Dr. David W. Manner is the Associate Executive Director for the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists. He blogs at http://kncsb.org/blogs/dmanner . You can follow him on Twitter: @dwmanner.
Most potential homebuyers decide whether or not to check out the interior of a house or take it seriously as a home prospect for their family based on its curb appeal…how it looks from the street. Statistics show that a positive curb appeal brings more people through the front door and gives them a healthy first impression. Conversely, poor curb appeal excludes certain people from looking further and those who actually do look will automatically discount its value.
Whether the perception from culture is justified or not, their view from the street is that we in the evangelical church are like the grouchy old man who is constantly yelling, “Get out of my yard!” Religiosity topics we assume as absolutely necessary to the Christian debate such as Calvinism vs. Arminianism; Complementarianism vs. Egalitarianism; Republican vs. Democrat; Traditional vs. Contemporary; Conservative vs. Moderate; Mega-Church vs. Micro-Church; Connectional vs. Missional; and even Organ vs. Guitar are all contributing to our poor cultural curb appeal.
The Evangelical Church is losing ground with culture when we spend an inordinate amount of our time publicly debating issues that in the end won’t really matter. There is value and even necessity for healthy biblical, theological, doctrinal and even historical debate. But if those debates continue to depreciate our curb appeal and cause culture to drive on by, then maybe it’s time to consider a home makeover.
10 Ways The Evangelical Church Has Lost Its Curb Appeal
- We unite around what we are against rather than what we are for.
- Dogma instead of the church is now at the top of our organizational chart.
- Those formerly inclusive guardrails are now exclusive litmus tests.
- We have blurred the lines between commandments and amendments.
- We claim theologically and philosophically to be racially diverse, yet still segregate practically and relationally.
- Fundamentalism has become our primary method of evangelism.
- We no longer encourage or even allow critical thinking.
- Friendly fire is contributing to our net loss.
- We appear to hate the practices of culture more than we love the people in it.
- We are justifying meanness in the name of guarding religiousterritory.
We’ve been hearing these things for quite some time, and we now have evidence which shows that we are losing our curb appeal, and as a result of the things you’ve listed. Actually, if you look down that list, what has happened is that we are failing to be the Church of Jesus Christ, and we are distracted by a lot of things that make us what we don’t have any business being. We are gathering in larger groups, but there are fewer and fewer of us who are gathering, though I think the mega-church culture prevents us from actually… Read more »
David: A lot of these resonate as true with me, but I wouldn’t mind if you fleshed these bullet points out a bit, just so we know exactly what you are talking about.
There are quite a lot of assertions there. They do need to be backed up a bit. Some may just be perceptions, and not reality. By the way, Jesus lost his curb appeal a few times himself. John 6:66-67 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Matthew 19:21-22 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But… Read more »
“The Evangelical Church is losing ground with culture when we spend an inordinate amount of our time publicly debating issues that in the end won’t really matter.’
The Christian church was never built on gaining ground with the culture or curb appeal. It is built on the offense of the cross.
Rick
Bill Mac and Stephen, here a few follow-up thoughts to a couple of the points in response to your comments about fleshing these out. Most of the bullet points begin with what we deserve, have earned or prefer…in other words we begin with selfishness instead of Micah 6:8 doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly. When we begin with guarding our religious territory we must then publicly defend that territory causing us to unite around what we are against. That often surfaces as meanness. What we are for is the belief that prayer can change things we can’t. So what… Read more »
So do you have evidence that these are the problems that keep the church from growing? Or is this what you think the problem is? I know there is plenty of evidence about church growth, and I think all of these are legit, but also know many who don’t exhibit these. I’ve seen evidence that it is often the churches with the clearest stand on membership requirements etc. having among the best growth. I’ve also seen examples of churches with strong discipleship and participation demands demonstrate strong growth. And, I’m not sure most unchurched know about the “Calvinism vs. Arminianism;… Read more »
The post appears to group some issues that are not comparable in terms of the level of concern they should be given. Perhaps that was not the intent, but it is a little confusing. For example, church organs vs guitars is hardly an issue carrying the same import as complementarianism vs egalitarianism. And churches should be racially diverse, but they should not be theologically diverse on first-order doctrines. Also, the Church does not sit atop the organizational chart, Christ does (Eph 1: 20-23). Some issues, like the Calvinism vs Arminianism issue, are issues that should not divide us. But I… Read more »
Could it be [as i add my voice to those with the same idea] that a major problem with our churches is the emphasis many of them have made is to even have curb appeal? i say yes. The idea that we must draw them to a building to get them to hear the Gospel instead of giving them the Gospel first and let that be what draws them into our fellowship. The latter idea focuses on making individual evangelists out of every member and the church a place for believers. The former idea makes members just people who invite… Read more »
Mike,
Amen!
What a great post!! Very insightful and completely on point.
I’m struck by the fact that sinners came flocking to the Savior, but rarely today do we see them flocking to His church. The “curb appeal” that Jesus lost was with some of the most “religious.” He didn’t mind losing such curb appeal with them. In fact, much of His ministry was a deliberate act to lose such curb appeal. However, His “Come who are weak and heavy-laden and I will give you rest” did appeal to the hurting masses. His holiness didn’t cause Him to withdraw from sinful society but to thrust himself into the middle of it. Sinners… Read more »
A+