People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Culture of the Denomination
by James W. Moss, Sr.There are three basic cultures that impact the life of a church. One is the culture of the church itself. The second is the culture of the denomination (covered in this article). The third is the culture of the community. These three cultures frequently intertwine until sometimes they are almost indistinguishable. However, they are there and need to be recognized and understood.
The culture of the denomination will have an impact, especially in churches more than one generation old or more than 20 years old. It is true that loyalty to the denomination is no longer the same as in generations past. In the 1800’s, a person would only change denominations with a great deal of fear and trepidation. In fact, in many instances in the 1800’s, if a person could not attend a church or start one of their own denomination, they would not attend any.
Upset the fruit basket!
It is not unusual today for a person to attend a variety of churches during their lifetime. People will frequently go to one church while their children are small, another when they are teens, and still another when they are empty nesters. The denominations may be of widely differing traditions. It is not unusual for someone to go from highly liturgical to very charismatic and everything in between. Former Roman Catholics are showing up in Protestant churches of all stripes in very large numbers. Joe had been a traditional Christian all his life. He now is attending a group on the fringe of Christianity. Joe commented, “I know their doctrine stinks, but the fellowship is great.”
In newer churches, the denominational impact will be dependent upon the planter’s loyalty. However, the denominational traditions and culture will have their impact.
Denominations using the itinerant system will discover that their local churches don’t get too attached to their pastor. He or she might be gone before too long. Some denominations have designed their governmental system and their local church systems for control. The system permits a few people in a congregation to dominate what the local church does. Some denominations have a system that makes it difficult to make a decision. I have worked with some in these traditions that take a year to make any meaningful decisions.
Who serves whom?
“The churches exist to benefit the local conference” was the apparent philosophy of the body I was working for beginning in 1977. Very gradually over the years there has been a significant transformation in our midst. Now the local conference exists to benefit its churches. That attitude has brought significant change across our body. I believe a local regional body must exist to benefit its churches. The local church is where the real life of the church exists. A regional body can only justify its existence if it assists its local churches to function more effectively in ministry.
Does the denomination or regional body make meaningful attempts to keep in touch with the people in the churches? Are the governmental bodies reflective of the people in the pew? If there isn’t a meaningful connection, an ever-widening breach will grow between the larger body and the people in the pews. Many times the hierarchy is much more liberal than the rank and file attendees. Frequently the leadership espouses positions that participants find totally unacceptable. Trouble is on the horizons for these.
The impact of apportionments
There is increasing financial pressure for many churches, regional, and denominational bodies. For many years in the Churches of God, we assigned what were called apportionments based on membership. The “taxes” were resented. I found myself having at least 2 or 3 serious conversations about financial support for the conference each week. Gradually the resistance was expressed by reducing the members upon which apportionment was paid. In 1977, average attendance was 60% of membership. Had we gone another year longer, average attendance would have passed membership. Churches were either not reporting all their members, slashing the roles, or refusing to take in members as methods of reducing contributions to the conference. Contributions had dropped to about 85% of budget or less. Even churches that contributed faithfully resented it.
Someone came up with a rather novel idea. They said, “Let’s encourage our churches to tithe to the conference.” The resistance disappeared. The lowest response since this move has been 98% of budget. The number of non-contributing churches has declined dramatically. The caustic comments have all but disappeared.
Attitude makes all the difference
The more positive the attitude of the regional body, the more positively that body will be viewed in the churches. Also, the people of the churches will be more willing to participate in the efforts of the conference. I believe churches need to be a part of a larger body. It can be very lonely in the independent world. The body also helps with accountability.
Remember, the real life of the church is lived on the local church level. The denomination and regional bodies exist to benefit their local churches.
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January 30, 2003. Volume 6, Issue 3. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way with proper credit. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.