Chapter 7. The Preference Driven Church

Transcription

1 Chapter 7 The Preference Driven Church

2 Here s the situation Most members would not allow any contemporary elements to their traditional 1100 service, so the young adults started on at 8:30 am

3 Here s the situation The new service started adding new members to the church over the next 5 years. Their parents liked the new service, but would PREFER the Contemporary service (0830) be switched with the traditional service (1100).

4 Here s the situation When they put the matter to a vote, it was decided to DROP THE CONTEMPORARY SERVICE and the numbers began to dwindle and EVENTUALLY THE CHURCH CLOSED ITS DOORS.

5 One member said I would rather let the church die, than to see the change in church services

6 The Bottom line is this NO CHURCH can survive long term where members are focused on their own preferences, including: Music style Desired length and order of worship service Desired color and design of the building and rooms Activities and programs Need of ministers and staff They must TRUST the LEADERSHIP and the HOLY SPIRIT to lead and guide.

7 Luke 5:33-39 No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'THE OLD IS BETTER.'

8 Luke 5:33-39 (NLT) No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn t even match the old garment. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. THE OLD IS JUST FINE, they say.

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10 Today s church may not be like the Church we were used to! OLD SCHOOL Long services Hymns Religion Based Ritualistic & Traditional Formalized Sermons Liturgy Inward Church Focused Formal Attire Non-technology TODAY S CHURCH Short services Praise & Worship Relationship Based Reality Based Relevant Messages Free Flowing Outward Community Focused Informal Attire Technology

11 TRANSITION THAT LEADS TO TRANSFORMATION We cannot expect today s generation to respond to our Old School motivations the way we did because they do not have our experiences THEY HAVE THEIR OWN CHALLENGES. We have to teach and explain the significance of their history. We have to get to understand them and they need to understand US by speaking THEIR LANGUAGE

12 This is not a San Angelo Issue, its a National Issue The black church in America is at a historic turning point that could reshape the social, economic and political health of the nation's cities. The ways in which aging black congregations are trying to reach youth without alienating older members are a growing concern across the country

13 Understanding a Caste System Priests & Academians Warriors & Rulers A social structure in which classes are determined by heredity What you were born into, is what you will be! Skilled people, traders, merchants and Commoners Unskilled workers, uneducated people Untouchables, disenfranchised, rejected

14 Isaiah 43:19-21 Behold, I will do a new thing, shall ye not see it There is a cultural flow happening in the body of Christ that is so revolutionary its scary! And if you re not careful, you won t see it. Change could be happening right before your eyes and the church could be oblivious to the realities of what s happening around us. There is a shift taking place and those (people, churches, businesses) who don t hear it will not reach their next level of effectiveness.

15 Church Relevancy The effects of widespread digitalization of life, for better or worse, are widely debated. But there can be no doubt about one thing: the digital life is here to stay, and it is changing EVERYTHING. Work, faith, relationships, the very contours of young adulthood all of these and more are dramatically shaped by the realities of our media driven society. Don t change the MESSAGE change the METHOD!

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17 More than one in five American pastors (21%) say their churches use Twitter, up from only 14% in Facebook usage in churches has likewise jumped from just over half (57%) to a full seven in 10. Pastors themselves are also engaged in online communication, with nearly one-quarter (23%) who use Twitter, well over six in 10 (66%) who are on Facebook, and over one in five (22%) who have a personal blog

18 Action Items for Today s Church 1. Rethink HOW we can get the message out Until it does, we will default to selling chicken dinners, fashion shows and fundraisers, and ministering to only those like YOU Inflexibility is a lethal disease Learn the language of today s generation

19 Action Items for Today s Church 2. Re-think WHO we are trying to reach. See Acts 2 Relationships are our greatest resource in a community like San Angelo Cross cultural and socio-economic lines Ethnikitis An attraction to people of your own ethnicity Homogamy versus Endogamy

20 Action Items for Today s Church 3. Re-think WHAT makes your church attractive. People of excellence are attracted to ministries of excellence. The people who need us will be around us all day, but the people we need may be around us for a short window of time so we must say what we need to say quickly and pro-actively.

21 Instinct Theory of Motivation all behaviors are driven by instincts. Instincts are goaldirected and innate patterns of behaviors that are the result of learning or experience. (ex. infant breast feeding)

22 Driving a Standard shift You must watch the tachometer (rpm) You must listen to the sound of the engine in order to know when to shift. If we don t shift we will think something is wrong with the car because it is not going anywhere, even though I am giving it all the gas I can give. My foot is on the pedal, and my car is GRINDING, making noise but I am not going anywhere. This is frustrating for anybody who has ambition to Make room for Increase.

23 I john 2,20, 21,27 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. (v27) But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

24 TUESDAY, March 11, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- When faced with a strange, new gizmo, preschoolers figured out how it worked more quickly than college students did. The likely reason, according to the researchers, is that very young children may be less fixed than adults in their ideas about cause and effect. The study included 106 young children, aged 4 and 5, and 170 college students who were asked to figure out a gadget that worked in an unusual way. They did this by placing different clay shapes on a special box to find out which shapes -- single or together -- could light up the box and play music.

25 Barna Group's new research shows that threequarters (75%) of U.S. adults (secular and nonsecular) say they are looking for ways to live a more meaningful life. Whether such meaning is found in family, career, church, side projects or elsewhere, these are all questions of vocation that is, the way in which people feel "called" to certain types of work and life choices. And in 2014, these questions remain as strong as ever for millions of Americans

26 Among Christians, there is an additional question: "What does God want me to do with my life?" According to Barna Group's study, only 40% of practicing Christians say they have a clear sense of God's calling on their lives. Christian Millennials (18-29) are especially sensitive to this divine prompting nearly half (48%) say they believe God is calling them to different work, yet they haven't yet made such a change (shift).

27 Meet The church of tomorrow