The American Church in Crisis

The American Church in Crisis
by David T. Olson (Zondervan, 2008) 237 pages
ISBN: 0310277132, ISBN-13: 9780310277132
(available for $14.95 if ordered online, includes shipping -- $11.95 each for 5 or more copies)

The American Church in Crisis should be on the "must read" list of every Christian leader in the Western world. (I've ordered a copy for our pastor.) Yes, the immediate crisis, as shown by Dave Olson's research, is that the American population is growing faster than the church is growing. However, the astute German, Canadian, Brit, or Australian will quickly see the parallels in their own context.

Actually this is four short books in one. The first "book" analyzes the growth patterns of the American church (based on attendance figures -- not membership figures). Olson breaks the information down by regional, denominational (including mainline, Roman Catholic, and evangelical groupings), and sociological factors -- and he does so in a way that even people who don't deal well with statistics will get it. There are lots of readable charts and he doesn't overload the reader with minutia.

The second part of the book highlights the factors that lead established churches to continue to thrive (age is not necessarily terminal -- although the obstacles to growth increase with age). But he also makes a very persuasive case that when you crunch the numbers the only chance for the American church to have a major impact is to plant a lot of new congregations.

Unfortunately, the 3,700 churches that close per year reduce the impact of the 4,000 new churches that start, leaving a net yearly gain of 300 churches in the United States. A net gain of 3,205 churches is needed each year for the American church to keep up with population growth... This means that an additional 2,900 new churches need to be started each year in the United States to match population growth. Since the closure rate is quite consistent year after year, the only solution to this challenge is to plant more churches. (p. 146)

In the third section Olson deals with the cultural shift that occurred at the turn of the millennium. The trend isn't totally new but we've reached a tipping point and the approach to mission and ministry which worked in the 1980s and 1990s isn't going to work (or in many situations, already isn't working) in a post-Christian postmodern era. Olson explains:

In the post-Christian world, pastors, churches, and Christians need to operate more as the early church did. In the post-Christian world, the needs of outsiders become more important. Ministry is more like missionary work, with a renewed emphasis on the message and mission of Jesus. The role of pastors is to lead the church in its mission and equip members to understand and live out the message and mission of Jesus outside of the church. In the post-Christian world, only the healthy, missional church will prosper. This is not an issue of a traditional or contemporary style of ministry. That perspective is a dated dichotomy from the 1980s and 1990s that no longer is meaningful. Instead, churches must develop a mission mind-set, going out into the world to meet people's needs. (p. 163)

Olson devotes the fourth section to explaining the essence of the gospel message that we need to take out into the world. He draws heavily on the categories developed by N.T. Wright to persuade us that we need a more holistic and developed gospel if we're going to be faithful to the mission of Jesus which has been entrusted to us.

This is a book which will provide great fodder for every "evangelism committee" and since every group in the church is in some way about evangelism and mission it doesn't have to be limited to the "official" committee. Each chapter has a set of four simple discussion questions. There are additional online resources at theamericanchurch.org.

Have you gotten the sense that I think this is an important book?