Use It or Lose It

For many centuries, the Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain stood as a supreme monument to civil engineering. Spanning a bowl-shaped valley, the two-tiered, bridge-like structure stretches more than half a mile and tops 95 feet at its highest point.

Its massive gray columns, like the legs of a giant elephant, dominate the quiet neighborhoods that flank it. Assembled without mortar during the first century after Christ, the aqueduct carried river water to the town without interruption until 1972 when engineers re channeled the supply entirely though underground conduits.

Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, said: For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of men drank from its flow. Then came another generation, a recent one, who said: ‘This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children, as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labor.' They did; they laid modern iron pipes. They gave the ancient stones a reverent rest.

The result was unexpected. The aqueduct began to fall apart. Air pollution began to corrode away at the newly exposed granite stones. What ages of service could not destroy idleness disintegrated.

More than any time in the history of Christianity, the world has an abundance of men and women who have served God faithfully for many years. They, like the aqueduct in Spain have provided love, service, good works and care to their family, churches and market places.

I think of these folks as Seasoned Believers or Seasoned Servants© who have gotten to a place where their financial resources are adequate to provide for their necessities. Unfortunately, they are the modern human equivalents of the Roman Aqueduct in Segovia. They have an abundance of mental, emotional, spiritual and relational resources that are largely unused.

There are far too many “do gooders” trying to preserve God's Seasoned Servants by urging them to retire. These well meaning folks want to present us as museums for future generations. If that happens, it will lead to certain spiritual, emotional and physical corrosion and an early demise. When I was a boy we called it “dry rot”. I realized then that machines and people both wear out more quickly from inactivity than from overwork.

We desperately need more Seasoned Believers© to Refire not Retire©; to use their wisdom, insights, experiences and gifts in the service of God and humanity. It is extremely important for all of us whether young or seasoned to find the place of service that will inspire us and motivate us to have energy, excitement and satisfaction as well as significance.

Revealing Research

The research from Willow Creek Church in the book by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson is shocking to many church leaders. In my last post I put up a chart showing the spiritual growth was not related directly to church attendance. The chart on the right shows the assumptions of the authors prior to doing their surveys.

I hope all my readers will order the book from Willow and read it carefully. I think they have hit upon a very important insight. Many Christians, including seminary professors and pastors, share the faulty assumptions as indicated on this chart.

Hawkins and Parkinson say: "If increasing participation in church activities (such as attendance at services and participation in small groups) drives spiritual growth, we would see a direct linear correlation (shown above) between low-medium-high levels of participation and low-medium-high levels of spiritual growth."

But, as the chart on the previous chart shows, there is no such correlation. Attendance alone does not seem to lead to additional spiritual growth. (I think that is especially true for Seasoned Believers who have been involved in Christian activities for several decades.)

The Church is a Great Institution

Yeah, but who wants to be in an institution?

Willow Creek Church and Association have done all of us ministers a great service. They have had the courage to actually investigate how well they were doing as "institutions". Then, in a feat of great excitement, they published the results that seemed to show by their analysis, a lack of success in disciplining their most committed and deeply Christian members.

The chart I posted last time shows the assumptions of the Willow Creek Pastoral Team prior to the research they did. The assumed, like many church and para-church leaders, that by attendance and giving people would naturally grow in faith, satisfaction and spiritual joy.

But it did not happen. In fact, the people who attended most and donated most and volunteered most were, in many cases, the least satisfied. The Seasoned Believers wanted to leave the church in frustration more than any other segment of the congregation!

This led the staff to ask, "What will we do now that we discovered what is NOT working?"

What would you do? What do you think Willow Creek and other churches could do and might do to correct the situation?

PS I recently met a man and wife who attended a large church for over 20 years. They tithed, attended almost every Sunday, went to the special events and supported the various ministries of the church. Their kids went through all the Sunday school classes on a regular basis.

About 10 months ago the couple decided to find a church closer to their home and have not attended Old First Church since. No person from the church of 20 plus years has called, written or acted as though the space in the pew they occupied for so long was empty.

Are all Seasoned Believers taken for granted as they? Would Willow Creek miss a couple such as they? Is the church become an institution rather than a family?

Reveal is Revealing: Its a Must Read Book

Willow Creek Church has done us all a great favor by researching the effectiveness of their church and found it wanting. I think we can all benefit from their risky behavior and see what will work better.

One thing that really piqued my interest was the statement that, There is a need to focus more on Seasoned Believers and not so much on New Believers.

The chart above shows that they assumed Christian growth, the blue line, would track exactly the red line, attendance. They were wrong.

What is missing? Read on and learn for we will show you.

Adult Class on Sunday

I had a great time today with the adult class at New Life Christian Church this morning. Rarely have I discussed the issues of how to disciple and release Seasoned Saints with a more appreciative and knowledgeable group.

I opened my discussion with a question. If you were given a $1,000,000 gift to set up the best and most effective school in the world, what would you want to know about your students? The answers were insightful, indicating a lot of wisdom about how to go about the needs of a student before we developed the curriculum, processes or build a building.

What would you want if we opened a "School for you and your friends?"

Write and let us know.

The Pig in the Python

Ever since the vets came home from WWII nations around the world have been faced with a Baby Boom. Starting in 1946 the economic boom and lonely couples produced babies at a startling rate. That exceedingly high rate of births stopped in 1964 but by then there were some 78 million new kids on the blocks of America.

Demographers have watched that huge bulge of babies-often called "The Pig in the Python-as they grew up, went to school, dated, danced to rock and roll and got married themselves after busting the walls out of every school in the nation.

Marketers and advertisers have followed them closely developing new products and new ways to grab their attention. The Baby Boomers have brought dramatic changes into every area of life since 1946 and her we are 61 years later still trying to figure out what we can do to meet their needs once more.

The book by Dr. Mary Furlong, Turning Silver Into Gold, is a stunning overview of the needs, desires, wants and willingness of Builders and Boomers and how to design ways to meet their needs. According to her, spirituality is one of the most important areas of need among the B&B crowd. The largest demographic cohort in history has a strong need to have "peak experiences".

However, it is the businesses and marketers of America not the churches that are working hard to meet those spiritual needs. Most of what I read from Christian thinkers is focused on younger people not the B&B groups. In fact, some are saying that the best thing we can do is to sit down, shut up and worry about our incontinence products instead of what God has for us at this stage of the game.

Despite the fact that scripture clearly lays out leadership by "Elders" the modern focus in books and magazines is on youth. It is obviously important to reach out and witness to young people and young families. They are the future. However, the wealth, wisdom and winning ways of Seasoned Believers need to be unleashed so the next generations can continue to build on our foundation.

Come and join The Movement!

gsweeten@cinci.rr.com