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Series. Guess the blood boiling, doesn't it?

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The story of Los Gatos Christian Church is a remarkable story to me.

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This church has been a major influence in Silicon Valley and actually in Northern California

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as a whole. I enjoy hearing the stories from some of you and seeing the light on your faces

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as you tell me the stories about the ministry of this church in your lives and in our community

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in past days. They were good days and they continue to be good days in so very many respects.

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It is good for us to remember that we stand upon the shoulders of people who have gone

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before us. Without their faithful investment of life and resources and talents, we would

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not be here today. We build upon the foundation that has been laid in other generations preceding

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ours. We need to consider what we are leaving to the generations that follow us. That's

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an important thing for us to think about today as we ponder the state of the church in this

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brief series of messages. Benjamin Franklin said, in this world nothing is certain but

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death and taxes. And of course we've all reflected on that many times. Death and taxes are too

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of the inevitable of life. And so is something else we will deal with today. Change. Nothing

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remains the same. Life experiences seem to always be leading us from one season to another,

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one change to another. And that's the way life is under the sun. Solomon described it

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in these words in the book of Ecclesiastes in the third chapter. There's a time for

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everything and a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time

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to die. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time

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to tear down and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn

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and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. A time to embrace

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and a time to refrain. A time to search and a time to give up. A time to keep and a time

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to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be silent and a time to speak.

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A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. What does the

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worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything

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beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom

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what God has done from the beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men

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than to be happy and to do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink and

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find satisfaction in his toil. This is the gift of God. I know that everything God does

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will endure forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does

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it so that men will revere him. What Solomon observed is what we are talking about today,

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and that is that change is inevitable. Change is not necessarily an enemy, although some

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of us perceive change that way. In fact, change can be a friend. Any change at any time for

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any reason is to be deplored, said the Duke of Cambridge. There are some people who feel

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that way. Any change at any time in any way is to be deplored. But that is not reality.

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Reality is that change is inevitable. Change either works for you or it works against you,

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depending upon the choices that you make. We can take advantage of change or we can resist

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it and fight it. The one thing we cannot do is to stop it. Change is a reality.

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Los Gatos Christian Church has experienced the reality of changes. As I think about the

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state of the church, I want to explore with you today from that theme, to explore with

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you in a couple of different directions. First, I want us to think about changes in

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the patterns of Los Gatos Christian Church. Now, what I am going to talk about is not

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at all unique to us, but it is true of us. It is a definite reality in our church. I

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would like for us to think first of all about the change in attitudes about the church itself.

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There is a question that is common today, especially in this generation. It is, why

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should I join the church? Now, a generation ago, that was not a question. That was a

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given that you would join a church or perhaps some other organization to show that you were

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a part of it. But today, this question is in the minds of this generation. It is a change.

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There is a dropping out of church on the part of some today, even some Christians. There

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is a dropping out of church, despite, however, a growing interest in our culture, in spirituality.

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I am using spirituality there in the broadest sense, that people are interested in spiritual

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things, but at the same time, there is a turning away from the institutional church. Why should

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I join? We have a good number of people who are here this morning, who regularly attend

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the Los Gatos Christian Church, but who have never joined. Some have served for decades,

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but have never crossed that threshold of membership into the church. And when you ask why, the

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answer is very, inevitably they are personal. There are some who do not join because of

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baptism. Perhaps they were sprinkled when they were in another church, and they don't

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want to deny that sprinkling, and this church requires immersion. Or there are others who

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say, I don't see the necessity of baptism at all. Then there are those who see no value

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in church membership. Why do it? What is the big deal about membership? I have written

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a little article about that, that we have available if you would like to see it. Let

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me know. I think there are a number of excellent reasons why membership is very important.

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One of them is that it provides spiritual protection for your life and for your family.

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You say, what do you mean? What I'm saying is that when you submit to the authority of

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a local church, there is an umbrella of God's protection that comes over you that is not

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there if you are not a part of a local church. I don't have time to explore that with you,

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but that is a reality that I believe exists in Scripture. There are others who say, well,

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I just have never gotten around to it. I have procrastinated. But you see, it all comes

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back to this question, why should I join? That's a change. It's a real change, and it

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affects us. There's a second question that you hear perhaps even more commonly today.

