What!?!?
Yes, you read that correctly.
I’m grateful all our churches aren’t full again. And I’ll tell you why.
When our pews were packed, we felt victorious. We all love to count, track, and chart. When the graphs were “up-and-to-the-right,” we felt like we are winning, even if our mission was floundering.
No pastor would say that packed rooms are their focal point. We all know the correct answers.
And sure, a packed room feels great. But no church has a mission statement that reads, “We exist to create full sanctuaries…”
Our collective mission is to introduce people to Jesus and inspire them to pursue a deepening relationship with their Savior.
And this is why I’m grateful all our churches aren’t full.
All the empty seats are creating a crisis of identity, mission, and model.
1. Identity Crisis
Far too many pastors equate attendance to self-worth. When the room is packed, we believe God is blessing us. We also sinfully believe we’re responsible for the crowd. “Look at what ‘God’ (and I’ve) done,” we secretly think.
I say this from a place of deep understanding. When I first became a lead pastor, our church was dying. We had perhaps three months left to remain open. Fast-forward a decade, and we had (before the pandemic) an average of 8,000 people attending each Sunday. And you better believe that became part of my identity! No matter how hard I tried to allow our attendance and engagement metrics to remain only a church indicator, they quickly became a personal success indicator. We all do this because we are all broken.
We must remember our identity as a pastor is not found in graphs, metrics, trends, or packed rooms. We are sons of Living God. We are fearfully and wonderfully made — full rooms or not. The numbers do matter because they represent souls that matter to God. But I’m afraid too many pastors and church leaders spent years and years allowing the number of empty seats to define their value as a pastor.
Not now. Our empty rooms are causing us all to redefine (or remember) our first love — Jesus. We got into this business because of Jesus. Not for fame, full rooms, or up-and-to-the-right charts. We must remember what matters.
2. Mission Crisis
Similarly, while no church’s mission statement mentions full rooms, we too often allow the number of empty seats to drive our decisions. Our mission matters because it was given to us all by God. Sure, we’ve put our nouns and verbs to it, but ultimately, we all attempt to do the same thing. We are leading people to Jesus. How we do that differs, but what we hope to see happen is virtually identical.
When keeping the room full becomes our mission, God’s mission takes a backseat. Too many leaders have made terrible decisions to fill rooms:
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- We’ve allowed political ideology to supplant fundamental theology in the name of attendance.
- We’ve refused to balance compassion with conviction for fear of being labeled unattractive.
- We’ve even watered down the Gospel to make people’s mistakes (what we should call sin) more palatable.
I’m grateful we all have lots of empty seats because it’s providing us space to remember our primary mission — and it’s not a full room.
3. Model Crisis
Most of our ministry models were outdated to some extent before the pandemic. In 2019, the vast majority of churches were plateaued or declining. The pandemic didn’t create many (if any) new trends, but it certainly accelerated them, including our ministry model crisis.
What was working pre-pandemic might not work post-pandemic. What wasn’t working in 2019 will definitely not work in 2021. I’m grateful that our auditoriums are half full because it should finally shake us enough to engage in some change.
For instance, let me give you one example: It’s time for us all to stop playing hybrid church and become a hybrid church. There are plenty of strategies for leveraging digital and physical environments. Pick one (I’m happy to help)! And implement it (again, you might need some support). Your church can no longer have a Twitter account and call it a day. It’s time to adjust your approach.
Now, I’m not suggesting it’s our job to be strategic to fill rooms. I am suggesting our mission is too important to be unstrategic in how we best reach people and make disciples.
The good news is there has never been a better time in our pastoral leadership to institute ministry changes. Think about it: If our new ideas don’t work, only half the people will be upset! I’m kidding… sort of. But seriously, change is complex. Luckily, changing now is easier than it was in 2019. Most people are out of church rhythms. Many don’t remember what you did before the pandemic anyway. Lots of people sitting in your church today are new to your church. So change now what needed to change two years ago (or 20 years ago). Don’t let a good pandemic go to waste!
I love that we have the opportunity to build better churches. While I certainly don’t love the crisis, I love what it will potentially create in Kingdom growth. Of course, the pandemic was a disruption of epic proportions, but it doesn’t have to be catastrophic to our church or spirit. Let’s leverage this season to grow as leaders, pastors, and followers of Jesus.
How can I help?
Coaching ministry and marketplace leaders through change, transition, and transformation is why I created Transformation Solutions. Go right now to mytransformationsolutions.com and sign up for a free, 30-minute conversation to decide if working together works for you.
