A month or so ago, I posted on the UVU Science and Faith Conference. The keynote speaker was Molly Worthen, a history prof at UNC Chapel Hill. I got a copy of her book, Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism (OUP, 2014). In the middle section of the book, chapters 5 through 7, she recounts Evangelical success or failure in three cultural or institutional areas: (1) establishing a university, (2) running proselyting missions, and (3) doing ecumenical outreach via liturgical renewal (as in, what do you do in church on Sunday?). I think the LDS Church does well with universities, does okay with missionizing, but is losing badly at liturgical renewal. I’ll touch briefly on the first two, then discuss the biggest opportunities for improvement a bit more for the third. We gotta have more fun on Sunday or at some point no one will show up.
Getting Out of Tatooine and Seeing the World: Education and Missions
Building and supporting a university isn’t as easy as it looks. Fundamentalism supported bible colleges, which offered a fixed liberal arts curriculum heavy on Bible studies. “Though Bible colleges were small institutions with modest enrollment, they formed a core axis of American fundamentalism” (p. 103). Full-fledged universities on the German model became the defining institution for post-secondary education in the 20th century: large institutions with specialized courses of study, including the sciences and engineering, and highly educated faculty. Evangelicals never really caught the university wave like Mormons (with BYU) and Catholics (with Notre Dame, Gonzaga, and other schools) did. There is no flagship Evangelical university.
Evangelicals train and support overseas missionaries; they use crusade events (think Billy Graham) to engage thousands of people; they attempt to bridge cultural barriers to better share the Christian message. “Visiting missionaries should focus on evangelism — which means translating the gospel into cultural norms that their audience could understand and aiming to convert entire peoples” (p. 129). In a sense, they do religious R&D, critiquing traditional methods and crafting a more effective approach. I give the LDS Church a a mild thumbs-up here just because you can’t really say it has failed in missionizing when it has like 80,000 young proselyting missionaries serving around the world and a dozen or more Missionary Training Centers to prepare them. But the model for Mormon missionizing hasn’t changed much in almost 200 years. It’s like the program is frozen in carbonite. There is very little willingness or effort to adapt the Americanized gospel (think white shirts and ties, the LDS hymnbook, and the three-hour block, for example) to other cultural environments. Missionary service, at this point, is more about converting and socializing the young missionaries than about converting anyone. When was the last time a young family joined the Church in your ward?
On Sundays: The Boredom Menace
Ecumenical outreach goes beyond having a bishop join the local ministers club or getting invited to the National Prayer Breakfast (check out this Facebook post by Elder Christofferson, who attended one). The point here is a willingness to broaden the reach and appeal of your Christian message and your Sunday services to a wider audience, both within the particular tradition but also beyond it. The Catholic renewal of Vatican II is an example. The emergence of Evangelical megachurches (which almost completely ignore denominational identity) and seeker churches (which focus their outreach to those who don’t attend church and have little interest in traditional religious services) is another. I have never attended or visited a megachurch, but it sure sounds like fun:
The growth of evangelical megachurches and seeker-sensitive services represented an indigenous strain of evangelical liturgical renewal. … The sprawling, mall-like complex in the suburbs featuring a coffee bar and cafe, an auditorium equipped with movie theater seats and massive video screens, all surrounded by acres of smooth blacktop to accommodate hundreds of minivans and SUVs …. [T]hese pastors applied Church Growth principles and modern marketing insights to build churches nearly as big as the shopping malls, community colleges, and office parks that now dotted the landscape. They did it by reeling in those passersby who felt alienated or bored by more traditional worship. (p. 155.)
Well, at least we build pretty good parking lots. Mormon liturgy and worship (i.e., what we do in church on Sunday) is way overdue for an overhaul, or at least a renewal. Talks on recycled topics, lessons that you have literally heard three times before, hitting the same topic once a month for six months on the fourth Sunday … people are just bored! Don’t blame it on Millennials or cell phones or inactive Mormons or Satan. Just look at what everyone else is doing better and adopt some improvements. I’d love to hear from readers who have actually attended a Pentecostal service or a megachurch service. I think we’re missing the boat here. LDS services don’t appeal to seekers. LDS services don’t appeal to visitors. LDS services don’t even appeal to most Mormons.
A New Hope?
The changes introduced in the recent General Conference, with suggestions that more changes are to follow soon, offer some hope for liturgical renewal. Actually killing a program that was no longer achieving intended goals — wow. Let’s not forget how hard it is to kill a program or a project in any bureaucratic institution that isn’t a tightly run business (so: schools, government, the military, churches). A few simple changes could make people a lot happier about attending Mormon church on Sunday. Business casual. Two-hour block (let Sunday School die a quiet death). Coffee and donuts. How about some live Jesus rock to get the crowd warmed up on Fast Sunday?
