Note #35705 from Kevin Brown to UCCHRIST CHATTER:

"During the holidays I have been mulling over our discussion relative to the growth or decline of the UCC: (United Church of Christ). As you may remember, my prognostication is that we shall decline rather than grow. The response of others has been the opposite.

The UCC has been in decline since its' inception; virtually all of the other mainline traditions have also been in decline during that period, which suggests that the shift is cultural rather than just "us."

That having been said, we need to be honest with ourselves. While we love what the UCC stands for, it simply does not seem to be a great drawing card for the masses. And we need to be honest and differentiate between what we claim as ours and reality. We love diversity, but we are what, about 98% white, middle class, and small church? How many of us serve churches that are really growing (and I am not talking percentages; 10% growth of a 200 member church over the last five years sounds good but it is a long way from reaching 3 million by 2020)?

Over the past decade we have demonstrated that we are not terrible good at new church planting and growth ... in too many cases underfunded and poorly planned with a "one-size-fits-all" model. It is not terribly difficult to get a church of under 100 going; it is incredibly difficult to get it beyond 100, which is the benchmark for long term stability.
How and where are these 3 million folks going to come from?

How many churches use a post-Modern approach to present a post-Modern understanding of Christ? Most of us use modernist forms of communication to preach a modernist understanding of Christ, which means nobody listens and nobody hears. Churches like Willow Creek and Saddleback use post-Modern communications to preach a pre-modern Jesus; so while their message is (IMHO) simplistic and at times damaging, at least their message gets broadcast in a way which the masses can understand.

None of this is to say that what the UCC stands for is not good or that there is anything wrong with small churches, etc. But if we do not take a critical look at ourselves we run the risk of becoming self-righteous all the way to oblivion.

It seems to me that we must constantly struggle with these realities and the reality that most of us take the easy way out, preferring to be shepherds to folk who think like we do rather than missionaries daring to venture into a far less hospitable environment.

I firmly believe we in the UCC have something very important to offer, but we need a pretty radical reformation within our own ranks to make incarnate our hope.