MEGA CHURCHES WILL BE EMPTIED IN THE NEAR FUTURE
The concept of Church without walls has in the past been defined as the church without tribal, racial status & sexual barriers.
I believe that in the not so distance future the Church without walls will be defined as the invisible church comprised of believers who have broken away from the four walls building we call a church.
The signs are there already. We hear more Christians who have quit church attendance as millions of believers across the world have stopped going to church buildings.
So you probably by now have heard statements like;
"Church is not a building you go to, church is me"
"I am sick and tired of organized and institutionalized religion" (that sounds like me)
"I don't hate the church. The Church hurt me deeply"
"Why should I go to church when I can pray, read the Bible, give to the poor and serve my community"
In this article I will give reasons why I argue that the near future will empty the churches as more and more believers are walking out of church straight into their homes.
What we experienced in the last decades was mass exodus or movement of believers from one church to another. Preachers invented the word "sheep stealing" to define these movements.
The year 2000 introduced us to the millenials born from 1st January 2000 going up. These millenials have access to technology. Information is on their finger tips.
When we were their age we were told children don't eat gizzards, women don't eat eggs.
We were taught not to question elders but to obey them without questioning. Now my daughter born in 2007 will not be intimidated because she is a millenial.
I can't use spiritual or superstitious intimidations our parents used on use.
The millenials asks questions, which cults and religious leaders are not built to answer.
"To repress these very telling questions of laymen by force, and not solve them by telling them to expose the Church and the Pope to enemy ridule and make Christian people unhappy" (Martin Luther)
It is becoming difficult to silence the question and voices of the millenials. And threatening the believers with curses for asking hard questions will empty the buildings we call churches.
The sign that the church is falling into error, and preaching unbiblical doctrines is when the leaders become sensitive to questions that open the eyes of the people they blind.
Many Christians are disgruntled, some of the questions they have asked has been met with threats instead of answers.
Their questions have been met with hostilities instead of clarity.
He who assume the position of teaching, should be open to questions, sometimes difficult questions that challenge what they teach.
They should leave room for criticism. Those who aspire to teach should have a thick skin to accepts even encourage questions.
There are no sacred questions! To be a teacher of the World automatically points to questions it goes with the territory!
REASONS WHY CHRISTIANS ARE LEAVING CHURCHES
1. TRADITIONAL
When you hear tradition you assume it doesn't include Pentecostals, Charismatic & independent Churches.
Holding on to the traditional way of doing church.
"This is how our fore-fathers did, and we must continue the same way".
When you hear a Pastor scolding people for carrying gadgets in Church instead of hard copy Bibles, then you know your pastor is orthodox.
So the millenials would run to independent churches which uses technology.
But soon discovered that church is personalized and belongs to the set man of the house and his family. And when asked about financial accountability the independent Pastor would arrogantly tell you to leave his/her church.
2. DEATH OF FOUNDER
Believe me most Pastors running Mega Churches don't announce in advance that they will be out of the country next Sunday because members won't attend.
I heard a Pastor's wife frustrated asking why people don't attend church when Papa is not in church.
To save Pastor's wife from preach to an empty church, pastors just leave town unannounced.
Because these Churches are built around personality cults, the demise of the founding Pastor brings breakaways.
The glue that holds the church is the celebrity Pastor, his death signals the death of the mega churches.
3. FELLOWSHIP/COMMUNITY
The words "we are a diverse community" sounds good. Yet in practice the fellowship happens 30 minutes after church while having coffee.
Usually these conversations are often rehearsed and hence make it hard for one to honestly say I am part of this community for real.
Most Christians are so feedup to act as if they are connecting at church. They opt to have a social networking that is real, authentic and a safe place. People have issues in Churches yet they seek help elsewhere.
There is no day I have not received a message, "Lawrence my wife is being influenced by her pastor, my marriage is suffering because of the influence of pastor over my wife"
Or "thank you so much brother your post on Mamfundisi are describing me"
Or "my husband is in love with his brother's widow".
Why do you think a person from Kenya, Malawi, or Zambia would be seeking support from someone in Cape Town?
Don't they have a pastor, a church community?
Yes they go to church, but will not open up because we are known for judging people.
