We’re examining research from the Pew Center on “Why Americans Go (and Don’t Go) to Religious Services, giving blunt and candid commentary along the way.  In response to a popular survey reply, “I haven’t found a church I like,” I believe and know from experience (from their direct admission to me) that some people are repelled from church because they discern that the church(es) they visit are primarily interested in attracting or reaching only the same type of people or families that currently exist in their congregation, a strategized homogeneity (“birds of a feather flock together”) that not only conflicts with the changing constitutions of the American landscape, but also robs the Christian gospel of its power to draw ALL people groups to the Cross and to the Empty Tomb.

Back in the days when I was starting churches, a prominent church planting principle that was hotly advocated and debated was the “homogeneous unit principle,” a belief that the fastest way to grow a church was to target people much like you—socially, educationally, financially, etc.—and to connect with them on areas of common ground (education, music taste, hobbies, financial strata, profession, etc.) in order to make them feel socially “comfortable” with you and your church.  In and of itself, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the realization that people naturally gravitate towards others who have similar interests and pursuits.  The problem lies when you make this disposition an all-out strategy for church promotion, development and growth.

One of the most significant reasons why many churches are not growing in numerous cities, suburbs and towns lies in their inability to relate the propositions of their preaching, their worship engagement, their Christian education objectives, and their discipleship strategies towards the human conditions and plights of ethnicities and people groups that live around them in their community.  In rapidly changing ways, cities, suburbs, and communities are becoming more socially diverse, intercultural, and varied, yet many churches have done little, if anything, to recognize the changing mental and social shifts in their surrounding neighborhoods and to devise strategies to engage people where they are.  The same birds of a feather want more of the same birds to come, but new flocks of the same feather aren’t flying in their neighborhood anymore.

The issue lies not in refining your “people target;” instead, it lies in refining the way you engage people with the gospel.  No matter where you live, in so many ways, PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE.  They have genuine needs, dreams, issues, aspirations, sorrows, concerns, curiosities, and interests that the Christian gospel beautifully satisfies.  To say it simply in my father’s words to me many years ago, “son, every person has a cup inside that needs filling.  The truths of the gospel can fill it with deep satisfaction, but you’ve got to know HOW to fill it.”

Regrettably, I find more preachers my age (I’ve been in ordained ministry over 30 years) , and even those younger quietly confiding with me and admitting privately, “you know, I’m finding that I’m preaching the same gospel truths much the same way that I did a few years ago, but my audiences are not connecting with me as well.”  There’s a reason for this dilemma!  We know that the thinking processes of people today have changed drastically than in the days of our grandparents, yet little, if anything, has been done to compensate for this mental shift in the way we engage people through preaching, evangelism, discipleship, and Christian education.  One major reason why people walk away from church is that the preacher/teacher failed to CONNECT the life-changing truths of Scripture to their daily experience and condition. 

I have seen through the years that when preachers/teachers sufficiently construct this rhetorical “bridge” (linking the world of Scripture to their real world) for their listening audiences, people groups from ALL backgrounds, heritages, ethnicities, and social dimensions respond positively, drawing them together to become a “spiritual community within a geographical community.”  In this approach, there is a partnership between the unlimited power of divine truth and the rhetorical skills of the preacher/teacher who competently bridges biblical truth that addresses human need, curiosity, and interest with relevance and life-changing power.

Scripture’s impact is likened to a lion that’s waiting to be unleashed.  Unfortunately, strategized homogeneity keeps the lion in the cage, and the diverse people who come to experience its satisfying effect walk away empty-hearted and dissatisfied.