As I write these words, the church is at a liminal crossroads. In the coming decades, churches will make choices about whom they want to be, and these choices will determine the future of the church in America. Missiologist Alan Hirsch has publicly said, “If you want to see the future of the church in America, look to Europe (and Australia).” 

Weekly, we see reports on the status of the Christian faith. The complete list would be too exhaustive, and I’m sure you are aware of the wide scope of trends reported over the past several years, but a few will help acclimate this conversation:

• Twenty years ago, 42% of USA adults attended church; today that has dropped to 30%.
• Two in five churchgoers report attending multiple churches since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
• Of Americans, 20% attend church every week, while 57% report seldom or never attending.
• When surveyed, 71% of people of all faiths (including those who have no faith) have a positive view of Jesus and his message; however, within that same group, only 47% have a positive view of churches. That number drops to 22% when talking to people who are not Christian.
• In 1972, Christians made up 90% of the USA population; today that percentage is below 60% and is forecasted to go below 35% in the coming decades.

The problem with statistics like the ones above is that we tend to see them as measures of an overall interest in faith. When we see a declining trend in church attendance, we think people are less interested in Jesus. However, this has been shown not to be the case. I propose that, instead, a significant problem in the church lies primarily in our methods of reaching people with the good news. People are not disinterested in Jesus; however, for various reasons, they do not trust the institution of the church to deliver a true picture of who He is.

For decades, churches have followed a growth model that focuses on getting people to the church building or event, which, in turn, has taught pastors to count attendance as a metric of success. This is followed closely by the financial giving of attendees. Annually, we see reports on the “largest churches in America,” as if that exemplifies success. But these metrics hardly measure faithfulness, discipleship, and any number of kingdom activities outside of the church building. The “attractional” method of church also ignores a primary call of Jesus to his disciples: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21, NIV).

Without my going too deeply into etymology, the word sent comes from the same word from which we get mission, missionary, and missional: ‘apostolos’ in Greek and ‘missio’ in Latin. Thus, Jesus declares his disciples (us) to be “sent” (missionaries) in the way he was sent by the Father.

When we see a declining trend in church attendance, we think people are less interested in Jesus. However, this has been shown not to be the case. Instead, the problem lies primarily in we reach people with the good news. (1/2) Share on X

People are not disinterested in Jesus; however, for various reasons, they do not trust the institution of the church to deliver a true picture of who He is. (2/2) Share on X

Rewilding

As a word, rewilding has only existed since 1992, first coined by conservationist Dave Foreman. Rewilding began as a movement to re-establish biodiversity in geographic areas that have been hurt through human intervention and development. In the context of animals, rewilding refers to two possible scenarios:

1. A species being reintroduced into an area they once inhabited before their numbers were reduced, and
2. A specific individual animal that has lived in a domestic environment and needs to be reintroduced into their natural habitat.

When a wild animal has been confined for long enough, it is not a simple process to help them become wild again. 

Mohini the Tiger

In the 1960s, President Eisenhower was given the gift of a large white Siberian tiger named Mohini. She was put in the Washington Zoo, where, in those days, cages were about twelve by twelve feet. For years previous, Mohini existed in a tiny cage twelve by twelve. Eventually, a donor offered to build Mohini a larger, more appropriate enclosure with hills, grass, and other natural elements. There was much excitement when the time came to move Mohini to her new home, and many gathered to watch what they expected would be the tiger’s joy as she was released into this new environment. To their surprise, as soon as the door opened, Mohini went to a far corner and would not move beyond a twelve-by-twelve-foot area. She wore the grass down with her constant pacing and died never having expanded her boundaries to include the rest of her enclosure.

This story illustrates something for us as the church. Many times, our learned environments can become what we choose to stay within, even inadvertently. We do something because that’s what we’ve always done — what we’ve been trained to do. Even something that was meant to exist “in the wild” can feel safer when confined.

Sent People

The people who attend our worship events are not simply “attenders” of our church, they are “sent disciples” of Jesus. They are, if you will, everyday missionaries in the places they live, work, and play. Our primary call as equippers of the church should be to teach others to be sent in the way Jesus was sent. Yet, instead, we go to great effort to train people to attend a gathering in a constrained geographic location. In a sense, we teach them to walk in a twelve-by-twelve enclosure. If that’s their learned rhythm week in and week out, why would we expect them to live a wild faith? 

It can be an uncomfortable conundrum to encourage your “attenders” to see themselves as sent outside the walls of a church you are struggling to maintain (in light of current trends). This is the unfortunate — and ironic — position pastors today are living in. In a sense, it’s the “Mohini trap” we’ve built, and we need to find our way out of it.