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Who needs the church? Who needs the church? In the book Habits of the Heart, the authors

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talk about a young woman whose name is Sheila. She is an example of the way people are thinking

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today. At least four out of five Americans would identify with the kind of thing that

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she says, quote, I believe in God, but I'm not a religious fanatic. I can't remember

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the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. It's

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just my one little voice. What these sociologists are pointing out to us in this glimpse into

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Sheila is that we live in a culture of individualism. Good old American individualism is really

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hot these days. What has characterized America from the beginning is now at its apex, and

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it's not just in the church. In a book entitled Bowling Alone, another sociologist by the

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name of Robert Putnam found in some research that there are more people today than ever

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who have taken up bowling. But at the same time, bowling leagues are rapidly dying. Interesting,

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isn't it? One pastor in Kentucky was talking about this theme of who needs the church,

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and he honestly confessed it doesn't help that I occasionally feel that way myself.

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He says, in fact, when I told my staff my title for this sermon, they told me that they

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had been asking themselves the same question. Who needs the church? Would you say that with

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me? Who needs the church? He says, well, we all feel that way sometimes. I mean, what

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do you say when you walk out of a two and a half hour church committee meeting, unsure

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of whether you got anything accomplished, and whether it made any difference whether

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or not you were there? Say it out loud. Who needs the church? What do you think when you

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read a story in the newspaper about a denomination fighting over who is in and who is out of their

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most favorite ranks? Exactly. What do you feel when one of your own fellow church members

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says something that offends you or hurts you? Sure. What comes to mind when you work hard

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to prepare a devotional or a meal or a program and then only three people show up? And none

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of them even say thank you? Well, of course. What's your response when the preacher talks

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for the hundredth time and even longer than usual about God's demand for some social justice?

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And you've heard all of this before. Absolutely. What occurs to you at nine o'clock on a beautiful

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Sunday morning when you're sitting in your favorite chair reading the paper, enjoying

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a cup of coffee, and that crispy cream donut? Oh, yeah. You see, there it is. Who needs

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the church? You see, we live in a day when it's sort of a do-it-yourself church. You

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do it yourself. And there is on the move, and I mean it is a powerful wave sweeping

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through the church, including the evangelical church, a disillusionment with the program-centered,

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traditional, institutional church, a phrase that pretty well describes us. There is a

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change of attitude, and that attitude is here in us. There's also a change in the participation

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in the life of a church. As we think about change in patterns, here's another change.

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Not only the attitudes about church, but participation in the life of a church, our church. There

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are 990 people, members and non-members, who are on the active role of our church. We are

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rarely ever all here, the exception perhaps being Easter Sunday morning. And few of us,

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fewer of us, I should say, all the time are inclined to attend faithfully. Now by faithfully,

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what do I mean by that? And I acknowledge my bias every week. Thank you.

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Now let's just take ourselves back to our marriage ceremonies for a moment. The pledges

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that we make. And do you pledge to keep only unto her till death do you part? Or did it

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say, keep only unto her most of the time? Which is faithful. The average Sunday morning

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attendance here at Los Gatos Christian Church is down about 80 from just four years ago.

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The average attendance in our second hour, at 10.45, is about the same right now for

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adults, students and children as four years ago. And I'm glad to say with, as you can

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see on the chart, an upward trend more recently in this chart that goes back to 2002, the

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first quarter. The graph goes up and down, as you can see. But the big picture is unmistakable,

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especially if you were to extend this graph back 10 more years or 20 years. Los Gatos

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Christian Church is not growing in numbers. We're actually in decline in numbers. Now

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I recognize that numbers don't tell the whole story. Believe me, I know that. I believe

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the church health is what is at the core of the issue. But when a church is healthy, it

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will have growth. Of course, there are lots of reasons that we could point to for these

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kinds of trends. I was talking to some folks this morning from over near Sacramento. I

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think we could probably form a Los Gatos Christian Church Sacramento area and collect a thousand

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people who might be willing to come because they used to be a part of this congregation.

