Marketing the Apocalypse: The High Cost of Using Fear to Fill Pews (p2)

In my last blog, we got honest about the "Beast-Driven" model of evangelism. We said that for decades we've been "lead-generating" through fear, which attracts a certain type of person who values being right over being loving.

This model of evangelism has filled our churches with a certain mindset that isn’t really interested in family or belonging. It’s interested in rules, control, and drama. When we try and get such churches to focus on Jesus, the result is years of exhausting and emotionally harmful battles.

So, what do we do? How do we move forward when the ground we stand on feels so bad? Here are three suggestions:

1. Put an end to the "Before and After" myth

People will often say that before we can create a church that places young people relationally we first have to be placed in Jesus ourselves. And I agree! To a certain extent. Because as right as this sounds, the reality is it drags you into what I call the “we-need-inreach-before-outreach” framework.

And this never, ever works.

Plus… its not the model Jesus used.

Notice that Jesus sent out his disciples (with the 70) at the beginning of his ministry, not the end. He didnt say "lets spend a few years doing in reach first and then well do outreach".

But he also didn’t do outreach first and then in reach.

Jesus simply didn’t follow a before-and-after model. He followed an “all-at-once” model where inreach and outreach grow together, simultaneously, at the same time.

I’ve been in churches that have been doing inreach for a long time. Sometimes decades. And still not ready for outreach. Because once you settle for the before-and-after model, you never get anywhere. And the danger is if we say we need to be placed in Jesus first and then we can create an environment of placeness for our youth - you’ll never do either. Because how do you measure being placed in Jesus anyways? Because you preached a sermon series? Because you did a Bible study? Is it a knowledge thing? Or do you measure closeness to jesus via our closeness to one another?

The Bible says, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" (1 John 4:20)

Which means this: we don’t get placed in Jesus first and then create an enviornment of relational placeness for our youth. We do both simultaneously. We work on horizontal and vertical relationships at the same time and the two feed on each other and strengthen each other. It’s not before-and-after. It’s all-at-once.

2. Accept That Some Local Churches Are Beyond Redemption

Thats right… I said it.

Some local churches are a lost cause for human effort. And you have to know when its no longer worth your time and energy. Now I know I’ll get a lot of push back here - “it’s never a lost cause”, “we have to keep trying”, “we can’t give up”, “with God all things are possible”.

So let me be clear here: some local churches are a LOST CAUSE. Can God still do something there? Maybe. But you aren’t God. Move on.

And just in case you aren’t convinced allow me to be clear. I fought this reality for many many years. I had the same mentality about not giving up. And then one day, burnt out and exhausted, I ran into this quote from Ellen White that totally changed my perspective and set me free to stop wasting time and energy in spaces that were never going to change:

“There are in our churches those who profess the truth who are only hindrances to the work of reform. They are clogs to the wheels of the car of salvation. This class are frequently in trial. Doubts, jealousies, and suspicion are the fruits of selfishness, and seem to be interwoven with their very natures. I shall name this class chronic church grumblers. They do more harm in a church than two ministers can undo. They are a tax to the church and a great weight to the ministers of Christ. They live in an atmosphere of doubts, jealousies, and surmisings.

“Much time and labor of the ambassadors of Christ are required to undo their work of evil, and restore harmony and union in the church. This takes from the courage and strength of God’s servants and unfits them for the work He has for them to do in saving perishing souls from ruin. God will reward these troublers of Zion according to their works.

“The ministers of Christ should take their position, and not be hindered in their work by these agents of Satan. There will be enough of these to question, and quibble, and criticize, to keep the ministers of God constantly busy, if they will allow themselves to be detained from the great work of giving the last saving message of warning to the world. If the church has no strength to stand against the unsanctified, rebellious feelings of church grumblers, it is better to let church and grumblers go overboard together than lose the opportunity of saving hundreds who would make better churches, and have the elements existing within themselves of strength and union and power.

“The very best way for ministers and churches is to let this faultfinding, crooked class fall back into their own element, and pull away from the shore, launch out into the deep, and cast out the gospel net again for fish that may pay for the labor bestowed upon them.

“Satan exults when men and women embrace the truth who are naturally faultfinding and who will throw all the darkness and hindrance they can against the advancement of the work of God. Ministers cannot now in this important period of the work be detained to prop up men and women who see and have felt once the force of the truth. They should fasten believing Christians on Christ, who is able to hold them up and preserve them blameless unto His appearing, while they go forth to new fields of labor.” (Evangelism, p. 371)

Here’s my point: the more time you waste in a church that is never going to change, the less time and energy you have for the people out there waiting for you to build something new with them. Stop being a hero. Stop being a martyr. Stop casting your pearls before swine. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go and build something new.

3. Church planting is the future

The future of adventism is church planting. I really, trully believe that.

Think back to the previous article where we traced the history of how the SDA church has grown using fear based evangelism and the kind of unhealthy communities that cultivates.

You and I are not going to undo all those decades of toxic evangelism and the psychological complexities it creates.

A better use of our time is to develop healthy models of Christ centred mission, and instead of gathering new believers into unhealthy churches that have no interest in changing we gather them into new communities where everyone has been brought to Jesus by relationship and healing truth. These communities can then form new and better churches that will root the gospel in their cities instead of constantly draining your energy with fights over dumb religious nonsense.

And it’s these communities that will become beautiful places of belonging for younger generations.

But what about the churches that aren't hopeless? What can we do there?

I can’t provide an indepth breakdown in one blog but I would begin with focusing on the gospel and building a relational culture at the same time.

Focus on your young people. Do social activities together. Build memories through out of the ordinary experiences you share together. Serve the community. And dont make everything about religion. Be human together. Share life with one another. Get creative on how you do this.

In churches that have some controlling elements but overall there is still hope, the likelihood is an approach like this will awaken the ire of those who are not interested in community but in rules and control. You may have to go through a season of difficulty with such folk. But if you have the support of other leaders in the church to bear the burden together so it isn’t all on you, you can weather the storm.

One of my former colleagues, pastor Rob Stankovic once told me the way you heal a church with issues like this is to focus on whats good. "Focus on the good," he said, "and eventually the bad finds out it doesn't fit in anymore."

When that happens, such folk pack up their bags and leave. And to quote from Francis Chan, "let them leave". When power hungry, unhealthy people like this leave the congregation you will find that you are finally free to grow and thrive without constant criticism and negativity.

But as you do this, please be mindful of both your mental health and your families emotional well being. If it starts to get too heavy, remember point #2 - it may just be time.

Now I get it, for employed pastors it’s not always that simple. You get placed where you get placed. Walking away isn’t always an option. In some areas, walking away could mean losing your job. And that’s heavy stuff. I was in a similar scenario once. And while I can’t promise this will work for you, what I did was I began to back off from the unhealthy church and stopped investing energy there. I still worked and went through the motions. But I began putting my energy into a new church plant. Overtime, as the church plant grew, I was able to leave the unhealthy church to focus on the emerging one.

At the end of the day, placing SDA churches in Jesus and cultivating relational spaces of belonging won’t be easy in many locations. Our long history of unhealthy growth methods means we are working in very thorny fields. But if we focus on these steps, I think we can make progress and build a new future for our movement, one that heals rather than harms. One that our young people can finally call home.

What other steps do you think would be essential? Share below!