My dad used to own several leisure suits. Had I been smart, I would have raided his closet and kept one of them. Since I wasn’t smart enough to do that before I left home, I decided to purchase one of my own using eBay. I paid a chunk of money for it. Needless to say, Dad could have gotten rich if he would have held on to his leisure suits.
At one point the leisure suit was trendy, highly functional, everyone was wearing it, and it was easy to care for. It served a purpose: people needed to wear clothing that was functional and fashionable at the same time. What better solution than a polyester suit?
Eventually, the leisure suit went the way of the pet rock and the cassette player. They disappeared because better ideas came along. That’s the way history works.
Some churches are still wearing their leisure suits. Figuratively, of course. Many churches are stuck. Though they may have had a season where their kingdom impact was expanding, things have slowed down or started to decline. They know something has to change, but many times they’re unwilling to change. They’d rather keep wearing the leisure suit.
The leisure suit disappeared as fashion trends changed. Anyone caught wearing one was immediately branded as out of touch with reality or irrelevant. Sure, the leisure suit still serves a purpose, but almost no one wears them. Unfortunately, many churches still do! They sit comfortably watching the disco ball spin overhead wondering why the congregation is growing older and smaller. What they are doing is no longer connecting with today’s culture. They are not seeing the fruit.
By the way, whatever you perceive to be “traditional” churches aren’t the only churches that are stuck. Your church may have started one hundred years ago or ten years ago or even just ten months ago—but stuck is still stuck.
We can grow so accustomed to what we are doing that we are no longer aware that the rest of the world wandered off into the future. While we were counting nickels and noses, the world changed.
It’s easy to strut around proclaiming, “I like my leisure suit.” But does it really matter what I like? Am I here to exclaim the awesomeness of my personal preferences, or am I here to focus on those people I am called to impact? It’s one or the other.
Sometimes we don’t realize we aren’t connected. We need fresh eyes to see that we are stuck in one or more of several ways.
What’s the point? Until we look at our methods, our message really doesn’t matter. When we keep trying to use the same systems—hoping and praying for different results—that’s when we know we’ve fallen for the “leisure suit trap.”
Over the last several years, I’ve had the opportunity to study and work with churches across the country. I have found that there are some common attributes of churches that end up being stuck. My first eBook in The Leisure Suit Trap series unpacks eight reasons why that happens. Thanks to my partnership with Church Community Builder, you can download it for free.
