Urban churches often face changing communities, and I'm not talking race. Communities change spiritually, psychologically, economically, etc. This causes urban churches to face many different challenges as they often deal with decreasing membership, broken friendship, reduced budgets, and sometimes fear. Faced with these changing communities, urban churches face four choices, and I have witness all of these here in Charlotte in the last few years.
Some churches look to relocate to what they believe to be greener pastures. This means the church moves to the suburbs where land is cheaper and like-minded are more plentiful.
The second alternative churches have in a transitioning community is to disband the church. These churches make a conscience decision that they are unwilling to make the needed changes to revitalize the church. Not far from the seminary there was a church in decline. I met with the deacon chair and asked if the seminary could come alongside them and help them transition to reach the community around them, but they chose to disband. New Life Theological Seminary is the recipient of such a church. The Whiting Avenue Baptist Church disbanded on the day of their centennial celebration, having earlier given their property to the seminary.
The third choice is to merge with another like-minded church. While this may seem like a good idea, the reality is that few mergers work. When two unhealthy congregations join, the problems of both continue and chaos follows. Bringing two unhealthy churches together does not produce a healthy congregation.
The only biblical alternative is to adapt. This is not easy but when God places a church in a community, God knows how that community will change over time. God is never caught off guard. He knew that your community and my community would transition. In our area there are churches that were planted in rural communities that over time have been enveloped by a rapidly expanding city. Once suburban churches now find themselves in the heart of the city. Anglo-Saxon neighborhoods have become African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods. Through gentrification some of the poorer neighborhoods have now become socially elite neighborhoods taken over by young professionals. Was God taken by surprise by any of these transitions? Of course not, God was not by surprise. Adapting means that urban churches must develop a more diverse staff, become creative in meeting the needs of the community, and are willing to embrace change. Urban churches must transition regularly. Churches are living organisms and as such must change and transition in order to grow.
