A Christian Response to $5.00 a Gallon Gas
by Tim Adams ~ July 15th, 2008
$5.00 a gallon gas hasn’t made it to Texas yet, but all indicators say it’s on the way. How will that impact the way we “do church?”
If you’re like me and you grew up in the 1970’s, you remember the original Energy Crisis.
Following the Yom Kippur War of 1973, OPEC informed the supporters of Israel that the party was over. Almost overnight we were told that without the oil we’d been getting from OPEC we’d be running out of the natural resources that drove our economy and underwrote our lifestyle. We were completely caught off guard. Most Americans had no idea how dependent we had become on foreign oil.
Conservation became a buzzword. A popular bumper sticker of the time said it all – “Energy: Use It, But Use It Wisely.”
Within a short time the oversized cruising vessels made by Ford, GM and Chrysler were replaced by Pintos, Vegas and Gremlins (oh, the humanity!) – and they soon had serious competition from the much better made products of Toyota and Datsun.
None of this really made much of an impression on my 12-year old mind until one Saturday morning when I made my usual trek up to the corner Ice House (that’s what we call convenience stores in San Antonio) to buy a gallon of gas for the lawnmower and three pieces of Super Bubble to enjoy as I cut the grass.
But, much to my shock, the quarter (as in 25 cents) that had covered the cost of the gas and the gum in the past no longer would suffice. Suddenly gas was over 40 cents a gallon. It was the end of the world as I knew it. Certainly the Rapture was near.
Besides the drastic downsizing in the wheelbase of the cars rolling off of Detroit assembly lines, there were other obvious ways that life suddenly changed. From that point on, the 1970’s became a time of shortages and runaway inflation. Adding to that were the looming Watergate scandal and the slow, tortured end of the Vietnam War. It was like a fog had settled in.
And there’s a lot going on in our world right now that is eerily similar – and much more dangerous.
About the same time as gas was doubling and tripling in price in the 1970’s, churches all over America were using buses to bring people in. What seeker sensitivity, user friendliness, mission statements and praise choruses mean to today’s megachurches, the Bus Ministry meant to the 1970’s practitioners of church growth in America.
Long before there were rear screen projectors, auditoriums without crosses and Rock Band for the Wiis in the Student Center, there were bus workers swallowing goldfish, giving away colored baby chicks at Easter and hiding money under the bus seats (sometimes referred to as Baptist Bingo).
With the rise of gas prices in the 1970’s, Bus Ministry became a larger line item for churches but more feasible for the riders, most of whom came from low income neighborhoods and apartment complexes. For all of its superficiality and focus on entertainment, Bus Ministry was, for the most part, a good way for poor people to get to church - most of whom were kids whose parents were thankful for the weekly respite.
I was one of those bus workers in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. When I was 17, a good friend of mine and I started a bus route from scratch, making cold turkey door-to-door visits on the Southside of San Antonio. Within three weeks of our first visit we had 61 kids on the bus and headed for Sunday School at Huisache Ave. Baptist Church.
As a college student I worked in the largest Bus Ministry in America at First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana from 1980-1982. First Baptist leased over 150 buses every weekend to pick up riders throughout the Chicago area and bring them to downtown Hammond for a taste of the old-time religion.
Like most methods, Bus Ministry ran its course. It’s still used by some churches (First Baptist Hammond still operates on about the same scale) but has seen its popularity wane since the early 1980’s and the ascendancy of the commuter megachurch.
But, as we head toward $5.00 a gallon gas, I can’t help but wonder if the clock is ticking on the commuter megachurch as well.
The megachurches on the outlying edges of suburbia are a 15-30 minute Sunday morning drive for many of their commuter members. Add to that men’s groups, women’s groups, youth group and other functions that keep a family going back to the campus three to four times a week and all of a sudden they’ve gone through a full tank on the SUV – roughly $100 a week.
What if, rather than drive past 20 churches on the way to the church with the big screens American Christians decided it would be better stewardship of God’s money to find a church within a reasonable driving distance or even walking distance from where they live?
What if, as a result of the money they saved on gas they could contribute more to the previously struggling neighborhood churches they had been driving past? Not to mention how much healthier we would all be if we walked to church.
What if one of the unintended consequences of $5.00 a gallon gas was a greater emphasis on the communities where we live as the place where we minister in the name of Jesus rather than seeing a building or an institution as the focus of our devotion?
What if, through this surge in membership and resources, neighborhood churches shifted out of survival mode and became agents of community development and change?
What if, over time, a new paradigm of church emerged, one that emphasized Christians as givers rather than consumers? What would it be like for American Christians to choose a church on the basis of what they could do for it, rather than what it could do for them?
Imagine the possibilities.
Dream out loud.
At high volume.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Tim, Thanks for taking us down memory lane and its nice to recall, more than three decades removed, that we did survive the first energy crunch. Thank goodness the Lord still works in mysterious ways and achieves His will in spite of our condition. Because of the population density surrounding megachurch locations, they will certainly survive. My prayer is that God would mobilize this vast army to help foster renewal in the blighed inner city. What about a reversal of direction? Maybe the old Bus Ministry could be revived to transfer those with servant hearts from the megachurch into the inner city mission field?
July 16th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Jeff:
I like your thinking - God’s creativity in these matters is always way above the circumstances that tend to make us circle the wagons. The new wine is going to flow, we just need to have our cups ready.
Tim Adams
November 13th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Tim, and now for something completely different. I need to let you know that my reports from the Drs. have gone south. My meeting with my Dr. and my family today didn’t bring about the results that I was hoping for. He has given me about three to six months. I have seen HIS hands in my sickness moe than ever in my life. I will attempt to come to the lunchen next week, but if I can not, I would like to get together soon and talk about some direction for my congregation and what they are trying to do. All of my best to your good family. Leon
November 13th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Leon - just let me know what I can do to help. As always, we’re praying for you, your family and your church. We’ll be in Arlington for Thanksgiving - I’ll give you a call when I know the exact time we should be getting into town.