I also should note that each of them represents not only a challenge but also an opportunity. It begins by listening to your people and learning from them how they experience difficult issues, how they see your congregation, and what motivates their thinking and acting. The organization of the church needs to be simpler. All of this makes it easier to fracture our lived experience into disconnected compartments, a process that wreaks havoc on our spiritual formation. Churches must lean into the complexities and paradoxes of these things and try to seek healthy balance, tempting as it will be to claim radical and extreme positions so as to appeal to Generation Antsy. True Gregg! Justification and sanctification. How can the Church win over the minds and hearts of those Catholics whose attitudes toward abortion, stem-cell research, cloning, and sexual issues mirror those of their non-Catholic fellow citizens? This second wave seems to be ushering in a new era where church leaders must rethink everything about both full-time and part-time staff. Every week, many church leaders are confronted with gather or dont gather, masks or no masks, and other issues unique to the pandemic. Your email address will not be published. The other end of the spectrum is a challenge as well. Public health is also in the Torah when lepers were to be put outside the camp. This was ancient quarantine. We understand that we must be open to try new things and that we cannot place God in a box because we are operating under a mandate to preach the word, whatever that may look like. All those divisions still exist, but the polarization over vaccinations has been added to the mix. The church should be no haven for racism, and yet too often the church has let racial wounds fester and prejudice (whether explicit or implicit) go unaddressed. Brian Dolehide, managing director of AD Advisors, a real estate company that specializes in church sales, said the last 10 years had seen a spike in sales. In some denominations in the United States, church membership is dwindling. When presented with a list of possible challenges facing their church today, half of Protestant pastors note that "reaching a younger audience" (51%) is a major issue for their ministry. One thing is certain: I am NOT giving up my constitutional rights including my freedom of assembly and freedom of worship simply because the government thinks I should. When I say messy, I mean that there is often a gap between a churchs ideal vision for itself and the reality of life that actually constitutes beliefs and behaviors in real time. I must not, however, assume that everyone would . One of the biggest challenges for theologically conservative churches will be to maintain a consistent biblical ethic on these matters, speaking in truth and love about (for example) the witness of Scripture on divorce as much as the witness of Scripture on homosexuality. Denominational structures destabilizing. Because in America, unlike in Britain, theres a very explicit kind of Christian America versus godless communism framing, and to be non-religious is to be un-American. I pray for your fatigue of a constantly changing world, and for Gods blessings as you learn to navigate it. 1) Pastor/Church Leader; 2) Executive/Management. Some of these challenges include compromise with the standards of the world or walking the path of the world. At its foundation, racism is idolatry; it denies the image of God in all persons. 7) Complexity. Many Christians today are quite simply more compelled by sin (though we call it brokenness) than we are with holiness, and that is a significant problem the church must address. A church will go through a life cycle. Franklin, TN 37069, [emailprotected] In 1900, more than 80 percent of Anglicans lived in Britain; in 2008, that number had fallen to 33 percent. The goal is arriving at a handful of practical experimentsconcrete responses to what God is disrupting and renewing. And there has not been sufficient growth in discipleship that is comparable to the growth in numbers. Wound up within racism and patriarchy is Christian nationalism, which is another kind of idolatry that has to do with ungodly power that is hoarded in order to dominate and control. Not only are they causing confusion, but they are also often hidden beneath the surface, shaping your congregational culture in ways you dont realize. That aside, closures are often due to a failure of churches to adapt. 6) Temptation to Reinvent the Wheel. And some will die. Too many churches are insulated and self-focused. My basic premise in this lecture is that the main challenges that the Church faces today are directly derived from the phenomenon of globalization. Businesses are shaken. But church leaders today wonder if any stability is on the horizon. 42% of pastors seriously considered quitting ministryin the last yearthat's two out of every five pastors! I would say if a church stayed closed for more than a year, it was really hard to get those people to come back. Issues related to gender identity and LGBTQ+ rights continue to come into the foreground for churches as well as society more broadly. Today is a good day to (re)read Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter From a Birmingham Jail and reflect on the continuing relevance for discipleship in our day. For many (very valid) reasons, younger generations today have a real distrust of authority. Even then, if those treatments required a lifestyle change of the patient, its full implementation was abysmally small. Capitalizing on Robin Jordans comment about Naval ships and slow maneuvering, when driving large ships the best decision is to start moving in the desired direction then adjust course as necessary. But church leaders today wonder if any stability is on the horizon. This requires out-of-the-box thinking. The firm found that seven out of 10 had stopped attending church regularly. Weve heard for years that when you give antibiotics willy nilly, we end up with SUPER bugs. Here are the seven most common challenges we see with churches: 1. 