Church Faithfulness Today

What does it mean for the church to be faithful in this new day and changed reality where we find ourselves?  In the second quarter of the 21^st century, we cannot measure our success the same way we did 5 to 7 years ago.  Society has shifted. The way we live our lives and engage in church has dramatically changed. What does success look like in the Church today?  What does it mean for a community of faith to be faithful? 

The old measuring rods of Sunday morning attendance, church annual giving or the number of midweek programs don’t seem to adequately measure the faithfulness of a church. If a church is stuck measuring its effectiveness based solely on numbers, it runs the risk of missing some of the most powerful moments of ministry. The greatest, most effective moment of Jesus’ ministry, the cross, is when he had the least number of followers to count.  Was the cross ineffective? Was Jesus not being faithful on the cross? Maybe the church should change the way we measure success.  For most churches the numbers are nowhere near where they were 7 years ago. It wasn’t just the pandemic, things have changed. The way we live our lives has changed.  Attendance at movie theaters is nowhere near what it was 7 years ago either, but great films are still being made and people are still watching. Maybe Sunday morning attendance and the like were never good measuring rods for the church’s effectiveness or faithfulness.  What if there is a better way to gauge faithfulness?

This year’s theme at CBF’s General Assembly was The Bold Type. After hearing powerful stories from around the fellowship, I am beginning to feel that boldness may be a great indicator of faithfulness.  How is your church daring to be bold in this new reality? What risks is your church willing to take to live faithfully into its calling? Thanks to CBF’s theme, I am starting to see faithfulness in a new way and I’m paying attention to churches that are making bold and daring moves to be faithful to their calling.

A church realizes it can continue to be faithful and bear witness with a different kind of pastor, so they call one of their own who has a different set of quality expertise and has agreed to do the work part time. Another church opens its fellowship hall and hosts a community Iftar showing hospitality to strangers and a willingness to understand their neighbors even better.  A small church with big dreams plans a trip to the Alex Haley farm in Clinton, Tennessee, to experience spiritual renewal and learn about child advocacy and what they can do back home.  There is boldness and faithfulness all around the Mid-Atlantic.  What risks is your church willing to take?  How is your community of Jesus followers showing up in bold and new ways?