Series. Guess the blood boiling, doesn't it?
The story of Los Gatos Christian Church is a remarkable story to me.
This church has been a major influence in Silicon Valley and actually in Northern California
as a whole. I enjoy hearing the stories from some of you and seeing the light on your faces
as you tell me the stories about the ministry of this church in your lives and in our community
in past days. They were good days and they continue to be good days in so very many respects.
It is good for us to remember that we stand upon the shoulders of people who have gone
before us. Without their faithful investment of life and resources and talents, we would
not be here today. We build upon the foundation that has been laid in other generations preceding
ours. We need to consider what we are leaving to the generations that follow us. That's
an important thing for us to think about today as we ponder the state of the church in this
brief series of messages. Benjamin Franklin said, in this world nothing is certain but
death and taxes. And of course we've all reflected on that many times. Death and taxes are too
of the inevitable of life. And so is something else we will deal with today. Change. Nothing
remains the same. Life experiences seem to always be leading us from one season to another,
one change to another. And that's the way life is under the sun. Solomon described it
in these words in the book of Ecclesiastes in the third chapter. There's a time for
everything and a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time
to die. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time
to tear down and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn
and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. A time to embrace
and a time to refrain. A time to search and a time to give up. A time to keep and a time
to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. What does the
worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything
beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom
what God has done from the beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men
than to be happy and to do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink and
find satisfaction in his toil. This is the gift of God. I know that everything God does
will endure forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does
it so that men will revere him. What Solomon observed is what we are talking about today,
and that is that change is inevitable. Change is not necessarily an enemy, although some
of us perceive change that way. In fact, change can be a friend. Any change at any time for
any reason is to be deplored, said the Duke of Cambridge. There are some people who feel
that way. Any change at any time in any way is to be deplored. But that is not reality.
Reality is that change is inevitable. Change either works for you or it works against you,
depending upon the choices that you make. We can take advantage of change or we can resist
it and fight it. The one thing we cannot do is to stop it. Change is a reality.
Los Gatos Christian Church has experienced the reality of changes. As I think about the
state of the church, I want to explore with you today from that theme, to explore with
you in a couple of different directions. First, I want us to think about changes in
the patterns of Los Gatos Christian Church. Now, what I am going to talk about is not
at all unique to us, but it is true of us. It is a definite reality in our church. I
would like for us to think first of all about the change in attitudes about the church itself.
There is a question that is common today, especially in this generation. It is, why
should I join the church? Now, a generation ago, that was not a question. That was a
given that you would join a church or perhaps some other organization to show that you were
a part of it. But today, this question is in the minds of this generation. It is a change.
There is a dropping out of church on the part of some today, even some Christians. There
is a dropping out of church, despite, however, a growing interest in our culture, in spirituality.
I am using spirituality there in the broadest sense, that people are interested in spiritual
things, but at the same time, there is a turning away from the institutional church. Why should
I join? We have a good number of people who are here this morning, who regularly attend
the Los Gatos Christian Church, but who have never joined. Some have served for decades,
but have never crossed that threshold of membership into the church. And when you ask why, the
answer is very, inevitably they are personal. There are some who do not join because of
baptism. Perhaps they were sprinkled when they were in another church, and they don't
want to deny that sprinkling, and this church requires immersion. Or there are others who
say, I don't see the necessity of baptism at all. Then there are those who see no value
in church membership. Why do it? What is the big deal about membership? I have written
a little article about that, that we have available if you would like to see it. Let
me know. I think there are a number of excellent reasons why membership is very important.
One of them is that it provides spiritual protection for your life and for your family.
You say, what do you mean? What I'm saying is that when you submit to the authority of
a local church, there is an umbrella of God's protection that comes over you that is not
there if you are not a part of a local church. I don't have time to explore that with you,
but that is a reality that I believe exists in Scripture. There are others who say, well,
I just have never gotten around to it. I have procrastinated. But you see, it all comes
back to this question, why should I join? That's a change. It's a real change, and it
affects us. There's a second question that you hear perhaps even more commonly today.
