It seems the “death rattle” is beginning to sound deep within the body of the small town Baptist church that I grew up in. ( I am no longer a member there – I moved to a neighboring town and church with my new wife over 28 years ago and have only occasionally attended there on special occasions.) The church was started in the sparsely populated, town carved from the sagebrush plain of southern Idaho in 1909. The church is 99 years old and has slowed to a crawl in it’s old age. Please do not get me wrong – I am aware that it is Jesus Christ who will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and therefore age has nothing to do with the true church. Actually, age has nothing to do with the sickness within these walls either, the disease is just exacting it’s toll at this particular time within the life of this congregation.
The congregation is growing old, and one by one the parishioners are dying. It seems that every few months I hear of another aging member (old Sunday school teachers of mine – people whom I still love dearly) passing on. It saddens me greatly to hear of the struggles this congregation is going through.
My own parents have attended this small Baptist church for more than 50 years and have been ever faithful, not only to the other members but to the institution itself. Faithful with time, prayers, money, physical work and tears. Actually, most of the remaining members are also longstanding, faithful people who have sacrificed as much for as long. They are largely in their 70’s and 80’s and have been together through thick and thin since they were young married couples. They all raised their kids together. They matured together. They have fellowshipped and loved together. Always together!
Why Lord? How can this decline happen? I’m sure this is the heart rending cry of all in this church family. Always, at a death, we cry – “WHY” It is ever the same. There is no comfortable time to lose those we love. But that old question of “Why?” often has answers. Perhaps we don’t always want to hear the reasons. But there are reasons none the less. Perhaps they are due to longstanding vices and bad habits. Perhaps due to negligence or carelessness which leads to accidents. The reasons can be legion, but once death occurs, it is irreversible, at least on this side of the veil.
I have given much thought to this slow decline into decay that has been happening over the years. Although it has been slow, it has also been visible to those who are willing to take the time to look closely. The sickness has originated from many sources, and like all viruses, not all the sources can be seen. Sometimes we are left wondering where it was we became infected. What I relate to you here in these pages are only heartfelt ruminations of a son who is watching from afar. A son who grew up within the walls of this church and within the embrace of her people. I do not claim to have answers to this dilemma, and neither do I relate them with a bitter heart toward anyone. I have simply observed from a distance, wondered and grieved at what I have seen over the years.
As I said, these people have grown up together since the 1950’s. They began as a young married’s class who called themselves The Bapti-Weds – a moniker they hold to this day. They have lived…loved…raised children together…and now, they are dying together. They are the picture of faithfulness!
They are also children of the “Great Depression” who grew up very poor (money wise).
Children of families who migrated to this sage covered desert in search of a better life. Into this west where the sky was the limit, and men were limited only by their dreams. They are children who desired to rise from their poverty and put their past behind them. Their poverty stricken history was looked upon as a blight on their otherwise good names. I can’t count the times I have heard one of them say things like, “I will never do thus and such. I had to do that as a kid and I’m not doing it anymore. I don’t have to. I can afford not to.” And they passed that attitude on to their children whom they told “You deserve more.”
And right here is where I see the crux of the problem. Not the only problem mind you, but one of the most blatant.
Every one of these faithful people were sold a bill of goods by The Great American Dream! They unknowingly sold their inheritance for a bowl of cultural pottage. The poison soup was fed a little at a time, and so began the slow disease that sounds the death knell today. They wanted more! More of what the Great Society had to offer. More of the American Dream. And they (each one) felt their kids needed more as well. They held the opinion (and still do) that success had to do with one’s ability to go ever farther up the ladder in the great society. So they sent their kids off to be assimilated into that system. (I know that every single one of these good folks would disagree with me on this but every single one of my peers who grew up within that church’s walls were taught the same thing – “Go for the gusto! Climb that ladder! Get a good job! Do whatever it takes!) These people who are so dear to my heart, in ignorance, sent their kids off to be trained in the ways of Babylon. So that they would do well in Babylon. Even better than their parents did!
Rather than thinking multi-generationally about their children and the future of the church by embracing, enveloping, educating and training their children in righteousness – they asked others to do it for them.
- They asked the state to educate their kids.
- They asked public school teachers to teach their kids right from wrong.
- They asked the great society to employ their kids.
- They asked their kids to be useful in the great society.
- They asked the pastor to get their kids saved. Give our kids programs!
- They asked Sunday school teachers to train their kids in righteousness.
- They asked others to baby sit their kids while mom went off to work so that the parents could get a slice of the American pie. A bigger house, a nicer car. So that the blight of the parent’s past (being poor) could be erased.
- They asked to be comfortable – both in the world and within the church.
- They told their kids that they deserved more than their parents had – and the kids took them at their word.
- They told their kids that they needed to establish credit – and the kids took them at their word.
- And wasn’t it sad when at 18, the kids wanted everything the parents had, and they wanted it now – because the kids took their parents at their word!
