Eric Hoey

Taking Ownership in Evangelism

I found a 1996 Presbyterian Panel Survey that made a summarizing comment:

 Pastors and laity tend to have different perspectives on which group has major responsibility for membership growth and decline. Pastors are more likely to see laity in that role, while laity are more likely to see pastor’s in the role.

I wonder if the survey occurred today if the result would be any different? I would imagine not much has changed in 12 years. There seems to be a clear divide between who is responsible for the growth and decline of the church. We love to blame everyone else than to look at ourselves to see if we are the problem.

In our own constitution, it says, "The Church is called to present the claims of Jesus Christ. leading persons to repentance, acceptance of him as Savior and Lord, and new life as his disciples." (G-3.0300b) Evangelism with respect to church growth must be done first, and church growth will be the natural outcome of our Church's faithfulness to the evangelistic call. If we have done our evangelism, church growth would not be a problem. But it is a problem. We are declining rapidly. Membership growth through evangelism must be the call to the whole church both elders and pastors. Let's stop pointing fingers, and point more people to Christ Jesus.

Presbyterian Presence: An Outdated form of Church Growth

The other day, I was driving by a university where my host told me about the campus and what religious entities were on the campus. He told me that the Catholics has a strong presence with the Newman Center and the Presbyterians do not have any presence at the campus. If I were a proud Presbyterian, I would be thinking, “Why not, we should be leaving our mark everywhere!!!”

With new church developments of yesteryear, Presbyterians planted churches with the strict intent to be a “Presbyterian presence” in the community. We built big buildings in the most prominent places to tell the community that the Presbyterians are here! People flocked to us. However, today, everything is different. We cannot plant churches the way we used to 50 or 100 years ago. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having such a significant influence in the society that if your church were to disappear tomorrow the whole community would mourn. What I am saying is that in an era of limited funds and lack of institutional trust, “Presbyterian presence” is NOT a good rationale for planting churches.

We must be planting churches where God desires us to participate in what God is already doing in a community. Prayer, seeing the community with God’s eyes, great demographics, and leadership with the right mix of gifts that match ministry in the context of the community, these are all aspects of ministry every church needs to consider in order to be relevant to our changing context. Once we have these mastered, the Presbyterian presence will come.

Change: From Comfort to Wellness

At a recent hotel stay, I was given the keycard for my room in a folder that promoted the hotel’s BrainBodyFitness program. The purpose of the program was to offer its guests throughout the hotel opportunities to exercise their body and mind. Inside the folder were puzzles for the mind and exercise routines for the body. Everywhere I went, I ran into some aspect of their BrainBodyFitness program. Even the coasters for the drinking glasses had puzzles to emphasize their commitment to help me live a healthy life. Gone are the days where this particular hotel chain emphasizes that it will cater to my every need and become my home away from home. In this program, if I think about a healthy lifestyle, I am to think about this hotel. This is a radical shift in marketing. To a certain extent, I was envious because they had made the shift in from luring me with comfort to luring me to a place that is best for my needs. They want to change my life! In the same way, the Presbyterian Church needs to learn from this. We must make a severe paradigm shift in our thinking. The church is no longer a place where one can feel comfortable being with other Presbyterians, but a church that is faithful to the calling of Christ upon our lives and ministry. We must become a church that is relevant and offering better spiritual health for those outside the church walls.