The New Church
Mark 13:28-32
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
28 “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 “Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door. 30 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. 32 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
This narrative follows the second coming event. Therefore, it must be considered from that perspective. A big question about the return of Jesus is when it will happen? Perhaps the idea of Jesus’s return is because His work was not finished in His lifetime. Jesus introduced the Kingdom of Heaven. However, its institution and growth still need to happen. A problem with this idea is that Jesus did not tell us when He would return. There are no indications of what events have to occur for His return. Christianity should not be concerned about this event but rather how it demonstrates the love and grace of Jesus to the world.
The cycle of life can be seen in organizations. A person is born, they live, and they die. Organizations have the same process. The difference between the two is that an organization can live for many more years. At the organization’s birth, it will have good growth if its reason for its existence is accepted by the general public. For example, the Odd Fellows was created before professional funerals. This organization offered funerals and life insurance for its male members. The organization grew quite rapidly. It also evolved to meet other needs of its members. During the second half of the 1800s, funeral homes opened. The funeral profession was born. The need for the Odd Fellows main benefit disappeared. In the 1900s, the Odd Fellows saw their membership decline rapidly. They still exist today but in smaller numbers. They added all kinds of activities and benefits to the organization to reach new members.
The Freemasons were established in the early 1700s in London, England. The organization grew because the Lodges could fulfill a need that men had. Freemasonry proliferated in the 1700s. George Washington, Ben Franklin, and several signers of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons. Because of their growth and prestige, many rumors were created about them to discredit the organization. Things went well for the Freemasons until 1960. The membership started a decline. The organization was left unchecked, and now the Freemasons are hanging on by a thread. The original purpose of the Freemasons is not as important today as it was in the 1700s.
The church was established after Jesus’ death to bring believers in the Gospel message together. The purpose of the church was being fulfilled at that time. People wanted to join the organization. Through Paul, many churches were established. After Paul’s death, the churches that he created could create new churches. Even during Roman persecution, the faith was able to grow. The significant growth burst occurred when Constantine, an emperor of the Roman Empire, declared Christianity the religion of the Empire.
When Christianity became an integral part of the government, there was nothing to impede its growth. The government helped the church by requiring the people who lived in their territories to be baptized as Christians. During the Dark Ages (approximately 400 to 1000 CE), the church filled the vacuum created when the Roman Empire fell and anarchy reigned. The church was able to grab power and establish order.
The church continued to do well until 1958 CE. This is the year that Christendom fell. Christendom is described as the time period when Christianity was helped by the ruling government to grow. The “Blue Laws” in the United States (they were called blue laws because they were written on blue paper) forbid business to be transacted on Sunday, except in Jewish neighborhoods. The government was helping the churches.
Over time the Blue Laws were revoked because people stopped attending church. The membership of the mainline churches started to decay around 1958 CE. The mainline churches ignored the problem for decades until they realized their end was near. One day the mainline churches that were once large and strong will grow weak and small. Their huge organizational hierarchy will collapse because there will not be enough members to pay for the structure. As an aside, this can be seen in Freemasonry today. The fraternity is doing things that can get the cash. The Shriner hospitals never needed to go to the public for funds because plenty of members raised the needed money. Today they do not, so they advertise in an attempt to gain donors.
I pastored a church that started a community picnic event in the late 1940s. The profit from the picnic was used for mission work. By the 1980s, they had to divert the picnic profits to the church treasury. Why? Because their membership dropped and the income from the offering dropped. They had no choice but to use the picnic money. This saga has been happening in many of our churches.
When did Jesus tell us to fundraise? Of course, He did not. With membership, the decline comes income decline. The United Methodist conference that I am in does fundraising. Why? Because the membership is declining and thus the local churches do not have the money to send to support the Conference apparatus. When a business sees income falling off, it immediately has to cut back its expenses. The Conference where I am has been increasing its overhead. That is a potentially bad idea.
One day the different Conferences in the United Methodist system will have to start merging. The financial strain from having a sizeable organizational hierarchy will force this to happen. The number of Bishops will have to be reduced because Bishops are expensive, and the income from the churches is dwindling.
Here is what is interesting about the end times that Jesus talked about. When an organization dies and its purpose is needed, a substitute organization is born and may grow in its place. Let me be exact about what I mean. I live in York, Pennsylvania. My appointments have been in York County. Every United Methodist church closed over the last 20 years has been replaced by an independent church. The mainline church died, and a new independent church started. For the most part, the newly independent churches have survived, and most have grown. The death spiral for the mainline churches is evident. They have become irrelevant because they are not meeting the spiritual needs of the people.
Therefore a day will come that the United Methodist church will either reorganize itself by merging with another mainline church or die. The growing churches in York County are the independent churches. These churches have discovered a way to offer spiritual needs to their members. Much of the independent church’s membership comes from the disenfranchised mainline membership.
Jesus quoted Isaiah about the new Heaven and the new earth. Simply put, Jesus may have been telling us about our situation today. The old churches need to die so that the new churches can be built. The old ways that the mainline churches will be replaced. The replacement will meet the spiritual needs of the people.
If the mainline churches are to survive, they need to meet the spiritual needs of the people outside of the church and its current members. Change must occur, and it must happen now. There is no reason that a church could not continue with its yearly cycle of worship and events that the current membership desires and add the worship and events that people outside of the church desire. Unfortunately, this is not happening.
The bottom line lesson for the church today from this passage and the other apocalyptic passages is that a new church will be built when the old church is gone. I hope that you consider how to reinvent yourself for those of you who are pastors or members of a mainline church. The reinvention of your church means that a new church is born.
This can be done! I have seen it done in a couple of United Methodist churches. So, if you think that only doom and gloom exist for your church’s survival, then think again! You can create a new church inside of your current church. It takes some dedicated people who want the church to survive and thrive and for the naysayers to get out of the way for this to happen. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. We can do this.