4. Its embarrassing, and there is much work to do. In 1910, only 1 percent of the world's Christians lived in sub-Saharan Africa; in 2010, this percentage had risen to 24 percent.3 The growth has not only come in Pentecostal or charismatic movements but in mainline Christian traditions. Entire social systems have been built to advantage white people and disadvantage brown or black people. If the church ages and doesnt reach young people, or the demographics change and they dont figure out how to reach the new demographic, that church ends up closing. Personal opinion. Your email address will not be published. Vision and strategy that aren't aligned Scripture is clear that without vision, people are more likely to turn to their own way. Get expert advice on everything from church budgets, staffing issues, facilities, and much more! 21) Entanglements of Allegiances. They must fast-moving torpedo boats that can make a quick turn in a new direction at a moments notice. Transformation begins when you address difficult issues as the real work where the Spirit of God is renewing life. Meeting with God in our messy congregation begins with curiosity about the habits of thinking, talking, and acting that make up our particular congregation. Rather it reflects the influence of todays me first culture. Millennials want to know that the church is willing and ready to serve in the community and make a difference. Some will thrive. In 2017 Lifeway surveyed young adults aged between 18 and 22 who had attended church regularly, for at least a year during high school. Third: Mission, outreach and empathy is essential. I think the greatest challenge in the church today is probably no different from any day, and that is that if we really believe in God and His sovereignty we'll 3) Disembodied Tendencies. This means getting outside the walls of the church. I have served, loved and struggled with the church for my entire life. This is where Gravity Congregational Transformation can help. Even while scientists are learning new things about it, their knowledge quickly becomes obsolete because the virus, as all new just-born life, experiences more frequent and drastic changes in its early days. Regardless of a churchs theology, heterosexual identity can become a tool of domination used to make enemies and turn people into others. Frameworks for what it means to be male or female might be less about how to be fully human in Jesus, and more of particular cultural norms baptized as Christian. The problem of patriarchy is not simply about holding an anthropology that teaches women and men are different. They are more subtleproclivities and inclinations smuggled into our churches alongside the cultural sensibilities we've inherited. I do not intend to be super spiritual but the fallacy of all things rising and falling on leadership is bearing its unintended but to be expected fruit. 20) Distrust of Authority. But while Covid-19 may have accelerated the decline, there is a broader, long-running trend of people moving away from religion. Your email address will not be published. Yes, church leaders can make unwise decisions that lead to the further spread of the COVID-19 virus, hospitalizations, and deaths. Im in Gods hands and one cannot do better than that.. You have to be nimble and roll with the situation. In Texas, John Muzyka of Church Realty, a company that specializes in church sales, said there were fewer churches for sale than at any point in the last 15 years. This accelerating trend is reshaping the US religious landscape.. Fasting is one of the traditional disciplines of Lent, but because its so counter-cultural and difficult for us, not many people know how to fast well. Even in congregations that teach more traditional sexual ethics, leaders must reckon with the reality that there are people under their care who struggle with gender dysphoria or who find liberation in the idea that the gender binary (male OR female) is actually more of a spectrum or that gender is (at least partly) socially constructed. 7. The research plan looks a bit different in each congregation, but plans usually include things like a mix of church-wide surveys, qualitative interviews, and field work. One perspective was that churches would resume their practices just as they were before the pandemic. LECTURER'S NAME: Dr. J.O Adegbite Introduction May God strengthen His church to stand firm in this day and seek to face these challenges with the truth of God's Word. As they learn more and the virus changes, the methods to fight it must also change. There is so much disagreement and uncertainty. Today, it seems the church has been more influenced by the society, rather than society being affected by the church. The problem is that a significant minority of people didnt get vaccinated, which gave the virus a chance to mutate. They offer simplistic and unsatisfying answers to huge questions and in so doing they foreclose a whole arena (the life of the mind) wherein God can be worshipped and holy wonder cultivated. hurches are closing at rapid numbers in the US, researchers say, as congregations dwindle across the country and a younger generation of Americans abandon. We need discernment and wisdom, grounded in hopeful realism. We have short attention spans and get bored easily, and this poses a huge challenge to the church. Leadership Coaching for Pastors & Church Leaders. Understanding the distinction between the church universal and local is encouraging. In the middle of a pandemic a leader needs to be affirmed and assured that a good decision made now is better than a perfect decision made later. Racism includes personal bias or prejudice of one person against another that trades on a socially constructed (and arbitrary) hierarchy of being that makes light-skinned (white) people superior to darker-skinned (black or brown) people. Founder & CEO. The church must reprioritize its vocation as presenters of Gods presence in the world, and to do so we must cultivate habits and liturgies that create the space and contours for that presence to be felt and known. There are several major social issues affecting congregational life today. But with the second wave, we see many denominational structures destabilizing. In the first wave of COVID, churches faced divisions