Who needs the church? Who needs the church? In the book Habits of the Heart, the authors
talk about a young woman whose name is Sheila. She is an example of the way people are thinking
today. At least four out of five Americans would identify with the kind of thing that
she says, quote, I believe in God, but I'm not a religious fanatic. I can't remember
the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. It's
just my one little voice. What these sociologists are pointing out to us in this glimpse into
Sheila is that we live in a culture of individualism. Good old American individualism is really
hot these days. What has characterized America from the beginning is now at its apex, and
it's not just in the church. In a book entitled Bowling Alone, another sociologist by the
name of Robert Putnam found in some research that there are more people today than ever
who have taken up bowling. But at the same time, bowling leagues are rapidly dying. Interesting,
isn't it? One pastor in Kentucky was talking about this theme of who needs the church,
and he honestly confessed it doesn't help that I occasionally feel that way myself.
He says, in fact, when I told my staff my title for this sermon, they told me that they
had been asking themselves the same question. Who needs the church? Would you say that with
me? Who needs the church? He says, well, we all feel that way sometimes. I mean, what
do you say when you walk out of a two and a half hour church committee meeting, unsure
of whether you got anything accomplished, and whether it made any difference whether
or not you were there? Say it out loud. Who needs the church? What do you think when you
read a story in the newspaper about a denomination fighting over who is in and who is out of their
most favorite ranks? Exactly. What do you feel when one of your own fellow church members
says something that offends you or hurts you? Sure. What comes to mind when you work hard
to prepare a devotional or a meal or a program and then only three people show up? And none
of them even say thank you? Well, of course. What's your response when the preacher talks
for the hundredth time and even longer than usual about God's demand for some social justice?
And you've heard all of this before. Absolutely. What occurs to you at nine o'clock on a beautiful
Sunday morning when you're sitting in your favorite chair reading the paper, enjoying
a cup of coffee, and that crispy cream donut? Oh, yeah. You see, there it is. Who needs
the church? You see, we live in a day when it's sort of a do-it-yourself church. You
do it yourself. And there is on the move, and I mean it is a powerful wave sweeping
through the church, including the evangelical church, a disillusionment with the program-centered,
traditional, institutional church, a phrase that pretty well describes us. There is a
change of attitude, and that attitude is here in us. There's also a change in the participation
in the life of a church. As we think about change in patterns, here's another change.
Not only the attitudes about church, but participation in the life of a church, our church. There
are 990 people, members and non-members, who are on the active role of our church. We are
rarely ever all here, the exception perhaps being Easter Sunday morning. And few of us,
fewer of us, I should say, all the time are inclined to attend faithfully. Now by faithfully,
what do I mean by that? And I acknowledge my bias every week. Thank you.
Now let's just take ourselves back to our marriage ceremonies for a moment. The pledges
that we make. And do you pledge to keep only unto her till death do you part? Or did it
say, keep only unto her most of the time? Which is faithful. The average Sunday morning
attendance here at Los Gatos Christian Church is down about 80 from just four years ago.
The average attendance in our second hour, at 10.45, is about the same right now for
adults, students and children as four years ago. And I'm glad to say with, as you can
see on the chart, an upward trend more recently in this chart that goes back to 2002, the
first quarter. The graph goes up and down, as you can see. But the big picture is unmistakable,
especially if you were to extend this graph back 10 more years or 20 years. Los Gatos
Christian Church is not growing in numbers. We're actually in decline in numbers. Now
I recognize that numbers don't tell the whole story. Believe me, I know that. I believe
the church health is what is at the core of the issue. But when a church is healthy, it
will have growth. Of course, there are lots of reasons that we could point to for these
kinds of trends. I was talking to some folks this morning from over near Sacramento. I
think we could probably form a Los Gatos Christian Church Sacramento area and collect a thousand
people who might be willing to come because they used to be a part of this congregation.
