Leaving Sunday: Why the Institutional American Church needs to grow up

I get the sense I'm on some sort of exploration and mission here so I've started to read other books by people who are either frustrated with Sundays or have left Sundays altogether.  The current book I'm reading is called:  Why I've stopped singing in your church by Bill Blankschaen. Now having grown up in a church that sings the same hymns each and every Sunday and has sung the same hymns each and every Sunday for the past 50 years, I was ECSTATIC when I started attending a church with a band and gospel choir. When I started attending a more "rock band" church, I liked the songs that were popularized by Hillsong and Jesus Culture and I have many of them on my worship playlist. My gripe isn't so much with the music because I enjoy it and I enjoy singing in church, but I can definitely identify with several points this author makes in his book.

Namely this obsession churches have with trying to be "cool" and think they are reaching the youth or people who aren't into church. Churches need to grow up.

Grow up and stop trying to be the cool church

In his book why I've stopped singing in your church, author bill blankschaen said that he wanted to sing songs that were written for adults. I knew exactly what he meant when he compared the modern day worship music to the songs we sang at Christian camp. I once knew a worship leader who would go on rants about Father Abraham at church camp. He said he would sing Father Abraham when someone could explain the theological basis for that song. I didn't understand what he meant at the time but now that I'm older I can see where Father Abraham is the church equivalent  to 99 bottles of beer on the wall.

If you asked 100 people what they're favorite song is, I doubt 5 people would say 99 bottles of the beer on the wall. Why? The song is silly, shallow, and a song that's used to annoy the heck out of people.

However as Blankschaen points out, this is what most modern day worship music sounds like. Repetition over and over again until it loses meaning or shallow songs that nobody will singing 10 years from now.

I'm sure you're thinking “Another person who is just complaining about the church without offering solutions” I am willing to offer solutions but The only way that can happen is if the church to listens to what the people who are still in the pews or those who have left the pews have to say.  Most Christians who end up leaving Sunday's  just quietly leave because they don't think anyone is listening anyway or maybe they've seen how those who speak up get labeled troublemakers

I think it's time for churches to grow up. Stop thinking you can reach young people by remixing Drake and Future songs to include the words God and Jesus. You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. Just because you put God and Jesus on the remix doesn't make it a worship song. You're just trying to reach itching ears and I guarantee the young people are going to go right back to listening to the real versions after church is over because the remix was A: shallow and B: cheap imitation

I can tell you that the gimmicky stuff doesn't reach the youth. I think churches forget that at secular events there's alcohol, various assortments of drugs, bumping, grinding, and such that makes the real versions of those songs better. When people come to church and hear the remix they may say “Heyy” during the service but I am highly skeptical that it causes them to pursue a deeper relationship with God or answers their tough questions about Life.

This leads me to another point: Churches needs to grow up and realize that dumbing everything down is not helping their cause. Young people along with other adults are mature enough to want REAL questions answered. Young people along with older people want to know how to do life and not waste their time singing nursery rhymes or listening to remixes of popular music.

Grow up and Stop trying to be popular

One of the worst feelings of the teenaged years is when you realize you're not popular and you're an outcast. You either go into a depression about it as I did or you try to do THE MOST to try and get into the popular crew.

It seems as if church is doing the second option. Blankschaen makes a spot on point about this in his book discussing prickly church issues “80% of our focus should be on discipline believers to go out and live the gospel, to make every day of their lives a Worship experience for all to see. Rather than investing 80% of our energy attracting non existent seekers, Why not focus on those who already believe, are desperate to grow, and are urgently needed to live out their faith in this fallen world? (Blankschaen)

I could not agree any more with this statement.

One of the best things about growing up and maturing  is realizing that it's more important to stand up for your convictions than to be popular. Being popular is overrated and ultimately futile because popularity is fleeting. It won't be long before there's a new popular church or gimmick in town. It's best to stand strong on your convictions and work on making your current group effective members.

Think about it: If churches focused on strengthening their existing disciples they WOULD go out into the world and people would SEE it and then they would begin to askk What are they doing? What are they about? That's how it's supposed to go. We should not be insulated in church buildings but going out and living our lives in front of the world as representatives of what real faith can do. That's how Jesus seemed to build his following

I have more to read of Why I've stopped singing in your church and I have another lovely memoir waiting in the wings called Leaving Church. I'm excited to share the next phase of This Sacred Journey.

To God be the Glory