over politics, masks, regathering, streaming services, and social distancing. Who knew? Churches that are a part of a denomination had to deal with the reality that the level of resources and help was not nearly what it was in the past. We will never do anything untoward with your email address, of course. These are several challenges, but let's focus on one more: the trend toward post-denominationalism. The boredom challenge leads to this challenge, to rethink church every couple years. We are all tired. The church has historically thrived when she is tested rather than comfortable. Our relationships are digital. Truth and love. I am very interested here Not only have women been marginalized, but these structures also often nurture cultures where abuse is rampant (more below). When people leave, congregations dwindle. I believe the church needs a strong dose of freedom not courage. There seems to be change after change with no time to catch your breath. Everything is fast-paced and harried; we can hardly remember which Netflix show we loved last month or which restaurant was the rage last year. As always, the best are praying and making the best of it and using this opportunity to teach/reach people they would never have even thought of 2 years ago. Just 47% of American adults identify with a particular creed, down a prodigious 20% in just two decades. 3. That is the biggest challenge. Adjustments do not possess the potential to produce fatality. One of the benefits of a denominational structure is their ability to do the heavy lifting of data gathering. 4) Compartmentalization. Every scientist has an opinion and most of us agree in part and dissent in part. Of course, churches have survived greater challenges and endured greater changes in the past 2,000 years. Frequently the sellers want a buyer who plans to use the church for a good cause: Dolehide said he had recently sold a church in El Paso which is now used as housing for recent immigrants, and a convent in Pittsburgh which will be used as affordable housing. 11) The Idol of Autonomy. Lack of knowledge of function of Spiritual Gifts 5. When people are heard with empathetic ears, it catalyzes Gods work in their hearts and prepares the soil for transformation to take root and grow congregation-wide. They dont know their own future, so they are often at a loss to help the churches they serve. We need to rediscover the beauty of simplicity, focusing on the core practices and historic sacraments of the church. As Russell Moore recently observed, In an age suspicious of all authority outside the self, the appeal to a word that carries transcendent authority can be just distinctive enough to be heard, even when not immediately embraced.. Over several hours, we meet with you to discuss the report, to ask questions, and begin dreaming about what God is doing. But there are many more issues that individuals in the Church are dealing withissues that the Church Body should be talking about. We also help you craft a plan to step into transformative new practices. To subscribe to my latest blog posts, enter your email address here. Some things work while some do not. Be glad you have the internet where worship can still occur. That has led to a flood of churches available for sale, and a range of opportunities for the once holy buildings. Related to our temptation to reinvent the wheel is the temptation to complicate Christianity and church life. Many who had covid but gratefully recovered are facing incredible medical bills. Almost every aspect of social life (economics, voting, housing, jobs, education, etc.) This diversity is a challenge or, better said, an opportunity. Confusion about the path forward. The churches will remain open, even if the pastors are by themselves preaching over Zoom or FB Live. has been, and continues to be, affected by the sin of racism in complex and often subtle ways. The attitude God will take care of us, and theyll have to take care of themselves is not a Christian attitude. Hard decisions do not need to be hard to make. Churches today must work extra hard to cultivate this. Should we be forced to shut down again, we are prepared to do whatever it takes to carry on. Most pastors and ministry leaders are looking for ways to cultivate transformation in their congregations, to move beyond business as usual and step deeper with God into loving and just forms of life together. The people I know are sympathetic to clergy who did change many things. I pray that for all of us. The end goal is not endless dialogue, but action, particularly the kinds of embodied practices your church can do to lean into the new life God is making available. With the first wave of COVID, we saw many churches reduce personnel costs. But with the second wave, we see many denominational structures destabilizing. We are all tired. As the US adjusts to an increasingly non-religious population, thousands of churches are closing each year probably accelerated by Covid. A lot of people who were weakly attached, to suddenly have months of not going, theyre then thinking: Well we dont really need to go, or Weve found something else to do, or thinking: It was hard enough dragging the kids along then, we really ought to start going again next week.. Head in the right direction and adjust as you go. Increased cynicism toward the government and politicized scientists. This has been a struggle for the church since her earliest days. 2020 Fieldstone Pkwy. Blessings, But it has also created a boom market for those wanting to buy churches, with former houses of worship now finding new life. This second wave seems to be ushering in a new era where church leaders must rethink everything about both full-time and part-time staff. We live our mediated lives via windows and boxes. The Delta variant spread faster and caused more infections. A study by Pew Research found that . Integrity is wholeness (integer = whole number), all parts of our lives integrated and reflective of the Lordship of Christ. The new rules are part of a government plan to crack . In the first wave of COVID, churches faced divisions over politics, masks, regathering, streaming services, and social distancing. One