Somewhere it happened. Maybe it was a community paradigm shift. Maybe it was a growing lack of zeal by the church as a whole. Maybe it was too much competition between secular and sacred choices. But it's happened...the death of extra-curricular church.
What do I mean by this? For the purposes of this discussion, let's define "extra-curricular church" as any activity or ministry outside of the primary worship service(s) or Bible study time. As I was growing up, the church was not just a place for Sunday worship and possibly one other gathering (Sunday night or Wednesday night), it was a hub of family activity. The church was not just a Sunday or Wednesday place....it was a Monday place, a Tuesday place, an all week place. This is not to say that every waking hour was or should have been spent there. But there was whole-family participation in meaningful pursuits beyond a primary worship service and a Bible Study. There were weekly prospect & evangelistic visitations, Christian sports leagues, faith-based support groups, specialized music ensembles, and all seemed to be well-attended and successful. In many cases the church stepped in to fill gaps the school and community were not filling.
It seems though, in the last 20 years school and community sports, and other pay to play activities like dance, martial arts, private music lessons, etc. has exploded in growth. It's a good thing to see community growth and connections, as they lead to witnessing opportunities in wider venues. But, the church has seemed to at best, provide lower-quality alternatives, and at worst have thrown up their hands in surrender. This has led to churches normally bustling with growth to go dark on nights other than Sunday or Wednesday. In some cases I've seen hints of anger from church workers almost with an "if you build it they should come" mentality, thinking any church event they put on should automatically and enthusiastically supported by all its members and the community. But sadly, these events are often planned with minimal effort and little sacrifice, and isn't prayerfully supported or well-organized. Given, church resources play into this, and some churches do not have the monetary or physical resources to do things in the way they want. But sometimes money is more of an excuse for what is really a lack or spiritual drive behind what could be something really special.
Before solutions can be offered, the first question to be explored is "should we even try to fix this?" Should the church cease to try to be an "all things to all people" sort of place? I am not sure that I know the best answer, but I have a few ideas that can maybe help us in this transitional time in the church's history.
Rediscover the Uniquness and Centrality of the Gospel
The first and most obvious question we should ask is what makes the church unique amidst the plethora of other community organizations and extra-curricular diversions we choose to support with our participation? The answer should be obvious: the gospel message and the centrality that the truth that Jesus Christ offers a hope that absolutely nothing can substitute for. Once this becomes central again, no financial problems or other lack or resources can derail the mission of Christ's church.
Assess and Purge
I have seen many churches I have been a part of get to a point where a traditional, maybe even historic ministry steeped in many years of success come against the brick wall of unexplainable attrition. Why would God no longer resource and equip a beloved ministry that has in the past experienced great success and produced much fruit? It is at these times we must pray for one of two things: for God to provide the resources (people of finances) for its continuation, or ask if it is in His will for the program to end. Has research been gathered within the church and community about the passion level for it to continue? Does the ministry fit the community context where God has placed the church? I firmly believe, and have personally experienced times of drought in the life of a program or ministry which I thought was the Lord's clear voice that the end was near, only to discover that the Lord had put us in a period of testing. After that time, the Lord again equipped, staffed, and rejuvenated it, to my surprise. Sometimes this lead to an almost Jonah-like bitterness for me, as happened when the Ninevites unexpectedly repented. So, don't be eager to throw programs into the fire too soon, but at the same time, don't be reluctant to discard, reinvent, or suspend that which is truly ineffective.
Simplify and Refocus
In the midst of the program reanalysis and purging, you may often find that the elimination of programs can sometimes free up resources that allow people to explore other gifts and passions, not to mention the obvious lightening of financial burdens. What many churches do then, is try to fill the void with creation of other programs that become just as, or more draining than the predecessors they replaced. Resist this temptation! Churches, like nature, tends to abhor a vacuum. Instead, good leadership from the pastoral staff and communication with leaders and influencers should lead to discussion of priorities and voids which need to be filled. In turn, this may lead to an actual reallocation of resources into other existing, but emerging areas of ministry. The end of one ministry doesn't automatically call for the creation of another. Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. In God's economy, I believe it's often better to do simple things well than complex things poorly. Likewise, it's better to do fewer ministries with excellence than many things watered down. The Lord will make clear what the new focus is in His time. Until then, pray, continue self-assessing, purge if necessary, and wait on the Lord.
So with these starting steps in mind, this brings us back to our original query about the death of the extra-curricular church. You could argue though, after implementing these steps, that the absence of activity caused by simplification and the purging of unsuccessful ministries could lead to the church further forfeiting its grasp of the extra-curricular, allowing other entities to sweep in and monopolize the time of families. There is potential for that in certain situations where programs and services are eliminated prematurely. However, the church has already lost that battle in the last decade for the most part anyway, and Christ-centric churches that are using their resources well are actually poised to succeed in this environment. Why? I believe that in the end, there is no secular equivalent to find true lifelong (and in fact eternal) significance and purpose. There is no athletic pursuit that can supersede the victory over death. There is no artistic endeavor that will ever be as beautiful as God's grace and forgiveness. Until the return of Christ, there will always be a human longing for the connection to something bigger than the shallow worldview today's society offers. This is one of the reasons I believe our generation is filling their schedules with the pursuits that provide this satisfaction. And they find it, in a temporary form, in this saturation of extra-curricular involvement. But, never truly fulfilled, they continue adding activity upon activity, jumping from venue to venue, and from diversion to diversion.
The church is partially to blame for this, though. In its failure to be Christ-centered, it no longer gave a compelling significant reason for families to be connected. In its poor stewardship of resources, it created programs that were not spiritually fulfilling, and also of poor quality. In its quest to be all things to all people, the church failed at being the one thing it really needed to be.
Can the church go back to being the hub of activity for the life of a family? I believe it can, but the damage done cannot be undone quickly. It will take bold and prayerful leadership, hard choices, good stewardship, and consistency. And once there, the church should remain vigilant in being all that is equipped by God Almighty to be, not be everything to everybody. And what is to become of the abandoned or sparsely attended weeknight church activities - are they gone forever? For many churches, they may need to be gone for a season, until the spiritual and stewardship foundations are back in the right places. Only then can they return, when the people yearn for more of God's heart, and submit themselves to His kingdom plans for the mission of the local church.
