The Times...they are a changing! Part 2

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Written by Alan Vink

Categories: Pastors Blog

Tags: trends

Comments: 1

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Dear Pastors

No one is surprised by change anymore. It is intrinsic to our lives. As you’ve heard said, ‘the only constant is change’. Navigating change however is one other thing. At an individual level we have become remarkably adaptive (think online banking). At a corporate or organisational level it’s a whole lot more challenging. This is true for churches.

Many people look to their local church for stability, an anchor in the storm of life if you wish, a fortress in times of trouble. And that is entirely right and appropriate. Yet we also know that if we don’t morph and adapt then it won’t take long, especially at the speed of change these days, that we become a relic of the past, a ship on the sea of irrelevance. Billy Graham summed it up beautifully this way when he said, “I want to be anchored to the rock and geared to the times”. The ‘rock’ speaks of strength, dependability and stability whereas ‘geared’ speaks of adaptiveness, agility and movement.

It now becomes a pastors (and I believe elders) task to manage this tension. Stable yet agile, rock solid yet flexible.

So here are a few more trends (movements) that I see on the horizon or in some cases are already well on the move.

  1. Denominational Affiliation will mean less and less to everyday Christians. Actually it already does. Very few millennials choose a church because of its name or its affiliation. Builders will, Boomers might but millennials won’t. Feel free to ask them if you don’t believe me. They go to the church that is most suitable for the age and stage of life they are at. Please remember children already do and will continue to decide where the family goes to church as I said last week. I can’t overstate the implications of this trend.
  2. Most Pastors are and will continue to be part of a network (or two) beyond or even within their denomination which for a growing number of pastors will be more influential than their denomination and their denominational leaders.
  3. Upkeep, maintenance and major capital works of ageing church buildings will consume more and more of the donation dollar. This will frustrate pastors and cause unhappiness amongst tithers and givers.
  4. The nuclear family will experience all sorts of new challenges particularly in the raising of emotionally resilient children. This means pastors who really understand these new pressure points and both speak into them and programme for them will see growth.
  5. Millennials want a ‘seat at the table’. Study after study show this. The millennial generational cohort are turning 40 now. They are not looking for Sunday morning lecturers, or Monday morning CEO’s, no they are looking for Pastors who include them at the top table and who show clear evidence they understand their world AND are listening to their perspectives on church life and missions.
  6. The Entrepreneur vs The Shepherd. This discussion is getting a bit of air time and has done for a year or two. The argument is that in today’s world the growing and successful churches will be lead by entrepreneurs or at least those who have a strong entrepreneurial ability. Though there is some truth in that and there is certainly some evidence for it, I personally don’t think it is a model I would advocate. Beside I am not sure it is particularly biblical. Churches need Shepherds not business leaders. A pastor with a strong shepherding gift can I believe grow a church to 200, perhaps 300. Really, it’s possible. I’ll say more about this in a few weeks.
  7. Content vs Transcendence. This is an intriguing one. As I said last week good content in fact world class content is just a click away….any time, any place. I’m beginning to hear a new sound these days. Christians want to experience a moment with God on Sunday mornings. Back in the 80’s even the 90’s a lot of adults came to church to hear a good (read stimulating, thought provoking) sermon. I’m not so sure that is the case these days. Listen and look carefully and you will hear Christians saying ‘give me Jesus…….I want to experience His grace, love, power, healing whatever is needed’……..Transcendence!
  8. Succession. The Boomers have built a lot of stuff. Businesses, social service organisations, mission agencies and churches. The trend in NZ (and most of the West) is that they are holding on to their primary leadership roles too long in some cases waaaay too long. And it is frustrating younger leaders to their back teeth. So in my view this is going to be a fascinating space to watch. And it won’t all be pretty.
  9. Pastor well-being. When a third of pastors are struggling emotionally (and often relationally) another third doing just OK and only a third thriving and really enjoying their lives it is pretty evident that we will see more and more opportunities for pastors to attend to their own soul. We are already seeing a lot more writing around this.
  10. Climate Change. This may be the biggest ‘change’ we will see and experience in the near future. I am reluctant to say this but I have a strong hunch that many Christians will be forced to become climate change believers when their properties subside (or threaten to subside), weird weather events in their town and cities and/or raging fires on the hills nearby……just saying. Note: It seems that conservative Christians are very slow the world over to acknowledge that manmade climate change is not just real but a major threat to our planet and the health and welfare of future generations. I really believe we should teach and talk about this issue and then consider taking some steps towards becoming a ‘greener’ organisation.

And finally I would like to offer you a deeply held conviction I have, a hope, an aspiration and a prayer. It’s this – we need a REVIVAL! Yes NZ needs a revival. A spiritual renewal would be a good start (a bit like the Charismatic Renewal of the 60’s and 70’s) but a revival would be amazing. A revival as I understand it is a sovereign move of God that touches the church (often first) and then all of society. How good it would be to experience in our day signs and wonders such that marriages are restored, families re-united, prisons emptying, police with very little to do, sick bodies healed and most of all sinners convicted of their sin and turn to God in deep and enduring repentance. I have personally come to the conclusion that nothing else will fix our deep and abiding problems as a nation and get the job done.

What do you think about all this? What do you see on the horizon that I haven’t mentioned? I would love to hear from you. Click ‘reply’ , add a comment or send me an email direct to alan.vink@leadershipworx.org.nz

Blessings

Alan

Announcement

On Tuesday 25th February Dr Michael Brown (USA) and Prof Paul Moon (NZ) will be speaking in Auckland. Can I encourage you to carefully consider coming to this event?

I would like to add a note about a ‘sensitivity’ that many Pastors have in NZ. It’s basically summed up like this, “I do not want to get involved in politics”. I say, “fair enough”. Neither did I when I was pastoring a church, at least not in partisan politics. However, if politics in general terms is about how a nation Governs itself and how we live together in peace then surely that is of great interest to us as Christians. As believers we care deeply about the welfare of the city and nation, about basic human rights, about justice issues and about the Kingdom of God coming to earth (in greater measure) as it is in Heaven. It is this that this conference seeks to explore…….pure and simple. It is about understanding what is going on in our culture and how we can make an informed biblical response. This I am confident about - you and I will be left with lots to think and pray about if we attend this event. And that has to be a good thing.

All details and registration can be found here.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.

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  1. Henry Henry True! But for us, the only change we should have is for good! Thursday, December 9, 2021

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