July 2

Day 110: Church Family that Endures

Pastors talk shop. A lot. We're not good at separating our lives from our vocation. It's not a question of identity, but rather what most of us spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about.

In just the past week or so, the conversations among pastors centers on change. No longer "Will our church change?" but, "How, and to what extent will our church change?"

Some churches (ours included) are presently homeless. Many churches (ours included) are reducing budgets. Some other churches are facing significant leadership changes. Some struggling churches may not reemerge at all.

A church in Anchorage, facing their pastor's burn out and even a crisis of faith, just announced to their 1,000 attendees that they're folding up shop. Just like that. Poof!

For us here at Radiant Juneau, it's my guess we will see relational change. It's already happening. Our GC's each have an identified core, while some on the fringe of those GC's have not been seen nor heard from.

As many of us have adjusted to meeting online, it will be a struggle for some to want to gather in person anytime soon, if ever. No one gets excited about leaving comfort, and being inconvenienced like before. And any decent summer weather will have a hand in this, as always.

Our GC's and our gathered church now need to accept the fact that we will emerge smaller than when we went in to this shelter at home season.

This may not be a bad thing.

Church futurists have been saying this for years now. The Church (big "C") has been moving this direction for a while. The cultural Christians, the consumers, the "there but not engaged" are self-selecting. Out.

It's been moving this way for a while. The "Church Growth" model of the 80's (and continuing) has been the seed bed. Not for harvest, but unintentionally leading to a "culling of the herd."

Churches that prioritize the experience are finding that a number of people have now learned to live without the experience.

Organizations that prioritize relationships over everything else eventually find that relationships alone are not enough to maintain relationships. (This is why monthly city-wide pastor lunch meetings eventually die out.)

People will be with the people they want to be with, church or not.

Relationships between God's people is not the goal. Relationships between God's people is the conduit. To Jesus. And for His purposes.

God created us for mission, with a soul level desire to be a part of something bigger and more important than ourselves. Some of us know that at a cognitive level; other do not.

Be prepared for a different Radiant Church Juneau in the next weeks and months. It cannot help but be different.

It may not be the same make up of people as we remember. We may or may not be meeting somewhere different on Sundays. The time is coming when we will again emphasize physical gatherings over online options.

And be prepared for a fresh emphasis on Kingdom mission. As before, we will continue as a family of servant missionaries learning to be and make disciples.

The church family that endures will be servant missionaries who gather as family.

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau