You can get started addressing difficult issues right away by listening, naming the truth, and experimenting with concrete action steps. There is so much disagreement and uncertainty. Again, the church has a long, dark history with sexism and patriarchy. 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. Yet churches must lean into the transcendent authority of Christ, countercultural as that may be. The church is no exception to this legacy. The question is, will you pay attention or stick with business as usual? We may reassure ourselves, Ill go to heaven if I die, they face a godless eternity. But from my years of working with the church, I would say that its greatest malady usually boils down to two chronic impediments, with which pastors and church leaders continually strive to overcome. Naturally, this leads to weak (if any) commitment to the local church, which makes discipleship and true long obedience formation difficult. Required fields are marked *. World system entering Church system 4. 4) Compartmentalization. Racism, white supremacy, and colonialism often show up in our congregations hidden inside other forms of idolatry like individualism and consumerism. When the desire for this power reaches for partisan political influence in the name of Jesus, collapsing together the structures of a particular nation-state with the kingdom of God, that is the ideology of Christian nationalism. It impairs mission. Im in Gods hands and one cannot do better than that.. 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. Our team at Church Answers has been working with thousands of church leaders about leading in the second wave of COVID. The ubiquity of consumerism in late capitalism has fully infiltrated the church, to the extent that church shopping and what I got from the sermon are things we say without thinking anything of it. But it also hides in our allergies to those who are not like us, in our inability to hold non-coercive space with those who are different, and in our refusal to speak prophetically to injustice, and in our attempts to remain supposedly neutral in the face of injustice. Ken, Rethinking Christianity in the 21st Century | Reflections Confusion about the path forward. I pray that for all of us. Churches that celebrate, embrace and embody this reality in their communities will thrive, while those that resist diversity and cling to their ethnocentric privilege will falter. We must remember that the *virus* is our enemy- not science or medicine- they are our allies. 1. Lack of the desire to evangelized. The days are numbered for churches to freely conduct their affairs according to traditional beliefs and practices on issues of sexuality and gender, without government interference. Patriarchy often hides inside a leadership culture characterized by top-down, command-and-control decision making, zero-sum power games, rationalist modes of thinking, and an aversion to vulnerability. Truth and love. But social media (and texting too!) 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. 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. t: +1 (317) 537-7775. Transformation begins when you address difficult issues as the real work where the Spirit of God is renewing life. Well, lets continue to keep praying that this threatening variant can eventually be defeated by our medical people and life can possibly return to normal, assuming thats even possible the way were going. I would say if a church stayed closed for more than a year, it was really hard to get those people to come back. Life and leadership rooted in the love of Christ, by Gravity Leadership on October 3, 2022 1 Comment. The 5 Most Common Core Issues Churches Face Today - The Unstuck Group I am very interested here 15) The Need for Racial Reconciliation. The organization of the church needs to be simpler. When people leave, congregations dwindle. The second and majority view was that churches would face a new normal and must learn to adjust. Historically, sexism has manifested predominantly as men being advantaged while women are disadvantaged, harmed, and marginalized. 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. It is time to simply follow the Lord! 5. Many church leaders find themselves reminding their church members of the hope of Christ more than they ever had. After reading through just a brief overview of those heavy issues, you might be feeling overwhelmed. 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. There is a difference. Stephen Bullivant, author of Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America and professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Marys University, said in the Christian world it had been a generational change. All churches have a gap. It is destructive and dehumanizing foremost to the victims but also to those who benefit from its lie. Anything to re-sensitize people to the fleshly reality of the church in the world. Church leaders particularly feel the exhaustion of dealing with so many issues. Challenges Facing The Church in Africa - Biblical African Isnt the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead within us now? It will also be the primary issue that drives the cultural alienation of the church in the 21st century. Had enough people been vaccinated, delta variant would not have been as bad it is. Thats why addressing these issues faithfully is necessary for moving into more whole, just, and loving forms of life together. They involve the ways individuals attempt to dominate, control, or coerce other individuals, but also the way congregations can become systems of domination, where idolatry is part of the water in which everyone swims and is formed. Protestant pastors reported that typical church attendance is only 85% of pre-pandemic levels, McConnell said, while research by the Survey Center on American Life and the University of Chicago found that in spring 2022 67% of Americans reported attending church at least once a year, compared with 75% before the pandemic. Vaccines are still useful in preventing most cases of severe illness and death, however. 7) Complexity. Thats wonderful, certainly a blessing for you and yours, but please remember that not all churches have those resources and not all congregants have computers and wifi. Founder & CEO. At this point, the success of their efforts lies in the hands of each individuals willingness to make the recommended lifestyle changes. 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 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. We are far less likely to be affiliated with a religion or a political party than previous generations were, and we get married at lower rates and later in life than our parents and grandparents did. Many churches will survive. This is a vast area that encompases a wide range of things (homosexuality, gender identity, marriage, divorce, egalitarian vs. complementarian gender roles, pornography, etc. Denominational structures destabilizing. 