Mark DeYmaz: It's Not Resurgence We Need But Reformation

A recent article published in The Christian Post addresses an open letter from my friend, Pastor Mark Driscoll, concerning the state of the church today. The letter was originally published on the 2013 Resurgence Conference website. In the letter, Driscoll states, "The church is dying and no one is noticing…" This thought seems to be the premise for Driscoll's additional statements as to why the church is dying, what is needed, and his desire for the conference, itself. In part, Driscoll writes the church is dying because "…we're wasting time criticizing rather than evangelizing."

Perhaps.

Yet stronger resolve, clearer convictions, and/or young Bible-believing, Jesus-following leaders, as Driscoll suggests are needed to counter church decline, will not in my view bring about the resurgence for which he is looking. In fact, it's not resurgence the church needs today but reformation, as I'll explain in a moment.
To be clear, I do not believe the church is dying.¹ However, I have no doubt that the local church and its message of God's love for all people has been severely weakened by more than 40 years of misunderstanding and misapplication of what is known as the Homogeneous Unit Principle (HUP).

The original principle suggests that it's easier for people to become Christians when they do not have to cross barriers of race, class or language. Yet in 1972, it was co-opted by church leaders in America and ever since promoted as the modus operandi for those who would plant or grow a "successful" church; i.e., as a strategy for church growth. This fed an all-too-American spirit of independence and competition among church leaders who have ever since measured their success by numbers, dollars and buildings. It's why, still today, the first question most often asked of church planters by network and denominational leaders, alike, is: "Who's your target audience?"

You may be surprised to learn, however, that the HUP was never intended by its progenitor, Donald A. McGavran, as a strategy for reaching believers, or to grow a church in the sense of how we think of it today; but rather as "a strategy to reach unbelievers - a missionary principle."² Likewise, the term "church growth" was originally applied to a movement seeking to share the Gospel cross-culturally and, consequently, to add new believers to the church through evangelistic efforts overseas.

Sadly, then, misunderstanding and misapplication of the HUP through the years has played right into the natural, all-too-human, desire among pastors for their churches to become real big, real fast: and it works. In other words, target a specific people group: give them the music they desire, the facilities they want, in the neighborhoods they like, etc., and they will come. The fact is, churches do grow fastest when they're homogeneous and soon fill with people of similar ethnic and economic background. But, the question remains, is this really the biblical way? And more pragmatically, is this the real reason the church is not thriving today? Keep reading

Also see
Ed Stetzer: The State of the Church in America. Hint: It's Not Dying

A  recognized leader in the emerging Multi-ethnic Church Movement, Mark DeYmaz planted the Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas in 2001 where he continues to serve as Directional Leader. In 2004, he co-founded the Mosaix Global Network and will host the 2nd National Multi-ethnic Church Conference, November 5-6, 2013, in Long Beach, CA. Mark has written four books including, "Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church" and "Leading a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church." Contact him at mark@mosaicchurch.net or via @markdeymaz on Twitter.