This Saturday a group of people from my church are meeting together to pray and discuss the idea of how to reach our generation through our church body. If you think of us, please send up some prayers. Already I feel a little resistance from the enemy in a few ways, and discouragement. I know we are seeking God and therefore we will be opposed. Pray that the right people will be able to make it, that God will lead our time and that he will give us direction and inspiration.
Thanks!
4/26/2007
4/07/2007
Be the change you want to see...That's hard to do.
I noticed, or perhaps woke up, to a disturbing realization recently. I looked around my church the other day and realized the people I used to rely on being there on Sundays and connecting with are slowly disappearing. In fact the number of people in their 20's and 30's (with the exception of our College group which has been doing pretty good at keeping the kids involved) has been declining. Some have left for various reasons, some just don't come to the main services. Those of us who are there have been there for years, but you rarely see a new face. This really disturbs me. I've been praying about it a lot. Maybe its just my perception of the situation. I know numbers aren't the sign of a healthy church, and I'm not trying to say that's the issue here.
This has been the main topic of thought for me lately, which I think means perhaps I'm supposed to do something. Dan Mayhew said this week at HS group as he taught that sometimes you know God is leading you to do something because the idea just won't leave you alone, it keeps needling you. Well that's what's been happening to me lately. I can't leave this idea behind. The question is what am I to do? I have no clue what my role is to be in this endeavor. In fact the idea is daunting. But I know I really want my church to be a place where my generation, my friends, can feel comfortable coming together as a body and seeking the Lord together. I want to spur others on to meet God and grow in relationship with Him and each other. I want to be relevant to the culture we are in and not tied to traditions of the past which make no sense to us. Yet I don't want to give in to the culture and have it be our master. It would only lead us to be irrelevant again in a few years! I want to be able to bring people who aren't churched there and have them feel comfortable journeying to know the true God. Right now that's not something I can honestly say I would do. I've been making excuses about this issue for too long, because I truly do love the people there.
I took a first step this week and met with a trusted pastor at church and explained my heartache over the issue and my desire to do something. My second step is to say it out loud in this forum too. Now I can't just forget about it and not respond because you all can hold me accountable. I have only ideas so far, and no true word from the Lord on what to do. So far all we've committed to do is pray and seek the Lord further. For now I am careful in not getting to attached to plans and ideas. I'm resolved only to take steps forward in the realm of prayer and petition, and to just wait on the Lord to lead and inspire us to move forward. Better his plan and timing than mine, that's for sure!
There's a whole generation of people in their 20's and 30's who are definitely interested in spirituality in Portland, but they aren't comfortable usually in the standard traditional church setting. Which means they'll go look to Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, you name it. Sometimes I think this culture is so obsessed with being different that's the main draw to some of these faiths. Most often they are so turned off by the "Christian Right" they won't step foot in a traditional church. It can represent so much hatred, bigotry, and ignorance to them. Whether that's true of the local church or not doesn't matter, those issues still plague our ability to reach this community. They seem to know that's not what Christ is, but they can't separate it. One of the only answers to this is that we truly need to be the essence of Christ in this community. They need to see him through us.
I want to reach this generation without losing the key values and core of the church. We can't let the pendulum swing so far that we lose sight of what those who've gone before have already learned. The one thing I'm most afraid of is ending up with all younger people and no elderly wise counsel anywhere in sight. I would be so misdirected without the mentors I have in my life. I definitely think we can't forget the call in Titus 2 to have the younger trained up by the older generation. If everyone is young, you totally miss out on these discipleship opportunities.
I've been reading up on the Emergent or Emerging Church movement lately. This is the kind of church my friends and I are drawn to. Its characterized by lots of free expression of thought, art, media, interaction, value of the "sacred" and core values Christ demonstrated (helping the needy, poor, cast outs of society). I am drawn to this too, but some of the statements I've been reading from these churches and leaders, and trends I've seen are very close to bordering on heretical. Not all of course. There is a group that is emerging for a reason! This generation's church will and has to look different. Just think about the technology changes we've had in the last 10 let alone 20 years. We can't think doing church the same way we always have will work. Its just like putting our heads in the sand and hoping to ride out the storm. I want to be careful though not to just follow some fad that in 10 years from now we look back on and laugh at. Plus we know formulas don't work. We need to uniquely move forward in the mission field God has for us, it may end up looking very different from what others are doing.
