Wow what a well thought out, researched, and presented article, Jon. So very helpful and insightful.
I think we have a challenge ahead of us on the three solutions you offer. In terms of the unity needed--I agree wholeheartedly but wonder if Christians are less unified than we have been in some time. I do think we can be "united" at a local or neighborhood level in a way that gets this done for the nones--but they (and all of us) spend so much time online it will be hard to overcome the reputation for division. Also, we are divided, in some cases, over important issues either "side" is unlikely to budge an inch on.
On truth, it seems we as Christians have bought into a more postmodern way of thinking--in that we each have "my truth" which is of course a misnomer. I'm interested in what is THE truth, not just my opinion, a.k.a.: my subjective experience. Christians who were paranoid about postmodernism in the 90s, as you talk about, have embraced a very postmodern way of operating, especially if their worldview is challenged from outside of it (even if challenged biblically by their own pastor). Again, smaller communities may be the answer... a group that is saying "What does this passage say about God and people" instead of just "what is your opinion about God and people"... as you know and practice yourself, Discovery Bible Studies and Discipleship Groups do this well, and that's part of why I favor those methods over most any other Christian methods of evangelism and discipleship.
In regards to generosity--we have a challenge in that Christians are not seen as generous in the world today. We give to our own Christian stuff, and too many of us think "God helps those who help themselves" is in the Bible somewhere or the Sermon on the Mount ;-)... But again smaller communities can overcome this--becuase when people experience the generousity of neighbors, friends, and co-workers who come from smaller communities of the Gospel... the proof is in the pudding.
So godspeed in your work getting people in the game. THe only solution, I feel, to these challenges from Nones is not from the old wineskins, but new ones where our None Neighbors, None Friends, and None Co-workers are invited into relationship with us in smaller communities, microchurches, house churches, discipleship conversations, and missional communities. I highly doubt most Nones in the future will respond to invitations to yet another cool sermon series based on popular movies.
Great stuff. I wholeheartedly agree that the most powerful way to live out these realities is at the local level (starting with family, then neighborhood, then local community, etc). Although I will say I visited a great church recently that did a powerful sermon on a popular movie. Oh wait, I'm not religiously unaffiliated though. LOL!
Hey Jon -- yeah I'm sure many churches have powerful sermons on popular movies. They just need to have MORE than that to get to disciple-making. But I know I'm preaching to the choir on that.
David, I think you make a really great point about smaller communities. What I'm noticing in our local context is that once trust has been earned and deep relationships established within the church, then and only then will your voice as a pastor carry more weight with people than the voice of whoever they choose to read/listen/watch online or on TV.
And this of course leads to the question... if it takes a long, labor-intensive process of trust earning and relationship building for your voice to matter as a pastor... how can pastors really do this with more than, say 50 people?
Everyone beyond that inner core can really only be reached through multiplication. But all it takes is a few weak links in a multiplication chain to derail the entire system. And generally speaking, the bigger the system gets, the less control you have over it.
I've been wondering for a while if a network of smaller churches (30-50 people) could do more for the kingdom in the 21st century than one big church. Do you know of any examples of people who are attempting this?
Jon, I think you hit the nail on the head with this. Great job! Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I was born in '89, so the 90's were my childhood. You described this era quite well, and I agree with you that the seeds planted back then have led to where we are today.
There are hundreds of examples of networks of smaller churches. Although, I only know of a few that transitioned from a large church model to a network of smaller churches. It requires a huge paradigm shift among the staff and most tend to revert back to what they know.
hey Ryan. I know of dozens of people doing what you describe in North America. Of course worldwide it it the primary way of "doing church."
I think perhaps the key is to not make the pastor the hinge of the model... with the "influence/voice of the pastor" being the key. If we make the everyday ordinary disciple-maker the hinge of the model, then it isn't limited by any factors which most churches find to be the challenges.
Wow what a well thought out, researched, and presented article, Jon. So very helpful and insightful.
I think we have a challenge ahead of us on the three solutions you offer. In terms of the unity needed--I agree wholeheartedly but wonder if Christians are less unified than we have been in some time. I do think we can be "united" at a local or neighborhood level in a way that gets this done for the nones--but they (and all of us) spend so much time online it will be hard to overcome the reputation for division. Also, we are divided, in some cases, over important issues either "side" is unlikely to budge an inch on.
On truth, it seems we as Christians have bought into a more postmodern way of thinking--in that we each have "my truth" which is of course a misnomer. I'm interested in what is THE truth, not just my opinion, a.k.a.: my subjective experience. Christians who were paranoid about postmodernism in the 90s, as you talk about, have embraced a very postmodern way of operating, especially if their worldview is challenged from outside of it (even if challenged biblically by their own pastor). Again, smaller communities may be the answer... a group that is saying "What does this passage say about God and people" instead of just "what is your opinion about God and people"... as you know and practice yourself, Discovery Bible Studies and Discipleship Groups do this well, and that's part of why I favor those methods over most any other Christian methods of evangelism and discipleship.
In regards to generosity--we have a challenge in that Christians are not seen as generous in the world today. We give to our own Christian stuff, and too many of us think "God helps those who help themselves" is in the Bible somewhere or the Sermon on the Mount ;-)... But again smaller communities can overcome this--becuase when people experience the generousity of neighbors, friends, and co-workers who come from smaller communities of the Gospel... the proof is in the pudding.
So godspeed in your work getting people in the game. THe only solution, I feel, to these challenges from Nones is not from the old wineskins, but new ones where our None Neighbors, None Friends, and None Co-workers are invited into relationship with us in smaller communities, microchurches, house churches, discipleship conversations, and missional communities. I highly doubt most Nones in the future will respond to invitations to yet another cool sermon series based on popular movies.
Great stuff. I wholeheartedly agree that the most powerful way to live out these realities is at the local level (starting with family, then neighborhood, then local community, etc). Although I will say I visited a great church recently that did a powerful sermon on a popular movie. Oh wait, I'm not religiously unaffiliated though. LOL!
Hey Jon -- yeah I'm sure many churches have powerful sermons on popular movies. They just need to have MORE than that to get to disciple-making. But I know I'm preaching to the choir on that.
David, I think you make a really great point about smaller communities. What I'm noticing in our local context is that once trust has been earned and deep relationships established within the church, then and only then will your voice as a pastor carry more weight with people than the voice of whoever they choose to read/listen/watch online or on TV.
And this of course leads to the question... if it takes a long, labor-intensive process of trust earning and relationship building for your voice to matter as a pastor... how can pastors really do this with more than, say 50 people?
Everyone beyond that inner core can really only be reached through multiplication. But all it takes is a few weak links in a multiplication chain to derail the entire system. And generally speaking, the bigger the system gets, the less control you have over it.
I've been wondering for a while if a network of smaller churches (30-50 people) could do more for the kingdom in the 21st century than one big church. Do you know of any examples of people who are attempting this?
Jon, I think you hit the nail on the head with this. Great job! Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I was born in '89, so the 90's were my childhood. You described this era quite well, and I agree with you that the seeds planted back then have led to where we are today.
There are hundreds of examples of networks of smaller churches. Although, I only know of a few that transitioned from a large church model to a network of smaller churches. It requires a huge paradigm shift among the staff and most tend to revert back to what they know.
hey Ryan. I know of dozens of people doing what you describe in North America. Of course worldwide it it the primary way of "doing church."
I think perhaps the key is to not make the pastor the hinge of the model... with the "influence/voice of the pastor" being the key. If we make the everyday ordinary disciple-maker the hinge of the model, then it isn't limited by any factors which most churches find to be the challenges.