Moving a Church from Success to Faithfulness

by Greg Leeper

Believing that “the church in North America is in serious trouble,” authors Kent Carlson (BA ’79, MA ’82, MAR ’84) and Mike Lueken (MDiv ’93) issue a humble, but prophetic call for its reformation. Recounting the transformational journey of the church they co-pastor – Oak Hills Community Church in Folsom, CA – the Trinity graduates challenge church leaders to reconsider the purpose of the church and how successful ministry is measured.

Founded in 1984 and oriented toward spiritual seekers, Oak Hills had seen substantial numerical growth under Carlson’s leadership, peaking at an average weekend attendance of 1700. It wasn’t until the completion of a multi-million dollar building project in 1999 that several converging factors led to a period of reflection for him and his staff. While attendance increased at a slower than expected rate, the tension grew between what they read on the inner life and the frenetic pace necessary to produce relevant weekly seeker services.

After Lueken – who had arrived in 1997 as spiritual formation pastor – took a course on spiritual formation from Dallas Willard, he knew it would be “difficult to do church in the same way.” At their annual staff leadership retreat, they experienced a collective awakening. Their attractional church model, based as it was on the ethos of consumerism, ran counter to the deep life transformation they wanted to see in their church. Rather than accept consumerism as a fact of life to be exploited for church growth, they began to see it as an “insidious monster” to be resisted. Calling people to deny self in following Jesus was a tough ask after appealing to self-interest to get them through the door. Says Carlson, “How we attract people is how we form them.” Peddling quality religious goods led to spiritual consumers, not disciples of Jesus.

Spurred forward, they began taking personal inventory, even to the point of reviewing their conception of the Gospel itself. Far more than “crossing a line” of faith that offered forgiveness of sins and eternity in heaven, they came to see it as “the enthralling vision of life in God’s kingdom.” That this new, transformed life is available in the here and now ran counter to the truncated “non-discipleship Christianity” toward which they had oriented their church.

Introducing changes fueled by this paradigm shift proved difficult, however. Reorienting the weekend services away from attracting seekers toward forming disciples and canceling the midweek service for believers was met with resistance. But, the authors say, the reaction was rooted in the truncated gospel they themselves had promoted. Lueken writes, “Our greatest challenge through the years of our transition was dislodging the sin gospel from the hearts and minds of our people, and from the culture of our church.” Between 2001 and 2010, attendance dropped by nearly 1000. Among those to leave were many long-time members and even staff. Referring to “the unspoken contract” in providing a church focused on the spiritual wants of attendees, Carlson says that in making the shift, “we broke that contract.” Though they acknowledge the painfulness of the process and that mistakes were made during the transition, they speak joyfully and passionately about the current state and focus of Oak Hills.

Once focused on drawing as many people to the weekend services as possible, Lueken says they now emphasize “living an eternal kind of life now” as the primary means of evangelism at Oak Hills, as they collectively and individually participate in the life of the broader Folsom community. Carlson points to Lueken’s own commitment to coaching football at the community high school as an example. Though “living Christianly,” participating in prayer walks, and hosting arts events are important, they maintain that “effective evangelism is both demonstration and proclamation.” (142)

Evangelism isn’t the only element at Oak Hills that has changed. Worship too has been re-envisioned. The consumer-driven concern over style gave way to prioritizing content, which they came to believe is, at its most basic, the “celebration and retelling of the story of God.” (149) Worship services were then structured to best facilitate this, following the historical four-fold pattern suggested by Robert Webber. “We discovered that when we nailed down the issues of content and structure, style became less divisive….[W]hen we knew we were developing content-rich and structurally sound worship services, we felt free to use the style most natural to us.” (160)

One of the most unique elements to the story is the commitment to co-pastoring, an arrangement in place for the past 10 years. In speaking with them, it is clear that Carlson and Lueken are brothers together on a mission. With their respect and love for each other, they exhibit the kind of community they are working to create at Oak Hills. Though they admit co-pastoring is less efficient organizationally, it has created “a laboratory for spiritual formation,” says Lueken. “It forces us to ask the hard questions about motivations and ambitions,” adds Carlson. Though they don’t necessarily recommend it as a model to be widely emulated, they see it as a vital component in the work God is doing at the church.

Having graduated some years ago, they speak with fondness of their time at Trinity. Lueken says he was “supremely formed” and learned to “ask the ‘why’ questions,” as he sat under well-trained, authentic professors such Scot McKnight. Mentioning the late Kenneth Kantzer and John Woodbridge, Carlson agreed that being “taught how to think” was most important to him. Their message to current seminarians? “The call is to faithfulness, not to success.” Perhaps true success is just that: faithfulness to God and to one’s calling, combined with a life of discipleship.

Greg Leeper (MA ’04) is Associate Dean of Students at Trinity College.

One Response

1. polly789 says:

   March 29, 2012 at 3:16 am

   The book seems pretty interesting.Perhaps true success is just that: faithfulness to God and to one’s calling, combined with a life of discipleship- I really believe that is true.

   London

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