I don't think the church is doing the job it set out to do. Every few years the church as a whole reinvents itself centering on a new piece of scripture. This latest fling is centered on the 1 Corinthians 9:22 the idea of becoming all things to all people. It's a brilliant little concept on its simple surface yet the church doesn't do it; sure they do the standard preach and plug every chance they get but haven't actually broken out and become anything to anybody.
I take that back they've become a few things to a few people. Mainly they've become kids to kids, teens to teens, women to women, and rich people to poor people (if that one's even what Paul is talking about). The church has always been great about those groups but it's struggled with a few others.
The church traditionally has done a poor job reaching two key and overlapping demographics; men and workers. The later being perhaps the least satisfied group within the church, only 33% (average of various surveys) of people are satisfied with their jobs. More important is the inverse 77% of workers aren't satisfied with their jobs. This means that in the average church with 171 weekly attendees 132 adults (assuming all adults are working) aren't satisfied 40 hours a week. The neglect of these attendees is partially caused by a separation between ministers and professional workers. Many pastors haven't had a ministry job for years so they begin to forget the stresses and issues in the professional world.
The church is doing little to meet these members were they are. Sure there are lunch time Bible studies (mostly men's groups), there are even a few professional organizations out there (the majority being focused on business owners, CEOs, Presidents and not the average worker). The fact that these groups exist doesn't matter, I've never actually seen one. I know they are out there (Google told me) but their lack of visibility makes them less effective and borderline ineffective. In my search I found one group required referrals or invitations to join. Seriously you had to be a referred or invited CEO, President, or general manager. Other groups didn't appear to meet, ever, they had one event on a calendar and apparently called it a year. Between the church and the Para-church the young professional has few options to be met where he or she is (women having even few options since most groups are men's groups).
There is clearly a problem and there aren't clear solutions. Maybe churches could try
1. Move toward bi-vocational pastoral positions. This would constantly keep pastors in touch with the professional world, so they understand first hand the issues and emotions related to it.
2. Provide job search help to congregants. If 77% of attendees aren't satisfied in their jobs maybe the best thing a church can do is offer help finding a new job, a sort of job board / head hunting ministry.
3. Start a slew of mid day accountability groups to give professionals a midday boost.
What else could the church do?
