Not About People Populating Programs

Excerpt from We Can't Do Megachurch Anymore

"During my first six months, I was leading a Bible study with the leadership team, and I suggested that we start with a study of the gospel.

One of the leaders responded, "I think we've already got the gospel figured out. Why do we need to study that? Let's figure out how to start moving the ball down the field."

I was sure we didn't already have the gospel figured out and that what we were calling "the gospel" was actually only a small slice of what the gospel is all about.

That conversation was one of the first indicators that we had a problem, that the modern we-have-it-figured-out megachurch concept would clash mightily with the emerging ideas of what gospel means, what it means to be a missionary in our own culture, and what it means to live it outside the walls of the church.

At the same time, the rehabilitated leadership structure relapsed and some of the old problems began to show up again. Attendance, which had remained steady and even increased a bit during the get-well season, began to drop.

Some left because they didn't know who was in charge anymore. Others left because they perceived the church wasn't focused on proclaiming the gospel anymore. Still others left because it seemed the current leadership was soft on truth.

Now, six years later, numbers in attendance and giving are lower than ever and a spatula is needed to elevate morale. On paper, Garnett appears to be in pretty bad shape.

Yet on our good days, we're hopeful that God is up to something important among us.

God is doing something at Garnett Church of Christ that seems counter to what I previously thought God would do in a church. The Spirit, I believe, is teaching us that it's not about people populating programs but about God inhabiting every moment of our lives, most of which happens outside the walls of the church.

And we're learning that these church walls must come down."