Monday, June 2, 2008

A quick thought (quote) about the church

A quote from Alan Hirsch's book The Forgotten Ways:

"A combination of recent research in Australia [where Hirsch is from] indicates that about 10-15 percent of that population is attracted to what we can call the contemporary church growth model. In other words, this model has significant 'market appeal' to about 12 percent of our population. The more successful forms of this model tend to be large, highly professionalized, and overwhelmingly middle-class, and express themselves culturally using contemporary, 'seeker-friendly' language and middle-of-the-road music forms. They structure themselves around 'family ministry' and therefore offer multigenerational services. Demographically speaking, they tend to cater largely to what might be called the 'family-values segment' - good, solid, well-educated citizens who don't abuse their kids, who pay their taxes, and who live, largely, what can be called a suburban lifestyle."

He goes on to say this:

"Thus, in Australia we have the somewhat farcical situation of 95 percent of evangelical churches tussling with each other to reach 12 percent of the population. And this becomes a significant missional problem because it raises the question, 'What about the vast majority of the population (in Australia's case, 85 percent; in the United States, about 65 percent) that report alienation from precisely that form of church?' How do they access the gospel if they reject this form of church? And what would church be like for them in their various settings? Because what is clear from the research in Australia, at least, is that when surveyed about what they think about the contemporary church growth expression of Christianity, the 85 perfect range from being blasé ('good for them, but not for me') to total repulsion ('I would never go there'). At best, we can make inroads on the blasé; we can't hope to reach the rest of the population with this model - they are simply alienated from it and don't like it for a whole host of reasons.'

Does this describe us? Is that who we are as a church? Are we catering to and consisting of mainly the "...solid, well-educated citizens who don't abuse their kids, pay their taxes and who live, largely, what can be called a suburban lifestyle"? Hirsch's solutions are yet to come...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

glad you're posting again!

DEREK