Rejoicing & Content | Sunday, August 9, 2020

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus... I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased. I know how to abound... I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:2–13)

A mid-year update on how COVID-19 accelerated trends in church and culture—and a Philippians 4 call to rejoice and rest content in Christ's strength.

Finding a Sweet Spot in a New Format

I've been trying to find a sweet spot in this new format of preaching over the last five months. I've preached to gathered groups for more than 20 years, and over that time you develop a pattern, an algorithm, if you will. But with this new format—online video, with no immediate crowd response or feedback—I've been playing with it to figure it out. I hope and pray it's been landing correctly. I've gotten a little positive feedback, and we've made some minor tweaks along the way.

I feel it's necessary to give you something of a state-of-the-church address—maybe a mid-year update—and to share something from the Scriptures as well.

COVID-19 Fast-Tracked Existing Trends

I'm convinced that church at home, due to the COVID-19 shutdown, has only forwarded trends that were already happening in business, culture, society, and church. How far forward it has sent us remains to be seen, but let me explain.

One thing my wife is bummed about is that Nordstrom—only about 10 minutes from my house—has closed. The sign is gone, the coffee is gone, the building is dark, and it isn't coming back. But here's the fascinating thing. If there had been no COVID-19 in 2020, and we jumped forward to 2030, the 16 stores Nordstrom is currently closing would probably be closed anyway. Nordstrom was already downsizing its retail footprint in favor of online retail. COVID-19 just fast-tracked the execution.

Something my wife and I are happy about is that Amazon is delivering faster. If you drive by the old Nordstrom building or the mall, you'll see dozens of Amazon Prime vans staged in the parking lot. Prior to COVID-19, Amazon had been purchasing distressed real estate at vacated malls to pre-position their logistics and warehousing closer to customers, making it cheaper, easier, and quicker to deliver within 24 hours or the same day. That was Amazon's plan for the next five to ten years—but COVID-19 fast-tracked it.

This is happening throughout society in every sphere—education, government, retail, healthcare, travel, communication. We're watching adaptations and changes at a rapid pace. And it's happening in churches too.

Why Rapid Change Unsettles Us

Some of these changes we don't like. We don't really like change anyway, especially fast change. It promotes a sort of future shock. If these changes happened slowly over ten years, we'd hardly recognize them until we looked back and said, "Remember when you used to get your coffee at Nordstrom? That was so crazy—you'd have to drive over there. I love that it just gets delivered to my house each morning."

Right now a lot of churches and pastors are working hard to get back to normal church. There's something pleasing to me about that too. I like a lot of things about church as it was B.C.—before COVID. But many leaders are forgetting something about church B.C.: we were already watching a concerning trend.

The Trend in Church Attendance Since 2008

Since 2008—the year I became pastor of Cross Connection Church—there has been a clear trend in American Christianity. There are many theories about why, and maybe all or none of them are the cause. But the trend is clear: faithful members of churches go to church less faithfully. That doesn't sound very nice, but it's true, and you know it. If I weren't a pastor, but just a husband and father of four working 40 to 60 hours a week, often six days a week, I might be less faithful in attendance too.

Let me be clear: I'm not saying I like this trend. There are many trends in society I don't like, but whether I like them or not doesn't change their reality or direction. For some of you baby boomers, this is where you get upset because I made it generational. If you're 55 or older and started a family and attended church in the 1980s, you look at younger Gen Xers and millennials attending less regularly and think, "I used to go two or three times a week. Where's your commitment?"

The trend from 2008 to 2019–20 was a shift from attending church two to three times a week to two to three times a month. Most people 18 to 45 came about three out of five Sundays—roughly 60% of the time. If you're a baby boomer, you've been heading toward or in retirement, accustomed to Sunday morning and maybe Sunday night, Wednesday night, even a men's or women's study midweek. So this doesn't make sense to you.