of the top answers was church members seem to be judgmental or hypocritical, McConnell said. We may reassure ourselves, Ill go to heaven if I die, they face a godless eternity. The decisions that church leaders make do have consequencesshort-term consequences and long-term consequencesconsequences for the church and its members, consequences for the community and its members. PO Box 34 7. Great answer, but I'd suggest that they biggest challenge facing the church is the privatisation of faith and belief. The primary moving force of today's economic global system is the transnational capitalist class made up of globalizing bureaucrats, politicians . The horizon doesnt look bright from the perspective of many leaders. The lack of a clear vision leads to division - literally, two visions. Our church may have resources that are going unused because we do not see them as resources. Racism has a long and dark legacy, especially in the West. SOME OF THE CHALLENGES ARE: 1. As you begin to name the themes and patterns that emerge, begin a dialogue about the story they tell about who your community is in practice, about your points of struggle and pain, and also about how God might be bringing renewal into the future. We must take caution of the deceptive schemes he is using. 50 percent of graduating high school students think Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. Were not looking to profit from our transactions, were looking for the best use that reflects the last 50 years or 100 years use if possible.. #8. Chief among them is the challenge of posturing, a performative obsession that feeds pride and hypocrisy. 1. Working with Gravity Congregational Transformation, which is not designed to do crisis intervention or conflict resolution, will be even more fruitful after making a journey back to baseline health.If youre not sure where you are, wed be happy to help you discern that in a consultation call, and then make recommendations based on your situation if it seems like partnering with a different organization first would be most helpful. Ken 1) Biblical Illiteracy. None of us wants to dispute the extraordinary growth of the church. The scientists have contradicted themselves too many times for me to trust them. We are the generation that is opting to own homes at a far lower rate than previous generations did. There are some positive things social media offers, but there are many things about it that pose challenges to the contemporary church. There are practical ways leaders can address these issues head-on in ways that better illuminate whats going on in your congregation and avail you to more just and loving forms of life together. If wrong, make the next one! In our [Episcopal} Diocese, they enlisted assistance from a group of professionals in various Public Health roles: epidemiologists, Social Work, Community development, disease control, and church function (there is a $0.25 word but that is what it is). (615) 669-8201. Do you recognise any affecting your church? Quite simply, people in churches (and even moreso those not in churches) may pay lip service to the importance of the Bible, but by and large they do not read it or know it. If our motives are pure then even mistakes become opportunities. On Sunday I will be installed as an elder in my local church, Southlands. In our prayer time, that is the message we kept hearing: preach the word. The bottom line is that these issues are not problems to be solved, but opportunities to get under the hood of congregational life and join Gods re-creating work. yet we find ourselves in that simple but complex ; mind-blowing equation of being workers together with Christ.responsible for input; but not the ultimate outcome! All of these conversations reveal assumptions in our congregation about what it means to follow Jesus with our bodies, but many of those assumptions might have nothing to do with Jesus. Churches can no longer be slow-turning aircraft carriers and battleships. Each of these issues is also fundamentally about people and the way idolatry destroys our humanity, not merely abstract doctrinal problems. Too many churches do not encourage intellectual curiosity, vibrant debate and healthy questioning. Again, the church has a long, dark history with sexism and patriarchy. We come alongside your congregation and craft a custom research project that helps reveal hidden dynamics and gain a more clear understanding of whats happening in your particular context. The church in the 21st century must embrace the mystery and embodied elements of Christianity, the experience of God rather than just the conception of Him. What is the future of Catholic schools on all levelselementary, secondary, and collegiate? The Priorities, Challenges, and Trends in Youth Ministry. Here it is in its entirety: Martin Luther King, Jr.Letter from Birmingham JailApril 16, 1963 MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, []. When you were closed for three months, you were able to get over it, Muzyka said. Bullivant said most other countries saw a move away from religion earlier than the US, but the US had particular circumstances that slowed things down. 15) The Need for Racial Reconciliation. When a difficult truth becomes clear (e.g. God meets us in our messy reality is an important axiom that guides how we understand discipleship at Gravity Leadership, and this axiom is also crucial for addressing difficult issues in our congregations. Historically, sexism has manifested predominantly as men being advantaged while women are disadvantaged, harmed, and marginalized. Hopelessness pervasive. It is fueled by ungodly power dynamics, where power is hoarded by a few to control and dominate others (a.k.a. In future articles, we will share with you how we see churches adjusting to these challenges. 16) Gender and Sexuality. I think that dampens it down until you get the millennial generation for whom the cold war is just a vague memory from their early childhood.. Contact Seth if youre ready to jump-in or have questions about what the process could look like in your congregation. Make it! Lack of love for God 6.
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