They sacrificed their children to Baal (mammon) and worshiped the Ashtoreth (the American dream)
- They told their kids that to get ahead in Babylon, they had to be taught in the Babylonian ways – they had to get a higher education and get good positions within that kingdom. – And the kids took them at their word.
And all the kids marched off to the Babylonian colleges – racing after that golden carrot – getting top paying jobs. (none of which by the way, were available in their own home town!) And the kids didn’t have to live with the stigma that their parents lamented so loudly about – being poor.(even if they had to put it on credit) Then, who do you suppose those kids met in college? They met the boy or girl they fell in love with – someone from across the country. And they married. And after college they packed up and moved across country, because their spouse was from there. And besides, all the “good paying” jobs were there! Not in their home town!
And mom and dad sat at home, paying for that Babylonian education, looking blankly at each other – saying sheepishly, “Good job son…We’re sure proud of you honey. That’s what you went to school for.” And those parents got their 1st real glimpse of what the future held. The future of the family – the future of the church. Yes they got a glimpse, but few recognized it.
Those parents didn’t get what they wanted, but…
They got what they asked for!
Those kids may be successful…
But they’re still gone!
And the church kept plodding along…being faithful…giving of their time…their money…their sweat and their tears! Wondering all along, “Why aren’t there any young faces in church any more!….. I don’t know!”
The cancer had already infected the vital organs of the body, and they never felt any pain until it was too late!
And the Death Knell tolled
DONG … DONG … DONG
“Say…do you hear something?”
Allen
January 24, 2008 at 9:14 pm
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January 25, 2008 at 3:58 am
It’s clear the lord has gifted you in wisdom. Thank you for sharing this gift with us.
Walking plow
January 25, 2008 at 10:53 am
Greetings Allen,
Welcome to the Agrarian Blogsphere. Got the link to your blog from Scott Terry’s. I agree with Walking Plow, Scott and Pastor Tom that you are gifted with wisdom. This was an enlightening take on the death of small rural churches. I have only one thing to add and was hoping that you could expound on it in comments or a later post…
You said… “And all the kids marched off to the Babylonian colleges – racing after that golden carrot – getting top paying jobs. (none of which by the way, were available in their own home town!) And the kids didn’t have to live with the stigma that their parents lamented so loudly about – being poor.(even if they had to put it on credit)”
There is one other thing (at least) that the “golden carrot” mentality produced in our generation. You see, we not only left the poor small farms, poor small towns, and poor parents but we also left the poor small churches for the ever exciting and ever “blessed” (even if they have to put it on credit) MEGA Churches (Babylonion style of course :o)).
Thank you for the post, as it was a really good read. I will be adding you to our “Favorites”.
In Christ,
Agrarian Minded and Working Towards Agrarian Life
Matt Davis
January 29, 2008 at 6:12 am
Oh! How guilty as charged…and worst yet!
As a Boomer child of well intentioned Great Generation parents, I not only presented the Great American Dream to our only child, worst yet, I very effectively modeled it for her in some of the most contagious and damaging ways.
As my now adult daughter and her husband that we love as a son, become more and more successful in the eyes of the world, in their profession of law, like Job I want to offer burnt offerings of my past “success” on behalf of my children.
Instead, I have cried Nehemiah’s prayer of repentance (Nehemiah 1:4-9), and have dedicated the remainder of my life to producing the fruit of repentance, through teaching and modeling the right Way, not only for my adult kid’s lives, but also for as many young people as the Lord would bless me to impact.
Thank you for a personally painful, but culturally and eternally crucial post.
God Bless
January 30, 2008 at 4:57 am
Allen,
You did a fine job of laying out what happened not only to that church but to most all of rural America. Maybe you can write something on how we can recapture the real prize of small town, small farm and most importantly SMALL CHURCH!
March 4, 2008 at 12:39 pm
This is a worldwide phenomena! The Great American dream is sold to many overseas. “Come to the United States and live a better life. Make more money than your parents who are in the homeland. You can do anything in the United States.” Look at the immigration (legal and illegal) and ask why they want to be in the United States. Many are embracing the Ashtoreth. But at what cost? To leave family behind, to rupture the multigenerational inheritance, to pursue selfish wants, to learn a whole new culture and loose the old.
Our prayer should be that the eyes be open and that repentance be widespread. At least that’s what we’re doing….having embraced Ashtoreth and seen the truth!
March 11, 2008 at 8:58 pm
The Great American DREAM – How appropriate . It implies that one is asleep! When will the church realize it has been chasing this dream just like everyone else. It is high time she woke up to the fact that she has been worshiping Astoreth within her own walls, just as Eli’s sons lay with the temple prostitutes in 1st Samuel 2:22. I too pray repentance will be widespread – C.S. Lewis said something to the effect of ‘When you find you have been traveling down the wrong road, the prudent man is the one who turns around first, and walks back the other way.’