”

When we allow Christ to dwell in us, we become the living story of Jesus for those around us. That’s powerful stuff. But more than powerful, it can be transformational for those who do not know Christ. In our day and age where more and more people are trying to connect with the invisible God, (not incidentally through the church), we become the story of God’s redeeming work in Jesus Christ. We become the people God uses to connect others to Christ. That gives me great hope for the future of the church.

Although it might seem the 30-45-year-olds are an endangered species in our denomination, I believe there is hope. It will come through bold leadership that passionately seeks to build churches that equip every believer to become more missional, relational and to live incarnational lives for Christ.

Perhaps we could encourage those running the “Emerging Spirit Campaign” to spend some of their money helping congregational leaders do an MRI of the folks in the pews.

Rev. Ed Lewis is a minister at Metropolitan Church in London, Ont.