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Tons of people have moved out of our area, out of our church. People have lost their

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jobs in the recent crunch here in the valley. We've lost people because of that. And new

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people have come in. And we thank God for that. And that is growth when new people come

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in. But you see, the trend overall is still downward. People say, well, I participate

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when it's convenient. If I feel like it, I come to church. But you see, my kids have

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sports and Sunday is the only time I can get my kids involved in this sport. Well, we were

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up so late last night. You see, those are the common kinds of things we hear. They're

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present in our church. This is the change. We could talk about going to bed earlier on

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Saturday night. We could talk about what you are teaching your kids when you put them

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in a sport on Sunday and ignore and neglect the work of God and what that's going to do

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in their lives and to the next generation of leadership in the church. We could talk

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about convenience, where the focus is on ourselves and what's best for us rather than what's

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best for others and certainly for God. Someone says, well, I go most of the time, one or

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two Sundays a month, hey, that's pretty good. But you know, that kind of irregularity is

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not acceptable at your workplace. I go in most of the time. Why are they unhappy with

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me? But somehow when it comes to our commitment to God's work, it's different. Why? Why? And

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do we stop to think about the effect that that kind of irregularity has upon others

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who are serving in ministry and how it demoralizes them?

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We need to come back to what the writer of Hebrews says. Let us not forsake the assembling

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of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Now, that occurred, that was written rather,

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only 35 to 40 years after Jesus went back to heaven. So what does that say? It means

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that even in the first generation of the church, there was this tendency on the part of believers

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to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Now, the fact that it's been around for 2,000

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years doesn't mean that it's therefore okay. The command of God's word is still that we

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should not forsake that assembling. But there's been a change in the participation in the

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life of this church. There's also been a change in our demographic reality. We are an aging

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congregation. Now, in one sense, that's a given, isn't it? We're all a day older than

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we were yesterday. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the average

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and the median age in our congregation. We have the date of birth information on 612

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adults out of 756 who are in our record keeping system. Some of you don't want to tell us

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your date of birth. That's all right. That's okay. We'll just guess it. Okay, so we have

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612 adults who've told us how old they are. 56% are older than 50. 13% are older than

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70. And I say God bless you. Yeah. But 8%, 8% are between 18 and 30. 8%, 8, not 80, 8%.

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The average and the median ages in our church are both just about 53. The average as well

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as the median, meaning that we have as many people above that age as below that age. And

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people who study churches say that a healthy church is about 15 years younger than that.

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Now that's reality. That's hard to hear. But that's reality. The reality of changes in

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our pattern suggests that we have a rather short future unless we face the attitudes

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and the practices that are forming our present and we repent of those. And this is a matter

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for each one of us and each family to deal with, to make a change for the good in the

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way that we look at church, the way we think about church, the way we invite people to

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church, to make that kind of change. Otherwise, the prognosis is grave for our future. The

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change that we need is a reversal of the trends that I've just talked about. But I need to

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go on this morning because I not only want to talk about the changes that we see in the

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things I've talked about, but I want to talk about the changes in our LGC campus, our campus.

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The congregation's attitude about God is somewhat reflected in its facilities, the facilities

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that it chooses to construct and maintain and meet in for the worship and the service

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of God. For 40 years, our church met at a building on West Main Street, way back yonder.

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Then in 1956, it moved to a campus on Dave's Avenue. But due to rapid growth in those years

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following, this campus was purchased from Western Microwave in 1973. On our first Sunday, in

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September of that year, there were 1,900 people present in the worship service of Los Gatos

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Christian Church. The campus was described in those days by some information I saw as

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quote, practical and beautiful. The addition of the worship center in 1977 coincided also

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with the start of Los Gatos Christian School, a wonderful ministry that we have which shares

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our facilities with its 450 students right now. The result of this is that time and tons

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of use have taken a toll on our facility and our campus. Now, the location that we have,

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to me, being from the flatlands of the Midwest, is stunningly picturesque. Whenever I drive

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onto this campus and I look at where it is situated, I absolutely marvel and I say, God,

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thank you for bringing me here and letting me share in the life of this great church.

