8 minute read
Responding to Reality
Rick Hill encourages congregations to analyse the cultural landscape in which they function and make positive changes that will allow them to engage more effectively in the community.
“I don’t like it around here anymore!”
Those were the words our six-year-old son shouted in frustration as we encouraged him to share his toys with his younger brother. It’s funny that no matter what our age, we can be tempted to assume it’s never as good as it used to be. Do you ever feel like it’s just not the same as the good old days?
I wonder if we think about the church in this way. Perhaps remembering a church more central to society, our buildings bursting full of people and the Christian message being more widely accepted leaves us fearing that the glory days are over. However, Ecclesiastes 7:10 says: “Don’t say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it’s not wise to ask such questions.”
Nehemiah might have felt despair as he looked at Jerusalem’s broken walls. The city lay in ruins, the walls were destroyed and the people were in distress. What Nehemiah saw broke his heart: “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”
What do you do if you don’t like what’s happening around you? It would have been easy to rush to activity, but Nehemiah’s first response was pausing to pray. Against a bleak backdrop prayer came before productivity.
Nehemiah’s next step was to survey the land, going at night to inspect the walls and get a full picture of the task at hand. Before he communicated to anyone, he analysed the landscape and studied the culture. Observation came before action. We need to see the context we are leading in and reflect on our current reality.
Changing commitment patterns
This is a generation with more choice than ever before. Work and family patterns have changed and lives are packed full. Parents are taxi drivers, entertainment options are endless, time is a luxury and choice is a god. Shortterm thinking dominates the landscape and long-term commitment is feared. ‘FOMO’ is a common phrase with the ‘Fear of Missing Out’ preventing people from committing in case a better offer comes along. People might love the idea that their church serves the poor every Thursday but don’t ask them to help every week. Comedian Milton Jones says: “Some people see the church as a giant helicopter. They’re scared to get too close in case they get sucked into the rotas.”
A generation ago, a strongly-committed church attender went to church three times a week. Today it might be closer to three times a month. It was also easier to get church members to volunteer in organisations.
It’s a problem if our church relies on a schedule suited to the three-times-aweek attender and a dilemna when we have organisations to run. Now I don’t think we should necessarily lower our expectations. Church attendance and commitment have always mattered. But if people are only going to commit to a couple of things, then are we sure they are prioritising the things of most importance? Karl Vaters writes: “Great churches are doing fewer services, but getting more out of them. When they ask people for a second commitment in their weekly calendar it’s for something that isn’t already happening in the main church service. Like an opportunity to meet practical needs or have deeper study and fellowship.” Perhaps doing less might mean helping people do what really matters.
I refuse to believe that people are no longer committed but they now commit in different ways. There’s an attraction to ‘Couch to 5k’ programmes that get us fit in six weeks or 28-day body cleanses that sheds weight fast. It’s more intense for shorter periods of time than every single week for the rest of their life.
I wonder if how people commit now can actually be used to our advantage. What about a 10-week Alpha course with an end point in sight? Or a six-week book club to engage your neighbours? Or inviting people to serve in leadership for the next year? It might give opportunities to pilot fresh initiatives, trial new things and stop things that aren’t working so well. Karl Vaters says: “That’s how people commit today. In chunks of time and/or money. A wise leader won’t berate them for that. Instead, if they want to commit in chunks, let’s give them chunks to commit to. Then leverage that experience into long-term, consistent giving.”
Of course churches need weekly helpers and steady givers, but getting people involved in simple ways might be how to get the ball rolling. How do we ask people to step into service or leadership? Rather than targeting everyone, we should be personally inviting individuals. People might still say no but they’ll never say yes if we don’t give them the option.
On the margins
According to Christian Research, the church in the UK has lost 192,000 under 15s in the last nine years. Another survey revealed that one-third of 15-24-yearolds in Ireland didn’t know what Easter was about and a third of 10-13-year-olds don’t know that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus. Biblical illiteracy is high. Generally, for those who haven’t grown up in church, God isn’t on their radar. Many don’t believe in the God of the Bible and therefore rationally they won’t follow the principles in the Bible.
Even among young Christians, many embrace Jesus but neglect the church, sometimes deliberately due to growing suspicion of institutions, other times unintentionally drifting from one church to another. In an article on the Netflix generation, Brett McCracken writes: “We can cycle through entire seasons of TV in a weekend, binge-watching as fast as we can because there are just too many other shows to get to. But all of this only further entrenches us within consumerism which also wreaks havoc on our spiritual lives…We engage in ‘church shopping’ that is not unlike Netflix scrolling, looking for the perfect fit but feeling predictably anxious that the search will never end.”