Why People Are Attending Less

After the economic downturn of 2008, many Americans experienced a shift in their lives and work. Work expectations increased. The eight-hour workday and 40-hour work week have changed—much research cites this. Over the last decade-plus, many Americans now work 45, 55, even 60-plus hours a week. With the advent of the smartphone in 2007, most workers are expected to be marginally on call even at home. I know people in our church who work six days a week, and if your kids play sports, the demands on your time are excessive.

I'm not saying this is a good thing. But it's reality, and it has drastically affected how people interact with the church. That doesn't mean they aren't committed followers of Jesus or committed to their church. Many of the people I'm describing are super committed—but the demands on their time make it impossible to be at church every Sunday, let alone three or four times a week as in the 1990s.

At the end of 2019, on an average Sunday at Cross Connection we'd have about 570 people—adults, youth, and kids. But because of new attendance patterns, our church, if everyone showed up, was really more like 900 people. And the trend in the last five years shifted again: the average family was attending two or fewer out of four Sundays—less than half the time. If you're a dual-income family working six days a week, Sunday becomes the only day off, the only day for birthday parties, the house, and sports. Even if you attend every week, with multiple kids there will be weeks when one has a cold and you can't bring them to children's ministry.

Choosing to Change Rather Than Die

I'm sharing all of this to identify a trend and to tell you what we're doing and why. I've watched this trend a long time, and COVID-19 has fast-tracked every trend by as much as ten years. Over the last 15 years, churches have been forced to rethink what they do in a big way. Most are unwilling and unable to do so. We don't change until the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of change—and many churches choose to stay the same and die rather than change. I've witnessed it. I've watched many churches close their doors in the last 12 years, often because of a desire to fight cultural trends and an unwillingness to minister to the culture where it is.

Calvary Chapel of Escondido chose to change in a big way. We became Cross Connection Church, and it wasn't just a name change. It was a massive shift from offering services nearly every day or night to church on Sundays with small groups at home throughout the week—all in anticipation of a trend I saw coming. When I became pastor in 2008, the church had experienced a steep five-year decline and was on a trend line toward dying. That changed because we changed how we minister to the community God called us to.

What Changes Now for the Church

In 2020 we've had a rapid shift due to coronavirus. Every American church has become a video multi-site church in the last 20 weeks, and all of you have grown accustomed to engaging with the church this way. That means even when we return to Sunday gatherings, more of you will choose to stay home and watch online from time to time—maybe twice a year, maybe once or twice a month. Even when I begin preaching again from the pub table at 1675 Seven Oaks Road, some of you will watch at home.

So we're investing in new equipment to focus our online venue. When we return to the facility, we'll probably continue producing a specific online service rather than simply live-streaming Sunday mornings. Why? Because the marketplace of the 21st century is entirely online. Two thousand years ago, the early church grew as Paul and the apostles ministered in the marketplaces of Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Rome, and Crete. If the church today is to keep growing and reaching the culture, it will happen at our facility, but also on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play.

More Than Preaching

But church is not just preaching and teaching. The early church continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, says the book of Acts, but also in fellowship, the breaking of bread—both communion and hospitality—and in prayers. So I challenge and encourage you to help us grow not only in online teaching but in fellowship, hospitality, prayer, and discipleship.

You can join the prayer team at prayerteam.lifeinconnection.com, which is why Pastor Mark led us in 31 Days of Prayer in July. You can host or join a small group at athome.lifeinconnection.com. If you feel disconnected from church, I understand. This isn't ideal, but it's life in August 2020. Baseball is weird, the NBA and NFL are figuring things out, many of you are working from home, and your kids' education—like mine—is up in the air. It feels absurd. But is God working in the midst of this? Yes, truly. Don't despair. God is on the move. One day we'll look back and say, "Remember all that craziness in 2020? God had a plan." We're trying to adapt and fulfill the mission God has given us in this new mission field. No church has it fully figured out. I beg you to bear with us, pray for us, and connect with me or our other leaders with questions.