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Then I get out of the car and I come into the building. I say that with a little tongue

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in cheek. I would have to say this with you, though, that our facilities really are no

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longer either practical or beautiful. The utility costs in our building are extremely

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high. The heating and cooling systems that we have are very inefficient. At a time when

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we need space for adult groups from 35 to 70 in multiple rooms at the same time, many

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of our rooms will not comfortably accommodate more than 30, even when they're situated

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with chairs in a row like a classroom. And one of the realities that we have, and in

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many ways happily have, is that we share space with our school. And so our rooms have desks

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and storage closets that take up space for adults on Sunday. That's a reality. The appearance

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of the interior of our building shows wear and tear and general deterioration. Do you

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see that? You know how it is? It's your house. There's a little dust here or the little mess

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over there or that God-forsaken garage where you've stored everything. And after a while,

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walking by it, you don't see it anymore. It doesn't look too bad to you until you have

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guests over and you open the garage door. And you say, oh my lens, what have I got here?

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Or you bring them in the house and suddenly you see the sun on that desk and somebody's

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taking their finger kindly and put it across it. And you say, oh, oh. We can get so used

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to things that we don't see them anymore. I actually thought about taking some pictures

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today and showing them here to you. And then I remembered that I don't enjoy seeing the

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reality of the changes in my own body. I like to think of myself as I used to be. Aren't

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you that way too? And so it's rather impolite to bring me pictures of myself and I say,

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who is that person? And so I thought if I bring pictures of our facility here this morning,

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it could be offensive. And I don't want to offend you in anything that I'm saying. I'm

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simply trying to help us face reality. We have scarred doors. Walk up the ramp and take

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a look at those metal doors, which are the doors that welcome our guests on Sunday as

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they come from that side of our building. Look at the industrial ceilings in our classrooms

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at much of the overgrown landscaping that we have. The very visible delivery area of

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our church as people drive into our upper parking lot. The tables and chairs that we

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set out for meetings, which are disgraceful in some respects. Tables with chunks knocked

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out of them. Metal chairs with the little rubber dealies on the bottom that are gone.

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And so somebody sits on the wobble and they squeak and they're uncomfortable. The orange

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carpeting that exists here and there even yet from 30 years ago. Our kitchen equipment,

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which is well out of code and well past its prime. Not to mention the accumulated junk

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that exists here and there in our building. I just want you to know if you see junk, you

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are hereby authorized to throw it out. I want you to know that. You do not have to accumulate.

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You don't have to put broken rulers back in the kids resource room because you're afraid

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somebody be upset if you throw them out. If they are, send them to me. You don't have

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to keep pencils that are now down to two inches long with no erasers and dull and think I

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dare not throw these out. These are the Lord's pencils. I want you to know the Lord can afford

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better pencils than that. There is so much junk. We have thrown out so much of it and

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yet it still exists. We have rooms right up here that were used in the television ministry

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that ceased over 10 years ago that are still filled with obsolete television equipment.

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Just like a museum to the past or something. Let me say this. We have accomplished some

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very serious renovation. The Fellowship Hall is a marvelous testimony of what can be done.

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The painting of the Redwood Halls, the creation of skylights there, the new carpet on many

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of our floors, the new bathrooms in the Orange Hall. Do I hear applause there from some of

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you? Yes, thank you. The new bathroom in the Red Level, the new classrooms in the old

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nursery area, the new walls and the renovation on the Red Level classes which are now dedicated

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rooms actually to our preschool and nursery church ministry. Our upgraded sound system

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here. The gift that we have received of new parking lot surfacing and new sidewalks. There

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are wonderful things that are happening here. Sometimes it feels like beautiful islands

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in the midst of a sea of despair. But nonetheless, I thank God for the islands. And I want to

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say thank you to our facilities staff and to those of you who volunteer here who are

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doing the very best you can with the limited resources that we have. The exterior of our

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building though says that this church is yesterday. That's what it says. The wood trellis is outdated.

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Only that it's rotten. In areas our church needs new painting and needs a new look. This

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worship center is dark by contemporary standards and sterile. Newcomers coming into our campus

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cannot tell where the entrance to this place is. They don't know. There's not an obvious

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welcoming entrance. And our campus is fairly unfriendly to handicapped people. They say

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what difference does all of this make? We're used to it. That's not the point. That's not

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the point. We've grown, we have a way of growing accustomed to these kinds of things but new

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families do not. And people who visit our campus often make their first judgment based

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upon the appearance and the cleanliness of our campus. And they see it. They see it.