Help us, Obi Wan Uchtdorf! Save us from boredom and irrelevance!
“I think the LDS Church does well with universities, does okay with missionizing, but is losing badly at liturgical renewal.”
I don’t know if I could have said it better
I Substitute Itaught the 12 year olds Sunday . At the beginning of the class I asked them if church was boring. The vote was unanimous. It was really ,really boring.. So we set a goal that this weeks lesson would not be boring and I told them I would poll them at the end of class. We talked about how to receive revelation and used Nephi as an example. We talked about Pizza prayers and how our mattresses talk to us . I shared an experience how revelation had literally saved my life. In short we talked about basic doctrine with a few real life applications. At the end of class I asked them if it was boring. Fortunately for my ego they all said no it was really interesting.. I agree with Greg Prince the greatest threat to the church is boredom.. It is always astonishing to me that we can take something as wonderful and exciting as the gospel of Jesus Christ and make it deadly boring. But we have and I see no rescue in sight
An excellent article and well presented. In conversation with less actives, I enquired why they left the Church and they readily volunteered that Sunday Services were dull and uninteresting. They no longer satisfy the enquiring mind. After fifty-four years in the Church, I understand their viewpoint. I am really sorry that Dieter Uchtdorf has been moved out of his sphere of influence, but maybe that was the aim. Change is overdue and now essential if we are to stop the member exodus.
I not sure the Church does well with “ missionizing” either given our Mission numbers and our conversation rates…if that’s how we measure success. As a past senior missionary I think missionary work needs a total rethink…absolutely!
You had to throw in Coffee and donuts as to allienate all your suggestions to a mainstream Mormon audience.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
jpv — No, it was the Jesus rock proposal was to alienate mainstream readers. The coffee suggestion was to make non-LDS visitors feel more at home in our chapel. It would also help local leadership identify Mormon backsliders (because they would fall for the coffee …). Plus, “coffee and donuts” just rolls off the tongue better than “hot chocolate and donuts.”
Dave B., I’m hardly what might be termed “mainstream” but Jesus rock would likely alienate me. Maybe you could have gone for a mix of Jesus rock and Bach, etc. and alienated even more! This year’s Good Friday performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and the parts of the Easter Oratorio used in the Easter service at the Frauenkirche in Dresden, made Easter meaningful for me. And we still caught the Sunday morning GC session (6:00pm in Germany); it was not boring, but also not Bach.
I generally don’t like mega-churches (including the LDS conference center). But in any event, if I need to be spiritually inspired by music, I go to a large Lutheran or Anglican church. With our small wards and reliance on largely untrained volunteer musicians and speakers, it is often hopeless to think of engaging people with music of any kind or to get away from boring talk.
I’ve been reading Michael Raposa’s Boredom and the Religious Imagination. and finding new uses for boredom at church. See the description here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/boredom-and-the-religious-imagination-michael-l-raposa/1003543758/2679356450371?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Catch-All,+Low_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP79700&gclid=CjwKCAjwzoDXBRBbEiwAGZRIeLa-V74LbY0hUl64zucSsmyqd9u7tCxMksK3qokazuozzinWwMA4PRoCELYQAvD_BwE
I’m afraid it is likely a bit too heavy for the Jesus rock crowd.
Andy Stanley is the senior pastor at one of the largest Christian churches in America, and shared this anecdote on a leadership podcast:
~When Boston Market first came to be, they were the first real competition for Chick-fil-A in the same space. Chick-fil-A engaged in strategic conversations internally about how they too could grow bigger, faster, bigger, faster. Everything culminated in a conversation in Atlanta with Mr. Truett Cathy sitting at the table. After a great deal of discussion, Mr. Cathy started banging on the table with his fist and said, “Gentlemen, I am tired of hearing you talk about how we need to get bigger. If we get better at what we do, our customers will demand that we get bigger.”~
As an active LDS in Utah, I regularly attend a local non-denominational Christian church in Draper. It is absolutely wonderful. From the greeters at the door, to the children’s ministry, to the contemporary music and lyrics, to the preaching, to the service and outreach opportunities, this church has focused on getting better at what they do, and “customers” are demanding that the church get bigger. The church has a multi-site model (multiple campuses throughout the state), and continues to grow and serve communities right in the heart of The Mormon Capitol.
I have experienced more desire and excitement inviting my LDS friends and neighbors to attend South Mountain Community Church with me than I have ever felt inviting people to my ward meetings. SMCC is seeker-friendly, while LDS church continues to be insular and inward focused. When was the last time a young family joined/converted to a ward I have lived in? Never.