Getting Out of the Cage

Perhaps a better question to ask — in light of John 20:21 — is “How was Jesus sent by the Father?” If we survey the Gospels and look at the rhythms of Jesus’s sent life and ministry, we see Him walking dusty roads and loving people who had messy lives. The people he spent time with were often criticized by religious leaders (see Matthew 9:11). Jesus’ actions, highlighted by Gospel writers, involved many healings, encounters with the sick and broken, and compassion on those who were considered outcasts by the religious culture of the day. There were times when Christ verbally communicated information about God and His kingdom. But it’s worth noting that, primarily, He displayed the kingdom through actions and encounters with others. By traveling with Jesus, the disciples learned firsthand just how Jesus was sent by the Father.

The people who attend our worship events are not simply 'attenders' of our church, they are 'sent disciples' of Jesus. They are, if you will, everyday missionaries in the places they live, work, and play. (1/3) Share on X

Our primary call as equippers of the church should be to teach others to be sent in the way Jesus was sent. Yet, instead, we go to great effort to train people to attend a gathering in a constrained geographic location. (2/3) Share on X

In a sense, we teach them to walk in a twelve-by-twelve enclosure. If that’s their learned rhythm week in and week out, why would we expect them to live a wild faith? (3/3) Share on X

Rewilding a Church

If we genuinely want to release our churches from their cages and return to the wild, then we may need new postures to bring about a missional shift in our methodology. If we take Jesus at His word that we are sent in the same way He was sent by the Father, then we should seek practical steps we can take toward that discipleship goal. We must start seeing our attenders as sent — and then we must start treating them that way.

From years of training others to see this sent calling, I have observed that when this identity becomes a lived reality, faith is enlivened and becomes more present and important in Christian’s life. This, in turn, has the potential to enliven whole church communities.

Getting Rid of the Cage

Pivoting a church from an attractional to a missional culture is not an easy task, and it can take years of consistent movement in the direction you want to go. It took decades for church to settle into the attractional model, and it will take years to disciple people to be missionaries in their own contexts. But this is our charge from our Teacher, and it’s well worth the kingdom result.

How do we empower our churches to shift towards a missional culture? Here are five pathways to deepen this culture within your faith community:

1. Priorities must shift: There are many areas to survey to gauge if structures in the church will support a missional shift. For example, what does your budget say about your missional/sent culture? Do you celebrate what congregants do missionally in their own context? What percentage of your giving is utilized for missional purposes (outside the walls and not including the mission pastor’s salary)?
2. Include a missional discipleship piece in your church: For decades, “discipleship” has been all about gaining more knowledge about the Bible and feeding our own faith (which is not inherently bad). But most discipleship programs lack an emphasis on Jesus’s last command to his disciples: to be “sent.” An intentional focus on helping believers to see themselves as everyday missionaries/practitioners is critical.
3. Examine the language used in the community: The words and phrases we choose consistently can help shape culture (or work against it). For example, one thing that really helped my community shift was the use of “kingdom” language and focused teaching on how to participate in the kingdom of God. A negative example might be the often-used Sunday morning phrase “Welcome to church.” In actuality, the building is not the church, the people are. We don’t come to a church; the church comes to a building to gather together. Words matter.
4. Emphasize community partnerships and relational connections: Consistently celebrate local partnerships as missional work that the community is doing. Don’t just focus on foreign missions; see all missional work together.
5. Balance events at the building and events outside the walls: If you constantly ask people to come to studies, events, and gatherings at the church, they won’t have time or energy to live missionally in their neighborhoods, work, or schools. Move church focuses to outside the walls (e.g., have a marriage group at a library and invite the surrounding neighborhood).

Right now, millions of Christians are walking around in metaphorical cages where their faith is being defined by activities at a building. But, like Mohini was, we are meant to live in the wild. We are meant to be out in the wild of the world and culture, to be a display of the good news kingdom Jesus came to announce. 

It is possible to rewild our churches and, more importantly, our communities of faith. To do so will take a brave vision and relentless pursuit of the sent One.

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In actuality, the building is not the church, the people are. We don’t come to a church; the church comes to a building to gather together. Words matter. (1/2) Share on X

Right now, millions of Christians are being defined by their activities at a building. We are meant to be out in the wild of the world, to be a display of the good news kingdom Jesus came to announce. (2/2) Share on X

*Editorial Note: Missio Alliance is pleased to have Forge America as new content partners. Forge America is a network of practitioners cultivating practitioners who join in the everyday mission of God. On the last Tuesday of each month, articles from missional practitioners within the Forge network will be featured in our Writing Collectives. We look forward to sharing their thoughtful, leading-edge missional perspectives with you. ~MA