I've been looking over my last listing of the characteristics of the CGGC brand, published as Lance was ascending to the position of the CEO of the CGGC.
I tweaked the list at that time to provide a base line to aid in assessing how all things CGGC change under his direction. And, I do note some minor ebbs and flows, but nothing significantly major.
But, as I was reviewing the list recently, I settled on the last item: Decline.
The description of the brand characteristic Decline notes that, at the end of its first 60 years, the Churches of God listed 800 active congregations but that, as Lance became CEO, that number had declined to a number far less than half of 1890 figure.
In addition, between the years 2000 and 2010 alone, the CGGC had lost 60 congregations.
Beyond that, I pointed out here that in a recent eNews, Lance announced that, currently, 80 per cent of CGGC congregations are either stagnant or declining.
I have no idea how many CGGC congregations went belly up between 2010 and 2017 but, even if none did, think about the reality that sixty had recently died and 80 per cent of what remains is in a bad way.
How does that make YOU feel?
Here are two of my thoughts:
1. In what some people call the Great Commission, the concluding verses of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus sends the apostles into the world to make disciples and, then, promises, "Surely, I am with you to the very end of the age."
Considering the statistical reality, it seems clear to me that the Lord is not with the CGGC.
The Lord of the Kingdom is not blessing us. He is life itself yet we are stagnation and death.
Yet, we do not change.
2. Because I have a job in the real world, it's easy for me to wonder if the people who are running the business that employs me were producing the disastrous results reflected in the performance of the CGGC, how the owners of the business would react.
Is this a no-brainer, or what?
Obviously, the management team would be sent packing and, no doubt, new leadership would be sought and, at the very least, a new business plan would be considered.
As far as the CGGC is concerned, I'm not suggesting that General Conference and Conference staffs be fired. I suspect that, in our system, they are as able as any to do the jobs we have decided we want them to do.
Since the days of Brian Miller's blog, I have been calling for what I used to call Macro-repentance, or repentance on a big-picture scale, or repentance on the level of the CGGC system.
To use the business analogy, I'm calling the CGGC to consider the possibility that it is our business plan, our genuine values and mission, that is our problem.
Understand this: Our system, our sense of values and mission, is the polar opposite of what it was in the day when the Church of God was a thriving, Spirit-empowered movement.
The Lord, Who blesses so willingly and Who promises that He will go with His people and assures His people that He has given His authority to them, just, very obviously and simply, is not here in the CGGC. He is not going before us. We are not following the direction of His Spirit.
But, I refuse to suggest that Lance and Kevin and other so-called leaders are the problem.
Yet, there is no way to consider the statistical and spiritual reality of the CGGC and deny that there is a life and death problem.
We are in the throes of death. How can anyone consider our numbers and think otherwise?
We must change.
And, in order to change, we must repent.
Why won't we repent?
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