Disconnected

I think we've underestimated how disconnected the church is from our society. Some experts are now telling us that only 20-25% of the US population is attending church on any given weekend. These numbers are rapidly catching up with what is happening in the United Kingdom and Canada. Only 4 to 6% of their people attend church. So, if every two years we lose 5%, then in 10 years we could mirror our "mother land" and Canada. How accurate is this prediction? Just 10 years ago we were told that 40% of Americans attended church. So, what is the disconnect? I think it lies in the churches effort to still try and "attract" people into the church instead of being more "incarnational" and going after people in the communities in which we live. I'm concerned that a large number of church planters are still pursuing the "attractional" approach to reaching people, when our culture is showing us they are not interested in being wooed into a church. This approach (attractional) in church planting only seems successful as many planters use tens of thousands of dollars to successfully launch a church. What I see is many church planters becoming more and more frustrated because they do not have and cannot find the resources that some have used to "launch" new churches. This approach, while once the most popular, seems to be successful in swapping Christians from one church to another. It is not showing much success in engaging those who are "disconnected" from Christ. Until the church wakes up and realizes that real transformation (in individuals and communities) only takes place through incarnational ministry, the results will always be the same. More and more Christians moving from church to church, and many more lost people refusing to be wooed by the "attractional" tactics of the church.
The answer I believe lies in the US church's willingness to abandon its 20th century philosophy of "doing" church. We need church planters and pastors who are willing to mobilize its people to engage and penetrate the culture with the gospel. Go after them, build relationships with them, and wait patiently on the Holy Spirit to transform them with the "good news." What does this look like? Probably more Christians actively serving in the "streets" and less Christians just "hanging out" at church buildings. It probably means that congregations will be more lean and mean in its effort in "making disciples." That's probably the trade off; more mobilized Christ-followers and less consumers within the church. And, it probably means we would have more churches running around 50-60 with bi-vocational pastors. The bigger our "attractional" churches get, the less impact it seems we have on changing the culture. The Eastern church (the other side of the world) has proven that "lean and mean" is more effective than what we've been producing. I think its time we stopped building what we like and know and start connecting with "disconnected" people in our culture, what do you think?