I know that many urban church sit half-empty on Sunday mornings, but a conversation I had last week caused me to think it can be an issue for congregations in the suburbs as well. In the case of the most recent discussion, it's a mainline protestant church that built a new sanctuary twenty-five years ago. The worship center was built to seat five hundred and the congregation had no problem filling it and soon added an additional service. Today they have cut back to the one service and on the average less than a hundred people attend. According to their pastor, they are currently looking at their options, but selling the building is a real possibility. It caused me to ponder the question, why continue to build new sanctuaries when there are so many current facilities that are vacant or under-used? Looking at current trends, who will be worshipping there in twenty years?
To think only in terms of a Sunday morning worship experience is to ignore the recent trends. Those of us over forty still might value worship on the first day of the week but those under the age of thirty don't for the most part share our enthusiasm. Look around your church some Sunday morning and count how many adults under the age of thirty you see. Those who study the millennials generation (those under the age of thirty) note that they consider themselves spiritual, just not in the same sense as do baby boomers. They are seeking ways to relate their spirituality to their everyday lives. They also are looking for a place where they can discuss faith and ethical issues in an honest way. In their minds the church, as it currently exists, does not allow for either need to be met.
A good friend of mine, Steve Sandfort, pastors a new church in Saginaw, Texas. It's a very different kind of church plant since it's a coffee house located in a strip mall. The Edge Coffee House is their ministry. On Sunday morning they worship there, but the rest of the week it's a place were people can gather. The Union Coffee Shop, close to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, is a similar ministry. What these type of ministries offer is a forum where issues of the day can be discussed. More than that, grace can be experienced, and not just preached.
Instead of building more churches and worship centers, I truly believe we need to be investing in ministry to people where they are at. We can no longer put up a building, open the doors and expect people to come. The church needs to be where the people are. In the case of those under that age of thirty that probably will never be within the walls of a church building.
I have to comment as this is the hardest group to get into church buildings and this is not new. We have forever had a difficult time getting the college and post college crowd into our buildings. If I look at the churches that I have been associated with in the last 10 years, I see that once they have children, the church building becomes the place to go on Sunday morning. It is also denominational as there are some churches in this area that have superb 20 to 30 year old groups that thrive. I don't disagree that there are many denominations that are having this difficulty but we need to look and see whether it is us or them that is the problem.
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