Tons of people have moved out of our area, out of our church. People have lost their
jobs in the recent crunch here in the valley. We've lost people because of that. And new
people have come in. And we thank God for that. And that is growth when new people come
in. But you see, the trend overall is still downward. People say, well, I participate
when it's convenient. If I feel like it, I come to church. But you see, my kids have
sports and Sunday is the only time I can get my kids involved in this sport. Well, we were
up so late last night. You see, those are the common kinds of things we hear. They're
present in our church. This is the change. We could talk about going to bed earlier on
Saturday night. We could talk about what you are teaching your kids when you put them
in a sport on Sunday and ignore and neglect the work of God and what that's going to do
in their lives and to the next generation of leadership in the church. We could talk
about convenience, where the focus is on ourselves and what's best for us rather than what's
best for others and certainly for God. Someone says, well, I go most of the time, one or
two Sundays a month, hey, that's pretty good. But you know, that kind of irregularity is
not acceptable at your workplace. I go in most of the time. Why are they unhappy with
me? But somehow when it comes to our commitment to God's work, it's different. Why? Why? And
do we stop to think about the effect that that kind of irregularity has upon others
who are serving in ministry and how it demoralizes them?
We need to come back to what the writer of Hebrews says. Let us not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Now, that occurred, that was written rather,
only 35 to 40 years after Jesus went back to heaven. So what does that say? It means
that even in the first generation of the church, there was this tendency on the part of believers
to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Now, the fact that it's been around for 2,000
years doesn't mean that it's therefore okay. The command of God's word is still that we
should not forsake that assembling. But there's been a change in the participation in the
life of this church. There's also been a change in our demographic reality. We are an aging
congregation. Now, in one sense, that's a given, isn't it? We're all a day older than
we were yesterday. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the average
and the median age in our congregation. We have the date of birth information on 612
adults out of 756 who are in our record keeping system. Some of you don't want to tell us
your date of birth. That's all right. That's okay. We'll just guess it. Okay, so we have
612 adults who've told us how old they are. 56% are older than 50. 13% are older than
70. And I say God bless you. Yeah. But 8%, 8% are between 18 and 30. 8%, 8, not 80, 8%.
The average and the median ages in our church are both just about 53. The average as well
as the median, meaning that we have as many people above that age as below that age. And
people who study churches say that a healthy church is about 15 years younger than that.
Now that's reality. That's hard to hear. But that's reality. The reality of changes in
our pattern suggests that we have a rather short future unless we face the attitudes
and the practices that are forming our present and we repent of those. And this is a matter
for each one of us and each family to deal with, to make a change for the good in the
way that we look at church, the way we think about church, the way we invite people to
church, to make that kind of change. Otherwise, the prognosis is grave for our future. The
change that we need is a reversal of the trends that I've just talked about. But I need to
go on this morning because I not only want to talk about the changes that we see in the
things I've talked about, but I want to talk about the changes in our LGC campus, our campus.
The congregation's attitude about God is somewhat reflected in its facilities, the facilities
that it chooses to construct and maintain and meet in for the worship and the service
of God. For 40 years, our church met at a building on West Main Street, way back yonder.
Then in 1956, it moved to a campus on Dave's Avenue. But due to rapid growth in those years
following, this campus was purchased from Western Microwave in 1973. On our first Sunday, in
September of that year, there were 1,900 people present in the worship service of Los Gatos
Christian Church. The campus was described in those days by some information I saw as
quote, practical and beautiful. The addition of the worship center in 1977 coincided also
with the start of Los Gatos Christian School, a wonderful ministry that we have which shares
our facilities with its 450 students right now. The result of this is that time and tons
of use have taken a toll on our facility and our campus. Now, the location that we have,
to me, being from the flatlands of the Midwest, is stunningly picturesque. Whenever I drive
onto this campus and I look at where it is situated, I absolutely marvel and I say, God,
thank you for bringing me here and letting me share in the life of this great church.