So if you feel led, please pray that God will guide us in this new endeavor whatever it may be. Pray that he would raise up the core group that will passionately care about this idea and get involved. If you have thoughts on any of this feel free to share. I'm a verbal processor so that's part of what this all is.
This has been the main topic of thought for me lately, which I think means perhaps I'm supposed to do something. Dan Mayhew said this week at HS group as he taught that sometimes you know God is leading you to do something because the idea just won't leave you alone, it keeps needling you. Well that's what's been happening to me lately. I can't leave this idea behind. The question is what am I to do? I have no clue what my role is to be in this endeavor. In fact the idea is daunting. But I know I really want my church to be a place where my generation, my friends, can feel comfortable coming together as a body and seeking the Lord together. I want to spur others on to meet God and grow in relationship with Him and each other. I want to be relevant to the culture we are in and not tied to traditions of the past which make no sense to us. Yet I don't want to give in to the culture and have it be our master. It would only lead us to be irrelevant again in a few years! I want to be able to bring people who aren't churched there and have them feel comfortable journeying to know the true God. Right now that's not something I can honestly say I would do. I've been making excuses about this issue for too long, because I truly do love the people there.
I took a first step this week and met with a trusted pastor at church and explained my heartache over the issue and my desire to do something. My second step is to say it out loud in this forum too. Now I can't just forget about it and not respond because you all can hold me accountable. I have only ideas so far, and no true word from the Lord on what to do. So far all we've committed to do is pray and seek the Lord further. For now I am careful in not getting to attached to plans and ideas. I'm resolved only to take steps forward in the realm of prayer and petition, and to just wait on the Lord to lead and inspire us to move forward. Better his plan and timing than mine, that's for sure!
There's a whole generation of people in their 20's and 30's who are definitely interested in spirituality in Portland, but they aren't comfortable usually in the standard traditional church setting. Which means they'll go look to Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, you name it. Sometimes I think this culture is so obsessed with being different that's the main draw to some of these faiths. Most often they are so turned off by the "Christian Right" they won't step foot in a traditional church. It can represent so much hatred, bigotry, and ignorance to them. Whether that's true of the local church or not doesn't matter, those issues still plague our ability to reach this community. They seem to know that's not what Christ is, but they can't separate it. One of the only answers to this is that we truly need to be the essence of Christ in this community. They need to see him through us.
I want to reach this generation without losing the key values and core of the church. We can't let the pendulum swing so far that we lose sight of what those who've gone before have already learned. The one thing I'm most afraid of is ending up with all younger people and no elderly wise counsel anywhere in sight. I would be so misdirected without the mentors I have in my life. I definitely think we can't forget the call in Titus 2 to have the younger trained up by the older generation. If everyone is young, you totally miss out on these discipleship opportunities.
I've been reading up on the Emergent or Emerging Church movement lately. This is the kind of church my friends and I are drawn to. Its characterized by lots of free expression of thought, art, media, interaction, value of the "sacred" and core values Christ demonstrated (helping the needy, poor, cast outs of society). I am drawn to this too, but some of the statements I've been reading from these churches and leaders, and trends I've seen are very close to bordering on heretical. Not all of course. There is a group that is emerging for a reason! This generation's church will and has to look different. Just think about the technology changes we've had in the last 10 let alone 20 years. We can't think doing church the same way we always have will work. Its just like putting our heads in the sand and hoping to ride out the storm. I want to be careful though not to just follow some fad that in 10 years from now we look back on and laugh at. Plus we know formulas don't work. We need to uniquely move forward in the mission field God has for us, it may end up looking very different from what others are doing.
So if you feel led, please pray that God will guide us in this new endeavor whatever it may be. Pray that he would raise up the core group that will passionately care about this idea and get involved. If you have thoughts on any of this feel free to share. I'm a verbal processor so that's part of what this all is.
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