Philippians 4: Let Your Gentleness Be Known

As we close, I want to share three quick things from Philippians 4.

First, Paul closes his letter exhorting two prominent ladies in the Philippian church who appear to have been at odds. I know it's hard to believe that could happen in a church—apparently the Philippians were like your old church. I once heard a preacher refer to these two as "odious" and "soon touchy." So Odious and Soon-touchy were having a disagreement, and Paul challenges them to get over it and be like-minded.

Some of you are upset with someone else in the church—maybe even with me, because we're not meeting. Notice Paul says, "Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand." If you knew you were going to see Jesus today, would your beef with that other person really matter? Let your gentle, kind courteousness be known to all people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Let your graciousness shine so all can see it.

Rejoice in the Lord Always

Second, Paul writes, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice." Always means always. We don't rejoice only when things are good; we rejoice at all times. Why? Because we have the proper eternal perspective that says the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18). Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). "In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world," said Jesus in John 16. A proper eternal perspective will promote present rejoicing.

Learning Contentment in Christ's Strength

Third, Paul writes, "I have learned in whatever state I am in to be content... I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." You and most everyone you know is facing challenges right now. When we're faced with challenges, our inclination is to whine, murmur, complain, and pout. Stop being a pout-pout fish. By Christ's strength we can and should learn contentment.

Years ago, going through a challenging time, a friend reminded me that there isn't much fruitfulness and growth on high mountaintops; the growth is found in the valleys. She was right. We may not like the valleys, but even in what the Bible calls the Valley of Baca in Psalm 84—which means bitterness, weeping, or lamentation—we can find springs and pools of refreshing water. Always between Egypt and the Promised Land, or between Babylon and the Promised Land, is a harsh wilderness. You may be in the wilderness now, but an eternal perspective and the strength of the Lord can bring rejoicing and contentment.

Taken in Context

That has been my prayer for you, our church. And I ask you to pray for me, Pastor Mark, Pastor Nick, Pastor Jason, Pastor Anthony, Pastor Garrett, and all our leaders, elders, staff, and those who serve—that we would also have that eternal perspective and be strengthened in the Lord.

So many look to "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" as a verse of encouragement, but a lot of people take it out of context. I saw a T-shirt that said, "I can do all things through a verse taken out of context." Look at the context: it means we can go through difficult times and still be rejoicing. We can bear with people when we're upset or bothered by them—and we do that by the strength the Lord gives, so that we can grow.

This has been a challenging time, and there have been moments over these five months when I've been really discouraged by what's going on in our culture, our community, and the challenges with my kids' education. It has driven me before the Lord to confess wrong things in my own heart—frustrations, anger. Scripture says, "Be angry, but sin not. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath." So there are times we have to go to the Lord and say, "God, forgive me." God wants to transform us through this.

God's Refining and Reviving Work

My hope is that as we come out of this and into a new season, we would be a little more—or a lot more—like Jesus in how we respond and interact with people. That we'd see more of the fruit of the Spirit produced in us—love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control. And understand: God is using this challenging time not only to refine us, but to draw people to Himself. My prayer is that God would use it to bring about something of a revival in our day. Ultimately, the most important answer for our nation right now is Jesus Christ and the gospel—not new or better politicians, but new and better people transformed by the grace and power of God through the gospel and the Word. The church has the answer this culture needs. I pray God would use us to share it with those around us.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for this weird situation—sitting in my office at home, a place I've spent a lot of time over the last four or five months, being able to share with the church. I don't think I've preached a message sitting down in about 20 years. This is strange, this is out of the box. But I pray, God, that You would use the work going on here at Cross Connection Church, and the work going through the church body, to draw people to Yourself. Continue to use Your Word by Your Holy Spirit to make us more like You. And may we, and those we interact with—family, coworkers, neighbors—see Your transforming grace at work in our lives. God, work in us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.