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They especially see it in our kids' area. And that's why we have concentrated so hard

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to create a kids' area that is just state of the art as best we can do it. Now there

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are other things that make a difference too like the friendliness of the congregation.

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And I can't tell you how many times people say to me, this is such a friendly church.

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That's a change too in the right direction, right? And because you've worked at that.

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You've worked at that. We have greeters. We have ushers. We have students who are greeting.

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And we have people who are out there greeting others making this a friendly place. And those

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of you who are not official still help by your attitudes. But with declining attendance

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and an aging congregation, we have to ask, how long can we justify a facility of this

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size? How long can we afford a facility of this size? We have to be good stewards of

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what God has given to us. I thank God for the size of it, for the marvelous opportunities

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that it presents to us. But we must be good stewards of this campus and this facility.

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So what does the community conclude about our attitude toward God? Well, the answer

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in that relates obviously more than to our facilities. But that's often where their

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conclusion begins. I love the spirit of David, don't you, in 1 Samuel chapter 7 and verse

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8 when he says, I dwell in a house of cedar, but our God dwells in a tent. And I wonder

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if we are content to live in our fine houses that are well furnished and to let God's

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building here where His work is done just simply, slowly deteriorate. We can't do that.

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We cannot do that. I know one church here in the area that has gotten to that point

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and they're looking to sell their property. They have ten acres of prime property in San

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Jose. They've been offered between thirty and forty-five million dollars for ten acres.

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I'm told we have twenty-eight acres here. How many million would that be worth? But

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the tragedy is that ten acres will never, if it's sold, it's not done yet, if it's sold,

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it will never be available to the kingdom of God again. Nor will this twenty-eight acres

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if we lose it. Now we have very little debt on our property. Thank God for that. That's

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a wonderful thing. But the fact is that we have work to be done. In addition to the improvements

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that we've already accomplished, right now we have a team of people, a building renovation

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committee is what we call them, who are hard at work to lead us in addressing our current

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facility issues. We have already, because of the work of another team, a campus master

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plan that our leadership has adopted. And later this year we expect by God's help to

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raise necessary funds to begin in earnest the work of renovation and construction and

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the stewardship of this campus and this facility. We cannot allow this campus to deteriorate

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any further. We cannot allow it to be lost to the work of God's kingdom in this valley.

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They can keep their tens of millions of dollars. This belongs to the Lord. And we're going

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to be the stewards of what God has given to us. Now change is inevitable in our world.

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It's welcomed by some, it is resisted and unpleasant to others. But change is inevitable.

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I would say this to you, beware, because if you ignore the realities of change in your

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world it will devastate you. Change will run over you. That's true of you in your workplace,

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it's true of you in the school that you go to, it is true of your family situation and

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it's true of your church. If we ignore realities we will be run over. How can we face change

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positively by making certain choices? I'm just going to run through these very quickly.

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Number one, acknowledge it. Acknowledge change. It's true, it's real. It's hard to face,

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it's real. Secondly, understand it. Third, pray about it. Fourth, develop a response.

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Think outside the box. Number five, implement the plan. And then number six, I hate to tell

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you, be prepared for even more change. Because that's the way life is under the sun. But

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with God's help we can take charge of the change instead of being run over by it. And

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we can influence the realities that we face in the future. And that's true of your life

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today. Some of you are facing tremendous change, but God can give you victory in the midst

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of that change. Follow the steps we've just talked about. Face the change and let it work

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for your good, just as we by God's grace expect to do here at Los Gatos Christian Church.

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We're all the church and we all need to face the inevitable. Let's pray. Father, I give

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thanks to you for the opportunity to talk about this this morning. And as difficult

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as it is for us to think about and to face and to hear, I pray that you will help us

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to see. And I pray, Father, that if there are some who are offended or feel badly because

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of some of the things I've talked about, that you will comfort them. But I pray that

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as a church, as a congregation, you will give us grace to be able to deal with change in

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a way that will accomplish your will for us, for this ministry and this wonderful facility

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you've given us. In Jesus' name, amen. The Oscars are going to come now with the elements

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of communion.