4. MORAL FAILURES OF THEIR LEADERS
In these difficult times when the gospel message has come under intense opposition as the devil has brought his agents into church pulpits. Those who follow Prophets when they discover the man they followed, defended was just a fraud they tend to walk out from Church and never go anywhere again.
The problem is made worse because other pastors are not standing up to speak out against immorality. We are now being painted with the same brush.
Sexual scandals that includes sexual harassment and rape are happening every day in Churches with no sign of declining.
Victims of sexual crimes are threatened into silence. Members are indoctrinated to cover the nakedness of their Pastors. Which means even if you caught the Pastor on top of your wife, you will still protect him.
Pastors who officiate on weddings are the ones who are breaking the same marriages through adultery.
So some sensible Christians walk out of churches because they can't stomach being in the den of sexual immorality they call churches.
5. FEAR OF QUESTIONS
Most leaders fail to address genuine concerns especially those questions that are likely to expose them. A millenial will not be told to shut up.
6. SUPERIORITY / CLASSISM
Church functions that charge attendance fees have Prices like;
VVIP= R25, 000
VIP = R15, 000
Gold= R10, 000
Others=R5,000
The millenials will not accept this kind of nonsense. They will also question the intelligence of the people in these Churches. We will lose the millenials if we don't come right.
7. LIVE ONLINE STREAMING
If I want to listen to gospel music I can do that at home. If I want to give I can give online. If I want to listen to a sermon over a million Pastors are streaming their sermons live! So why would I leave my house (a building) to go to another building (church) were interpersonal fellowship is not happening.
Where conversations are shallow? Where the Pictures of the Pastor are hanging on the stage the way the statue of Mary and Jesus hang in Catholic churches.
Where everything happening inside church focus and benefits the pastor.
8. CHURCH IS NOT A BUILDING YOU ENTER, CHURCH IS YOU
When peoples realise that church is not a building. And if real fellowship is not happening at the building, why bother?
Do you really have friends in your local church who are vulnerable to you, and your are honest and open to them?
For most, such friends are not part of the local church they attend. Usually there is this saying; "don't worry if people in that church are mean towards you, spiritual bully you or they don't like you. You go to church to worship God not man".
But the new millenials know that you don't need to go to the mountain or to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God. And that you can worship God from your house, field, office or anywhere!
9. TOXIC CHURCH ENVIRONMENT
Sometimes our religious selves seeks to justify why I should tolerate a toxic environment at church. I Personally have gone through some.
And it's amazing to see how difficult it is to find help and closure.
I made a decision to seek help outside the churches. Churches have hurt people, broken relationships, humiliated people, isolated some believers.
Some of you are gifted, but they hated that girl in you so they frustrated you. They will call you Jezebel when you still going to Church. But when you decide to leave the abuse, to leave the church bullies then you were after all not really.... really a born again Christian.
Meaning Christians must stay in a toxic church.
Most people left because they were targeted and offended by the church.
In the same breath many pastors wives are living in loveless abusive marriages, but when they complain of abuse we encourage them to stay and endure abuse. No wonder suicide becomes the only option out of toxic relationships.
10. I DON'T FIT IN
I discovered that institutionalized or organized religion stick to a particular template. Even the so called "led by the Spirit" can only be free for as long as that leader's template lives on.
Most churches wouldn't accept people like us. We are open, we speak straight, we value our voices and speak out against injustice in the World and in the Church.
CONCLUSION
Over a thousand churches are closed every day around the would.
Millions of Christians are giving their back on their local churches.
Thousands of Pastors are quiting because of depression, and a lot more Pastors are committing suicide.
Have we stopped to ask why?
Are we so pre-occupied in building our Mega Babels that we are indifferent to the issues arising from our error in our Preaching and Teaching Ministries.
When the feeding of grass, eating of live snakes, to spreading people with doom is over, are our church buildings going to be still full?
Our silence on matters that matter will drive members out of the churches.
The Church that remains silence in the face of injustice is misrepresenting the justice of God.
The sexual immorality in our churches today will continue unabated, they are now being normalised.
Now the Church without walls will have to take shape as to effectively minister to those believers outside the walls, and evangelization will emphasize on building the unseen kingdom of God instead of focusing on building around a celebrity pastor.
Lawrence Musunte
+27817030540
Great insight