We need to remember that the church is scattered as well as gathered, and there is a pressing need in a churchless generation to envision, inspire, encourage and equip followers of Jesus to bear witness to Jesus wherever they find themselves. We must equip people to go and be carriers of the kingdom of God. Often, we can be so focused on getting those on the fringe into the core of our church that we miss giving attention to how we invest in our core members and send them out. Heat the core and let it work its way out to the fringes. If people see something compelling, either in our lives or in our community, then they will want to come and experience it.
In my congregation, the team who regularly ran Alpha courses on our own church premises, recently moved that course from our building to a local community centre in a working-class housing estate half a mile down the road. It might sound like a small shift but it’s been significant because the focus was shifted from bringing the community into church to bringing church into the community.
Engaging a younger generation
Often the way we do things in church doesn’t naturally engage a generation whose education system conditions them to be active rather than passive. Technology goes hand in hand with life. Their phones have always been smart. When Youth for Christ asked 1000 teenagers about their favourite activities, their top three responses all involved consuming media. Their research revealed that while 94% of teenagers go online daily, 69% of young people never attend a youth club of any kind. Attention spans are shorter and online content is consumed at a rapid pace. Research shows that the average length of time a video is played on YouTube is 11 seconds. In other words, if it hasn’t engaged them in that time, they switch off. That’s a challenge to how we often do things in church where a 30-minute spoken presentation is foreign to the Snapchat generation.
This is also a generation suspicious of authority and institution. In previous generations those in authority (teachers, politicians, ministers) were automatically respected because of their position, however having a leadership position today doesn’t equal influence. Take the US President, holding the most powerful position on earth, yet at least half of his own country won’t follow his lead. He has authority but lacks influence. In contrast, a 15-year-old Swedish girl starts skipping school to protest at climate change and less than a year later millions of people are doing the same all over the planet. She lacks authority but has influence.
Theologian Andrew Root describes this as the ‘age of authenticity’ where the idols are internet stars and social media influencers. People are better connected than ever before and their social circles aren’t limited by geography, however while community is craved, it is a struggle to achieve.
In the last decade, Barna tracked the faith development of millennials by conducting more than 27,000 interviews. The researchers said that churches successfully engaging millennials made room for meaningful relationships through mentoring relationships. Engaging a younger generation means leaning away from a church-as-business model and towards a church-as-family model.
Last year I had a phone call from a minister who was telling me about how he was trying to engage the young adults in his congregation. “I think I’m doing it wrong!” he said, before going on to tell me he just invited the young adults from his church to the manse for dinner once a month because he didn’t know what else to do. I think he was doing it just right! He was prioritising relationship and moving closer to them. I love how the Apostle Paul described his philosophy of ministry: “We were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well.” In the same way we need to engage them in relationship.
Empowering with responsibility
It’s not all negative. This generation care deeply and want to make a difference by being part of greater good in the
world. Research shows they are more likely to volunteer and give time to support good causes. They are self-starters who co-create, live stream and take part. Social media isn’t always destroying them, but often motivates their interests, choices and causes they support.
There’s an entrepreneurial spirit where creativity is high, innovation is important and communication is crucial. They aren’t just on the production line, they want to be the production line. Nontraditional careers are popular as many desire to make an impact on the world, live a life of meaning and lose themselves in a sense of purpose. They won’t just commit because a church, ministry or denomination is where they’ve always been. The cause must be practical, valuable and trustworthy. Don’t assume they aren’t capable. Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook as a student, Rory McIlroy has been a national sporting hero since his teens and last month a 15-year-old addressed the UN. Yet often in church, young people are given token roles, entertained or overlooked. More than involving them in our ideas, we need to allow them to shape their ideas, encourage them to have a go and resource them to do it.
We won’t honour our forefathers if we repeat their traditions but lose a generation. We’ll honour our forefathers by embracing their principles but being flexible with our practices. Everyone needs equipped for their ministry. Let’s empower young people with responsibility.
Back to Nehemiah
After Nehemiah wept over the city and inspected the walls, he went on to communicate a clear vision, build a team and involve others. Despite obstacles and opposition Nehemiah led with hope, discerned a response, shared a vision, called people to action and rolled up his own sleeves. Once we survey the land to assess current reality, our heart should stir to find a response, call people to action and roll up our sleeves to do something about the challenges we see. A world of despair desperately needs dealers of hope. Rather than carry a spirit of despair, retreat in frustration and assume the culture is too difficult, we need to respond with a realistic hope. Without hiding away from challenges or pretending everything is fine, we step forward with hope-filled reality that God can repair broken walls and restore ancient ruins.
Rick Hill is PCI’s Discipleship Officer.
