What is happening now in the culture of the world around us and the culture of the church will affect the local church in the next ten to twenty years will not only affect us, they will shake the local church as we know it in the Western world. Our churches are not insulated or isolated from the world in which we live, but they are affected and infected by it. Let's take a look at a few shakeups that are already beginning to happen.
Thanks to Covid, more and more people are isolating themselves from the local church and from others who love and follow Jesus. This has been happening before the pandemic, but Covid has accelerated this trend. People have been willingly pushed into the category of unchurched or de-churched. Even if they were formerly faithful church members, they are now largely missing in action.
Go to church, look around you, and you will see a large segment of the population missing. Currently this includes the Millennial Generation (born 1981 – 1996) and Generation Z (born 1997 – 2012). This is especially noticeable after the eleventh or twelfth grade today and expands as a whole generation known as the Millennials and many from Gen Z are largely absent from the local church. Every generation requires and need new methods and ministries, but the same gospel message. They also need intergenerational life and ministry. Are we praying and planning for effectively reaching each new generation with the gospel of Christ? Think of it – there are now five distinct generations that the church is called to reach with the gospel and make disciples who make disciples. (Matt. 28:18-20) As someone has said, the church is only one generation away from extinction.
After over two years of a pandemic, many are beginning to wake up and realize that America is a nation that has become uber-dependent on "experts." In the past, experts were those who we used as resources to help us, but not control us. Now we are headed down a road where so-called experts dictate how we think, live, and work. Personal thinking and decision-making are rapidly being replaced by a few who dictate or determine what we need to know or do. Education, politics, and the internet are shaping our world and our worldview. Even the church is in danger of being a gathering place of overly dependent people who do not think.
I never thought I would say this, but I am observing the dumbing down of the church. It is showing up in the level and type of pastoral training, the content of sermons including the increasing absence of expository preaching, church leadership that refuses to deal with difficult issues or people-problems, the watering down of sound doctrine, allowing unqualified people to serve in church leadership, and the elimination of teaching opportunities in the church, to name a few.
A fifth but not final trend is the increasing lack of intentional leadership development in our churches. And this especially includes younger or multigenerational leadership. We are putting people into leadership training with little or no training, and no knowledge of expectations and outcomes. We do that and then expect that they will be leaders. Worse yet is the expectation that church leadership almost becomes the sole responsibility of the pastor or pastoral staff.
So what should we be doing so that our churches are not shaken off their biblical foundation, or soon face their closure? Here are five recommendations for your church.
First, recognize the reality of what your church might need to look like in a post-Covid world in order to reach the lost, the unchurched, and the de-churched. What about your church needs to change now to prepare for the near future?
Learn the uniqueness of the younger generations, and then go and be where they go to school, work, play, and live. Adopt more of a "go-to" than a "come-to" style of ministry.
Stop depending on the "experts" to give you directions and do the thinking for you. Learn to think and pray for yourself and as a church on mission led by the Holy Spirit. When in doubt, use Spirit-guided common sense. How can you help your family and your church be a community that is always learning to follow the leading and the mind of the Holy Spirit, not just the "experts"?
Don't be part of the dumbing down of the church – be part of a community of faith known for always "lets the word of Christ dwell in you richlyÐ" (Col. 3:16) Be a Bible church that is known for equipping all ages for life and ministry using the whole counsel of God found in the word of God. (Acts 20:27)
Develop a disciple-making pathway. Build on that by developing and using a leadership development roadmap. In these changing times, not moving forward and multiplying according to the Great Commission is not an option for churches. We are commanded to make disciples who multiply by making more disciples. (Matt. 28:18-20)
What trends do you see happening that are beginning to shape your church?
[Photo by ???? cdd20 on Unsplash]