America, as a pond, is all fished out

I am going to be controversial today.

*Disclaimer: I want you all to know that I am proposing something new, not making absolute statements.  I am proposing a new direction for the church, and I am not saying that every church should follow this path, nor am I saying that indigenous work here in America is all for naught.  

When we planted Catalyst six years ago, one of the stats that we threw around as a justification for our new church plant was the fact that America is the largest mission field in the Western Hemisphere and the third largest in the world behind China and India.  There are more unchurched people in America (as a total number, not as a percentage) than all but two countries in this world.

This statistic is usually followed by calls for more church planting, more campuses from larger churches, etc.  For good reason.  Many times, when we plant churches or expand larger churches into multi-site venues, we do reach unchurched people and connect them to the Body of Christ.

However, no one ever asks why.  Why do we have 100 million unchurched people in this nation?

Is it a lack of churches?

Probably not.

At least in this area of the country, you have to purposefully avoid the church to be away from it.  The availability and accessibility to a church is not the problem.  If someone wanted to know about Jesus, just in my county, he or she would have 82 places to choose from that could be reached inside twenty minutes.

Even in places like New England and the Western states, outside of the Bible Belt, you could be at one of several churches inside thirty minutes if you wanted to be part of a church.  

No, the problem isn't a lack of churches.

Here's the bombshell:

If a person here in America doesn't know about Jesus, it's because the numerous Christians they work with, interact with, play sports with, etc haven't been faithful to the Great Commission.

Yes.  I said it.

I will also say this:  many of the 100 million unchurched people in America have heard about Christ and have rejected Him.  Many of them grew up in the church, or had a grandma that went to church, or whatever, and the problem isn't that they don't know.  The problem is that they DO know and have rejected.

So Dave, why are you talking about this?

I am calling pastors, leaders, and church people away from the knee-jerk "solutions" that are always proposed to this problem- develop a new ministry, plant another church in the community, build another building in a more visible location going into debt millions of dollars.

Really, does your community need another multi-million dollar church building in it?  

I am proposing an entirely new mindset.  America is church-saturated.  Churches, or at least church buildings, cost money.  I say we make two major changes:

        1) It does't cost anything for a Christian to disciple another person.  Emphasize to the people in your church that discipleship is the job of the Christian, not just of the pastor.  Quit thinking that another church or a bigger church or another ministry is the key to reaching the 100 million unchurched in our nation.  Go make a disciple.

        2) Expand your church's ministry to areas where, unlike America, there ARE no churches.  Invest in church planting and missionaries where there is a church every hundred miles or so.  India, Pakistan, North Korea- the list goes on.  Take the resources that you would have placed here in America, which is already over-saturated with churches, and send them out to the countries of the world where the vast majority of non-Christian people are.  

Yes.  I have a feeling that God would have us use our resources in places where the vast amount of non-Christian people are.  That isn't the United States.  94% of the world's population lives outside our borders.  If we start thinking with a Kingdom mindset, shouldn't 94% of our resources go outside of America?  

Would God allocate 90% of His resources to a country where people can't walk without tripping over a church?  That's what most churches do- most churches are doing well if they send 10% of their income to missions, let alone missions overseas.  To spend 90% of resources to reach already-reached people is not a good Kingdom strategy.

Are there needs here?  Yes.  Remember my disclaimer above.

I am close to saying that America, as a pond, is all fished out.  We have 400,000 churches here in America, so, in a manner of speaking, we have one pond with 400,000 fishermen on the shore.  The fish are either already caught or just aren't taking the bait.

However, there are over 150 other ponds with huge numbers of fish that have only one or two fishermen on the shores.  They are reeling in catches right and left.  You would think that some of those 400,000 fishermen would go over where the pond isn't fished out.  Yet, most of what I see is that instead of going to other ponds, the fishermen are staying at the one pond and developing newer, hipper techniques, spending millions of dollars on new equipment, trying new strategies, etc to catch a few more.  The ones who can't afford all the glitz and glam, instead of going to the ponds that aren't fished out, either get jealous or simply quit.  I guess going to another pond to fish would just be too hard.

What if churches started seriously thinking about fishing in other ponds and, instead of posting attendance and offering records, posted how many church plants, missionaries, and ministries they started in other countries?

What if churches began measuring success by the amount of influence they have all over the world instead of just in one building?

What if Christians, when people ask how big their church is, answered, "We're in about twenty different countries?"

What would it look like if a church of 200 people, instead of concentrating on "growing" (95% of church growth in America is simply people who are already Christians leaving one church and going to another, honestly, so most of what is considered "growth" isn't growth at all) instead put it as their focus to have worldwide influence in countries where churches, if there at all, are extremely few and far between?

Maybe it's time to re-think what we see as success in the church.

If we start to think of America as a pond with over 400,000 fishermen around it, with the fish already caught or just not taking the bait, while at the same time thinking of the other countries of the world as huge, gigantic ponds full of fish with barely a fisherman to be seen anywhere, I think we would begin to see God's world as He sees it.

Is there ministry that needs to be done here?  Absolutely.  But we have enough churches.  We need the Christians in those churches to be faithful in making disciples, reaching their neighbors and doing ministry in their communities. That doesn't cost anything and requires no new buildings or ministries.

We need buildings and ministries in areas where there are no buildings and ministries.  That ain't America.

Begin praying today for God to open doors to His mission field, where He so accurately observed, "The fields are ripe for harvest!  The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."