Then I get out of the car and I come into the building. I say that with a little tongue
in cheek. I would have to say this with you, though, that our facilities really are no
longer either practical or beautiful. The utility costs in our building are extremely
high. The heating and cooling systems that we have are very inefficient. At a time when
we need space for adult groups from 35 to 70 in multiple rooms at the same time, many
of our rooms will not comfortably accommodate more than 30, even when they're situated
with chairs in a row like a classroom. And one of the realities that we have, and in
many ways happily have, is that we share space with our school. And so our rooms have desks
and storage closets that take up space for adults on Sunday. That's a reality. The appearance
of the interior of our building shows wear and tear and general deterioration. Do you
see that? You know how it is? It's your house. There's a little dust here or the little mess
over there or that God-forsaken garage where you've stored everything. And after a while,
walking by it, you don't see it anymore. It doesn't look too bad to you until you have
guests over and you open the garage door. And you say, oh my lens, what have I got here?
Or you bring them in the house and suddenly you see the sun on that desk and somebody's
taking their finger kindly and put it across it. And you say, oh, oh. We can get so used
to things that we don't see them anymore. I actually thought about taking some pictures
today and showing them here to you. And then I remembered that I don't enjoy seeing the
reality of the changes in my own body. I like to think of myself as I used to be. Aren't
you that way too? And so it's rather impolite to bring me pictures of myself and I say,
who is that person? And so I thought if I bring pictures of our facility here this morning,
it could be offensive. And I don't want to offend you in anything that I'm saying. I'm
simply trying to help us face reality. We have scarred doors. Walk up the ramp and take
a look at those metal doors, which are the doors that welcome our guests on Sunday as
they come from that side of our building. Look at the industrial ceilings in our classrooms
at much of the overgrown landscaping that we have. The very visible delivery area of
our church as people drive into our upper parking lot. The tables and chairs that we
set out for meetings, which are disgraceful in some respects. Tables with chunks knocked
out of them. Metal chairs with the little rubber dealies on the bottom that are gone.
And so somebody sits on the wobble and they squeak and they're uncomfortable. The orange
carpeting that exists here and there even yet from 30 years ago. Our kitchen equipment,
which is well out of code and well past its prime. Not to mention the accumulated junk
that exists here and there in our building. I just want you to know if you see junk, you
are hereby authorized to throw it out. I want you to know that. You do not have to accumulate.
You don't have to put broken rulers back in the kids resource room because you're afraid
somebody be upset if you throw them out. If they are, send them to me. You don't have
to keep pencils that are now down to two inches long with no erasers and dull and think I
dare not throw these out. These are the Lord's pencils. I want you to know the Lord can afford
better pencils than that. There is so much junk. We have thrown out so much of it and
yet it still exists. We have rooms right up here that were used in the television ministry
that ceased over 10 years ago that are still filled with obsolete television equipment.
Just like a museum to the past or something. Let me say this. We have accomplished some
very serious renovation. The Fellowship Hall is a marvelous testimony of what can be done.
The painting of the Redwood Halls, the creation of skylights there, the new carpet on many
of our floors, the new bathrooms in the Orange Hall. Do I hear applause there from some of
you? Yes, thank you. The new bathroom in the Red Level, the new classrooms in the old
nursery area, the new walls and the renovation on the Red Level classes which are now dedicated
rooms actually to our preschool and nursery church ministry. Our upgraded sound system
here. The gift that we have received of new parking lot surfacing and new sidewalks. There
are wonderful things that are happening here. Sometimes it feels like beautiful islands
in the midst of a sea of despair. But nonetheless, I thank God for the islands. And I want to
say thank you to our facilities staff and to those of you who volunteer here who are
doing the very best you can with the limited resources that we have. The exterior of our
building though says that this church is yesterday. That's what it says. The wood trellis is outdated.
Only that it's rotten. In areas our church needs new painting and needs a new look. This
worship center is dark by contemporary standards and sterile. Newcomers coming into our campus
cannot tell where the entrance to this place is. They don't know. There's not an obvious
welcoming entrance. And our campus is fairly unfriendly to handicapped people. They say
what difference does all of this make? We're used to it. That's not the point. That's not
the point. We've grown, we have a way of growing accustomed to these kinds of things but new
families do not. And people who visit our campus often make their first judgment based
upon the appearance and the cleanliness of our campus. And they see it. They see it.
