The other morning I was sitting on a church pew…
In a café.

What does that say?
Think about it for a moment.
It means that a church somewhere probably shut down. Of course, it could also mean that a church replaced its pews with chairs because they thought that more comfortable seating might get more people to come to church (by the way, which reason for selling a pew is more unsettling? You make the call).

Let’s assume the first scenario: people stopped coming to church so the church closed down and sold its benches on Craigslist to a café.

Now this one story of this one church in this one place likely signals that the influence of this one church in its particular community declined over the years. It also seems to symbolize the declining influence of the church in North America – and it doesn’t take an empty pew or a relocated pew to recognize this reality.

This isn’t just the story in urban areas; it’s the story in rural America too.

Interestingly, however, while churches everywhere continue to close their doors or are forced to share pastors or try to make changes to stay relevant, America remains fascinated by the pastors who have the power to get people “in the pews”…

Mark Driscoll, the most famous or infamous – depending on who you talk to – Christian in Seattle is featured in the New York Times Magazine.

Rick Warren, a megachurch pastor, prays at Obama’s inauguration and, at least in Seattle’s Paramount Theater, is booed by the crowd. (Meanwhile, another pastor, Dr. Joseph Lowery is greeted with cheers and tears as he delivers the benediction. Fascinating.)

Ted Haggard, another (albeit former) megachurch pastor, is on HBO in the documentary “The Trials of Ted Haggard”, which chronicles his life after he admitted to “sexual immorality” with a male prostitute (Interestingly, the film is by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi). To promote the film, he appears on Oprah and Larry King.

Joel Osteen gets a gig on Larry King too.

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that Rod Blagojevich, the impeached ex-Governor of Illinois, was a megachurch pastor too because he also was doing the TV circuit. He appeared on Larry King, and while he didn’t appear on Oprah, he did almost choose her to replace Barack Obama as Senator of Illinois.

Anyways… This is fascinating to me:

The pews are empty, but the news is full.

Yes, yes, yes, there are many reasons for the declining role of the church in North America right now, but I can’t help but think that all of this news coverage (whether these mega-men are accurately represented or not) has something to do with why I was sitting on a church pew…
In a café.

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