In June 2015, ten years ago this month, I wrote 30 Theses for Contemporary Church Reform.  In our last post, to celebrate the blog’s 10^th anniversary, we (re)presented those 30 Theses since they’ve formed the basis for this blog since its inception.

The 30 Theses were written as cautions and instruction for church leaders, but because church is not a place or pastor – it’s you and me – many of those church reform concepts can be rewritten from the perspective of individual Christ-followers.  Unfortunately, due to the issues cited in the 30 Theses, there now exists a dichotomy unheard of in the early Church or most other countries, particularly those where persecution is prevalent – living as a Christian or living like Christ.  For purposes of this post, we’ll refer to the former as “cultural Christians” and the latter as “disciples”.  Cultural Christians, those presuming justification without sanctification, are a product of churches that subscribe to the definitions of “church” and its “customer” promoted by prevailing church growth models.  Disciples instead follow in the footsteps of Jesus, obeying and surrendering to the Lord’s will regardless of the cost.

Let’s evaluate some of those 30 Theses for Contemporary Church Reform from the standpoint of authentic disciples and their roles and responsibilities in “church”…

Disciples…

• Correctly see themselves as the church personified, not handing evangelistic and discipleship responsibilities over to pastors and staff on Sunday mornings.
• Don’t want to be treated like “customers” when attending weekend services or interacting with pastors and staff.  They’re more interested in being equipped and mobilized than attracted and retained.
• Are not there because of good marketing, impressive facilities, relevant programs, or the charisma of leaders.  Those investments have a poor ROI if the church’s mission is to bring in genuine Christ-followers who make disciples inside and outside the congregation (i.e. the Great Commission)
• Won’t stay at a church where they feel like a “consumer” sitting “on the sidelines” enjoying the fellowship, sermons, and amenities rather than “in the game” taking a leadership role in evangelism, discipleship, and compassion.

The current state of discipleship in America indicates either that churches are making fewer disciples or fewer disciples are choosing to attend…

• A Barna study reports 56% of Christians see faith as private, only 5% are individually discipling others, and 28% are involved in a “discipleship” community (but small groups aren’t personal or intensive enough to make disciples).
• Another Barna survey of pastors revealed only 1% think American churches are discipling new believers well, only 8% agree their own church is making disciples “very well”, yet 52% cite small groups as their primary delivery vehicle.
• Not surprisingly, only 6% of American Christians possess a biblical worldview, 95% have never led someone to Christ, and just 52% of born-again believers have witnessed to someone at least once in the past year.

It’s important to increase the number of authentic Christ-followers in our churches, but modern definitions of “church” and its “customer” won’t make, attract, or engage true disciples – because they realize…

• As the embodiment of Church, they (and other members) can’t also be its “customer”.
• So churches are investing too much of their time, energy, resources, and dollars in satisfying the wrong “customer”.
• The entire church – pastors, staff, deacons, elders, members, attenders, facilities, and other assets – should be working together to reach the actual, biblical “customer”.
• Any organization that is not focused on its “customers” or too focused on the wrong “customers” is unlikely to thrive.
• Customers are always outside of, not internal to, an organization.  By treating “insiders” as “customers” churches have become internally-focused.  Internally-focused entities of any kind are rarely healthy or impactful.
• As the definition of “church”, members should be trained and equipped to pursue the intended “customer” – who by necessity are external to the organization.  A company would never send untrained employees out to sell, market, or otherwise interact with customers as its representatives.
• Jesus modeled discipling, sending, and serving those outside the church – the “lost” who didn’t know Him.  They were His mission.  Although He had the perfect words, His approach was to demonstrate His power and love (e.g. by healing and feeding) to open ears before He said who He was.
• For centuries, the American Church followed the Prayer/Care/Share model of Jesus, His disciples, and the early Church, serving as the food bank and homeless shelter – the proverbial spiritual and charitable “center of town” – allocating a much higher percentage of its time, energy, resources, and dollars to serving the community than it does today.
• Therefore, churches historically considered the community and “unreached” to be its target “customer”.

If American churches don’t make, attract, and engage more disciples of Jesus Christ, the Church will continue to decrease in their social impact, cultural influence, public perception, and numerical growth…

• Few churches today are externally-focused, allocating only a small fraction of their income and outputs to engaging and serving the community.  Few adequately equip (through discipleship and evangelism training) or effectively serve (through ongoing, relational ministry, not occasional “outreach” events).
• Because most churches in America are not focused on the right “customers”, they aren’t providing good “customer service”.  As a result, the Church isn’t “succeeding” – diminishing in impact, influence, perception, and growth.
• “Customers” in the communities where those churches are planted feel ignored, wondering if church leaders, members, and the Lord care about them.
• “People don’t care what you know until they know you care”, so Nones and Dones aren’t listening to what pastors and Christians have to say.  Society feels we haven’t earned the right to speak into culture (as Jesus did through His love and compassion).  As a result, the unreached see churches and Christians as more about judgment than justice, condemnation than compassion, self-righteousness than selflessness, and hypocrisy than humility.
• Concurrently, churchgoers have adopted a consumer mentality from being treated as the “customer”.  America’s fastest growing churches are those who do the best job of attracting and retaining.  Larger churches can afford to provide better facilities and “customer” experiences than smaller ones.
• That competitive landscape and declining donations tempt churches to cater rather than challenge “consumers” (i.e. to be discipled and disciple the Church’s true “customers”).  Cultural Christians enjoying cheap grace (belief without life change) won’t step far outside their comfort zones.  Pushing too hard risks losing them to a more accommodating church down the road.

Ok, I’m convinced.  So, what should disciples of Jesus Christ do to advance the Kingdom and reform the Church during this critical time in America’s history?…

• Question the status quo, not standing by as today’s definitions of “church” and its “customer” drive decisions within their church.
• Share with pastors the importance and implications of adopting Jesus’ mission and the early Church’s growth model – of making and sending disciples into multiplicative ministry all week long.
• No longer leave the heavy lifting of evangelism, discipleship, and compassion to paid “professionals”, reaching those who wouldn’t darken a church’s door.
• Take the lead in leading people to Christ and deepening relationships with Him.  Churches no longer do those well, as evidenced by competitive advantages and economies of scale fueling acquisitive rather than organic growth for a few churches while the overall attendance “pie” shrinks.  Yet most still better equip their members to invite (rather than disciple) friends.
• Encourage adoption of new metrics for church and spiritual health, based on personal (not church) growth, exponential discipleship, and community transformation.
• Model for churches unity in the body of Christ, collaborating toward shared Kingdom goals through joint initiatives with other Christ-followers.

Cultural Christians act as “customers” with high performance expectations of pastors yet low tolerance for expectations to personally live out GC³ – the Great Commandment, Great Commission, and Great Calling.  Disciples see themselves as Kingdom “employees” and eagerly accept their GC³ responsibilities, knowing leverage through multiplication (not addition through abdication) is the Lord’s math.  Cultural Christians conduct an air assault dropping verbal bombs on society.  Disciples launch a ground campaign of love and compassion to pursue their intended, biblical “customer”.

It’s Your Turn…

Are you an authentic disciple or cultural Christian?  Which of those is your church primarily producing?