They especially see it in our kids' area. And that's why we have concentrated so hard
to create a kids' area that is just state of the art as best we can do it. Now there
are other things that make a difference too like the friendliness of the congregation.
And I can't tell you how many times people say to me, this is such a friendly church.
That's a change too in the right direction, right? And because you've worked at that.
You've worked at that. We have greeters. We have ushers. We have students who are greeting.
And we have people who are out there greeting others making this a friendly place. And those
of you who are not official still help by your attitudes. But with declining attendance
and an aging congregation, we have to ask, how long can we justify a facility of this
size? How long can we afford a facility of this size? We have to be good stewards of
what God has given to us. I thank God for the size of it, for the marvelous opportunities
that it presents to us. But we must be good stewards of this campus and this facility.
So what does the community conclude about our attitude toward God? Well, the answer
in that relates obviously more than to our facilities. But that's often where their
conclusion begins. I love the spirit of David, don't you, in 1 Samuel chapter 7 and verse
8 when he says, I dwell in a house of cedar, but our God dwells in a tent. And I wonder
if we are content to live in our fine houses that are well furnished and to let God's
building here where His work is done just simply, slowly deteriorate. We can't do that.
We cannot do that. I know one church here in the area that has gotten to that point
and they're looking to sell their property. They have ten acres of prime property in San
Jose. They've been offered between thirty and forty-five million dollars for ten acres.
I'm told we have twenty-eight acres here. How many million would that be worth? But
the tragedy is that ten acres will never, if it's sold, it's not done yet, if it's sold,
it will never be available to the kingdom of God again. Nor will this twenty-eight acres
if we lose it. Now we have very little debt on our property. Thank God for that. That's
a wonderful thing. But the fact is that we have work to be done. In addition to the improvements
that we've already accomplished, right now we have a team of people, a building renovation
committee is what we call them, who are hard at work to lead us in addressing our current
facility issues. We have already, because of the work of another team, a campus master
plan that our leadership has adopted. And later this year we expect by God's help to
raise necessary funds to begin in earnest the work of renovation and construction and
the stewardship of this campus and this facility. We cannot allow this campus to deteriorate
any further. We cannot allow it to be lost to the work of God's kingdom in this valley.
They can keep their tens of millions of dollars. This belongs to the Lord. And we're going
to be the stewards of what God has given to us. Now change is inevitable in our world.
It's welcomed by some, it is resisted and unpleasant to others. But change is inevitable.
I would say this to you, beware, because if you ignore the realities of change in your
world it will devastate you. Change will run over you. That's true of you in your workplace,
it's true of you in the school that you go to, it is true of your family situation and
it's true of your church. If we ignore realities we will be run over. How can we face change
positively by making certain choices? I'm just going to run through these very quickly.
Number one, acknowledge it. Acknowledge change. It's true, it's real. It's hard to face,
it's real. Secondly, understand it. Third, pray about it. Fourth, develop a response.
Think outside the box. Number five, implement the plan. And then number six, I hate to tell
you, be prepared for even more change. Because that's the way life is under the sun. But
with God's help we can take charge of the change instead of being run over by it. And
we can influence the realities that we face in the future. And that's true of your life
today. Some of you are facing tremendous change, but God can give you victory in the midst
of that change. Follow the steps we've just talked about. Face the change and let it work
for your good, just as we by God's grace expect to do here at Los Gatos Christian Church.
We're all the church and we all need to face the inevitable. Let's pray. Father, I give
thanks to you for the opportunity to talk about this this morning. And as difficult
as it is for us to think about and to face and to hear, I pray that you will help us
to see. And I pray, Father, that if there are some who are offended or feel badly because
of some of the things I've talked about, that you will comfort them. But I pray that
as a church, as a congregation, you will give us grace to be able to deal with change in
a way that will accomplish your will for us, for this ministry and this wonderful facility
you've given us. In Jesus' name, amen. The Oscars are going to come now with the elements
of communion.