By Jerry Chiles
- Eddie Hammett says, “A re-fashioning, and re-framing of church is happening whether we like it or not. God is moving. Will you be a part of it or a resistant force against the ‘new thing’ God is doing in our world?”
- David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times, says in an article entitled, ‘The Dissenters Trying to Save Evangelicalism From Itself.’ “There are great divides in the evangelical world caused by three issues: politics, sex abuse scandals in evangelical churches, and attitudes about race relations.” Brooks quotes Mark Labberton, who says that “many of the seminarians at Fuller are moving away from church as we normally conceive it. They want to build communities that are smaller, intimate, authentic, which can often fit in a living room. They see faith as inseparably linked to community service with the poor and marginalized. There’s a general interest in getting away from all the bitterness that has devoured the elders and just diving back into the Bible.”
- Carey Nieuwhof in an article entitled, “Why They’re Not Coming Back To Church and What To Do With Who’s Left”
- The Great Return to church has become the Great Realization: Maybe they’re not coming back. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever.
- COVID Accelerated the Paths Of Attenders, Members, And Engagers.
- Post-Christian Culture Is Quickly Accelerating Further Growth of The Nones and The Dones.
- So, What Do You Do?
- Focus On the People Who Stayed, Not the People Who Left
- Turn Your Remaining Attendees into Engagers (300 Beats 3000)
- Embrace Your New Church
For a complete picture read all three articles. What do you think about what these writers are saying?
These thoughts are from Rev. Jerry Chiles, one of our partners in ministry for the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Metroplex. He has served in various churches across the Southeast as an associate minister. Contact him for more information about how he can help you.