uninvolved congregation

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bobtheman

Puritan Board Freshman
I just wanted to ask if anyone here has experience with dealing with a congregation that is uninvolved, lethargic with regards to church services and events. Our Sunday service is healthy and growing, so don't get me wrong. The problem we experience is with anything outside of preaching. If we provide free food in the form of some kind of dinner, attendance is awesome but the volunteers to help setup and prepare for such events are sparse.

If we have a need in the community to help service a homeless shelter, to provide food and supplies .. donations and volunteers again is sparse.

If we have a VBS event, volunteers is sparse and attendance is extremely high.

I know there is a lot involved in determining the root cause of this type of issue ... congregations demographics, age of the members, etc.

From conversations with numerous church's in the are and with the relationships Ive built with other pastors ... this isn't a new or isolated phenomenon.


So, we have started to address this in multiple ways. One being the communication and acceptance of our congregations unwillingness to support certain events or services. Expressing the need... etc
 
Richard,
A number of things come to mind:
Michael Horton has put his finger on a number of the negative causes and effects of 21st century, pop-evangelicalism. They can be hard pills to swallow, but accurate and worth dealing with.
1- One that comes to mind is in the preaching (as one who left 20 years of it for the Reformed church, I have experienced Horton's assessments first hand). Most often, non-Reformed preaching focuses of what we should do as priority #1. ("dare to be a Daniel", "be like Joseph",....) Who God is as He reveals Himself in sacred Scripture and what He has done for His people in Christ is, if even present, a distant 2nd or 3rd.
2- Similarly, when one approaches the Scripture as "a textbook for life", what can one expect except a similar, pragmatic response?
3- Does said congregation see the gospel as for themselves every week or do they see it only for "the lost" and a one-time event and then "move on up" to greater things. I have the gospel preached to me every week and am confronted with it, my wickedness, and my Savior every Lord's Day.
4- The Gospel is not natural to mankind, law is. There is a reason that all the world religions are works based......that is natural to man. The gospel must be heralded to us through preaching and the sacraments regularly.....this is not natural. What is preached every Lord's Day? How are the sacraments presented and administered?

Another issue may be in how things are communicated to the congregation. Are there ideas for things to do every week so that the people are thinking "there are way too many activities presented and I just don't have time for them"? Kinda like the boy that cried wolf syndrome....
"Today's activity is more important even then yesterday's activity"!?!

Along with this, is that the church should not bind the consciences of the people any further than the Scripture does. It can be authoritatively declared that God has commanded His worship every Lord's Day (4th Commandment) and all His people should be there. One should not authoritatively declare "everyone must be at the youth rally next Friday night". To demand such is to wrongly bind another's conscience.
 
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bobtheman said:
Our Sunday service is healthy and growing, so don't get me wrong. The problem we experience is with anything outside of preaching.
Click to expand...

Maybe your church is called to concentrate on preaching. Churches are not required to host VBS or homeless shelters, especially during the week.
 
If I may add I work very hard during the 6 days week and am beat after work, and doing what I supposed to do after work around the house. I would be one of those that are viewed as being "lethargic with regards to church services and events" in the eyes of many.
 
I think most churches are this way save for the pretty small ones, at least from what I have been noticing.
 
bobtheman said:
I just wanted to ask if anyone here has experience with dealing with a congregation that is uninvolved, lethargic with regards to church services and events. Our Sunday service is healthy and growing, so don't get me wrong. The problem we experience is with anything outside of preaching. If we provide free food in the form of some kind of dinner, attendance is awesome but the volunteers to help setup and prepare for such events are sparse.

If we have a need in the community to help service a homeless shelter, to provide food and supplies .. donations and volunteers again is sparse.

If we have a VBS event, volunteers is sparse and attendance is extremely high.

I know there is a lot involved in determining the root cause of this type of issue ... congregations demographics, age of the members, etc.

From conversations with numerous church's in the are and with the relationships Ive built with other pastors ... this isn't a new or isolated phenomenon.


So, we have started to address this in multiple ways. One being the communication and acceptance of our congregations unwillingness to support certain events or services. Expressing the need... etc
Click to expand...

When are these events usually held? People might not have the time to participate in them.
 
2 Cor. 8ff may apply to one extent or another. Even though the context speaks specifically to monetary giving, any kind of self expenditure would seem to relate to the passage as Paul deals with a willing heart.
 
Who plans/schedules these activities? Are they leading by example?

Is the church large enough so that various groups can 'adopt' various activities?

Is the church 'spread too thin'?

Is the leadership in touch with the membership?

Has the membership been trained in Christian service?
 
Rejoice that people delight and make an effort to attend Lord's Day worship. Maybe make more of an attempt to have fellowship opportunities on the Lord's Day, since people seem to have issues attending during the rest of the week.

It varies by congregation. My congregation is small and we're more spread out around the metro area. We have the Lord's Day structured so we spend a large part of it together: we have morning worship, lunch, afternoon worship, snacks, catechism class, and prayer meeting. When we do have other forms of congregational fellowship, ministry, and events, they're less frequently, and we try to schedule around diverse schedules. Such events can be important in the life of the church, and have generally been well attended in my experience.

I'm not saying how we do it is ideal. I wish we could live all in one close vicinity in walking distance from one another and have events through the week, but I still appreciate the fellowship we do have on the Lord's Day, and know it would be harder in our case to consistently have as many meet for prayer meeting for example.
 
Our Sunday service is healthy and growing, so don't get me wrong

If you've got that, then just be thankful, brother. That's the hub of the 4th Word.
 
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