” Just look at what everyone else is doing better and adopt some improvements.”
This would require a level of humility and repentance that I just don’t ever see church leadership engaging in. When a church believes it has “The Truth”, the idea that another church organization is doing something better would rarely, if ever, cross its mind.
“LDS services don’t appeal to seekers. LDS services don’t appeal to visitors. LDS services don’t even appeal to most Mormons.”
Great leadership seeks this kind of feedback; often times the things we want to hear the least are the things we need to hear the most.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
No, I’m not seriously proposing that Mormons drink coffee with their donuts on Sunday. But it would be nice if there were opportunities to mingle and chat informally, other than in the 5 minutes before sacrament meeting (assuming you get there 5 minutes early). This should be paired with the 2-hour block. After three hours, no one wants to linger longer.
No, I’m not seriously suggesting we put guitars and drums in sacrament meeting for some Jesus rock. But loosening things up musically would help. Even going back to the good old days when soloists or choirs could do something that’s not in the hymnal would be a step forward (reversing a step backwards).
If the “church is boring” claim rings true for bloggers and commenters, think how much more true it is for the next generation, growing up on cell phones and streaming videos. If you don’t earn your viewer’s attention in 10 seconds (maybe 5), young viewers click to the next screen. New TV shows get about 10 minutes to earn your continued attention, then you click around Netflix to find something better. The proliferation of cell phones and ipads in sacrament meeting is mute testimony of how quickly people in 2018 tune out a stream of boring or irrelevant words and find something more worthwhile to read or view. Those who tune out this way regularly enough are candidates to change the channel entirely.
Dave B. As a Church, we already went “back to the good old days when soloists or choirs could do something that’s not in the hymnal…” If it hasn’t happened in your ward or stake it is because your bishop and stake president are not paying attention to instructions from the First Presidency or do not want the burden placed on them by the handbook(s) to determine approve music selections for sacrament meeting and stake meetings respectively. Some of them do not trust their own judgment and will not trust another’s. Some of the lack of trust of others’ arises from local leaders’ faulty assumption that their congregations are moved spiritually only by the same music that moves them.
The cultural (BKP-inspired) hymn limitation reached such a stage years ago that the First Presidency sent a letter dated November 7, 2002 to General Authorities; Area Authority Seventies; Stake, Mission. and District Presidents; Bishops and Branch Presidents stating in relevant part: “… When prayerfully selected, music can invite the Spirit of the Lord, increase devotion to the gospel, and lead to greater spirituality. We remind stake presidencies and bishoprics that they may consider both the hymns and other appropriate music when planning meetings. The hymns of the Church are the basic music for worship services and are standard for congregational singing. However, in addition to the hymns, other appropriate selections may be used for prelude and postlude music, choir music, and special musical selections. …”
In some cases stake presidencies have assumed a right to direct bishops as to what is appropriate music in sacrament meeting. Under the handbook instructions, that assumption is a simple abuse of authority.
Email me separately if you would like a pdf copy of the First Presidency letter.
Dave B said: “After three hours, no one wants to linger longer.”
Oh, I don’t know. In my ward here in Northern Germany, we regularly schedule a potluck lunch on Fifth Sundays. It’s very popular.
I used to get excited about the thought of eliminating Sunday School and going to a two-hour block that way. But last year, I felt inspired to offer my services as a Sunday School teacher. Ever since then, I feel fiercely possessive about Sunday School, mostly because I am learning a great deal and enjoying almost every minute of it. Don’t know how the other participants view it, though I’ve gotten good feedback. Quite frankly, at this stage, I would rather offer up Relief Society and Elders Quorum, especially after the introduction of the new curriculum. Talking about the same subject every fourth Sunday … ugh. And speaking of same subjects, after our last Sunday in which all three speakers were apparently instructed to talk about the Holy Ghost, I’m also very much in favour of cutting down Sacrament Meeting to two SHORT talks. And longer breaks, too. Everybody has so much to say on Sundays, perhaps because we all live so far apart.
Just my two Eurocents.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Tobia, certainly “the second hour” of a two-hour block deserves some serious rethinking. Say having an adult Sunday School class once a month and PH/RS the other three. Or alternate every other week. Alternatively, make Sunday School an evening class at 6 pm for those who seriously want to attend and study.
Part of the problem with adult Sunday School at this point is that the year on the New Testament doesn’t really study the New Testament. Instead, it simply presents the usual list of Mormon institutional directives, dressed up with selective references to New Testament verses. You could base an LDS Sunday School curriculum on the works of Leo Tolstoy or the Star Wars movies using the same technique. I don’t really see them changing the technique, so I’d be happy if Sunday School just went away.