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, []. On Sunday I will be installed as an elder in my local church, Southlands. My main concern about this surgery is the possibility of developing blood clots which can be quite the threat to ones health and possibly life. As with most things in the realm of science, a decision is made or a hypothesis is asserted. Also, it isnt just the sermon on Sunday that is important. We are in the midst of and hopefully coming out of a season of pandemic and also tremendous social unrest, and that unrest has not left the church untouched. In Galatians 6:2, Paul urged the Church to "Bear each other's burdens," so maybe with more grace and love we can turn on the light in the darkened rooms of each other's hearts and let our churches become . 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.. There are several major social issues affecting congregational life today. So to know God, to love God, to act in ways that the world will stand up and say, "Whoa, tell me the reason for the hope that is in you, because you are acting in a way that is so counterintuitive to my hopes that you must have different hopes.". This led to the even more infectious delta variant, which can lead to breakthrough infections, even in the vaccinated. When we were shut down, we quickly developed a radio broadcast for our seniors who are not tech savvy and dont do Facebook or other social media. Every week, many church leaders are confronted with gather or dont gather, masks or no masks, and other issues unique to the pandemic. They are more subtleproclivities and inclinations smuggled into our churches alongside the cultural sensibilities we've inherited. We are already seeing how this issue creates fragmentation within churches, denominations and parachurch organizations, and this will only continue. 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. I know it is no fun, but we are all in this together. In fact, we are now beginning the initial stages of exploring an expansion of our current facility to meet our current and future needs. Challenges in The Churches Today - Life Spring document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); All during this pandemic our church has stood firm in our convictions that no matter what, we will do SOMETHING to keep getting the word of God to our congregation. What is the future of Catholic schools on all levelselementary, secondary, and collegiate? One perspective was that churches would resume their practices just as they were before the pandemic. In patriarchal environments, women are often assumed to be a dangerous temptation to men. The report will also make provocative observations about whats happening and how God is inviting you to respond. Now and not yet. 12 percent think Joan of Arc was Noahs wife. walked on Earth as testified both in the Acts and the epistles till today. But there are many more issues that individuals in the Church are dealing withissues that the Church Body should be talking about. For a deeper dive into spiritual abuse, listen to the interview with Wade Mullen on the Gravity Podcast about how to decode the hidden tactics of abusive systems and people. All rights reserved. The lack of a clear vision leads to division - literally, two visions. +27 84 730 6764 Consumerism turns creation and people into objects for my use; again, denying the image of God in others and the reality of creation as a gift. The faith-based transaction is so different in so many ways from the for-profit transaction. Since Im here, tomorrow morning Im scheduled to have my right knee replaced which I think you know about already. Taking concrete steps forward is not meant merely to be corrective, as if the goal is fixing problems. No longer can church leaders simply sidestep complex questions around human sexuality, hoping that merely teaching the right answers or avoiding controversial questions will somehow cause the issue to fade into the background. As you listen, patterns and themes might emerge. The most vibrant centers of global Christianity are not in western countries these days, and the face of western Christianity is becoming much more diverse. We must remove the notion that any adjustment or decision any pastor or leadership team in a church makes in the midst of this current context is the most important decision they will ever make. also can complicate pastoral situations and make existing problems worse. One of the greatest challenges facing the church is discipleship that centers around the autonomous self. We have spoken to countless pastors who tell us the biggest surprise of the pandemic as a church leader was all the new decisions they had to make. Scientists who do things correctly dont contradict themselves. They told me if I got the vaccine, I wouldnt have to wear the mask anymore. Digging into this work is best done as a collaborative process, aided by people who can bring an outside perspective and a bit of focused attention. But it has also created a boom market for those wanting to buy churches, with former houses of worship now finding new life. This diversity is a challenge or, better said, an opportunity. 16) Gender and Sexuality. Decision fatigue growing. The rights of one vs the rights of many has long been debated. Get our latest resources and curated links FREE each week. You cannot truly understand how particular issues are uniquely shaping your congregation or how God meets you in the midst until you sink down into all the messy particulars. Politics latest updates: NHS 'on the brink' says nursing union; 10% The Delta variant spread faster and caused more infections. For many (very valid) reasons, younger generations today have a real distrust of authority. I must not, however, assume that everyone would . About 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019, the last year data is available, with about 3,000 new churches opening, according to Lifeway Research. But homogeneity is not the biblical ideal. Especially at a time when faithful churches will be increasingly exiled from mainstream culture, we need to become leaner and more nimble. As they learn more and the virus changes, the methods to fight it must also change. Being Jesus church in a community does not require as many things as we have come to think and believe that it needs. Listening can be sacred work in your congregation. Surveys have found that 82 percent of Americans think God helps those who help themselves, is a Bible verse. One of the benefits of a denominational structure is their ability to do the heavy lifting of data gathering. Offices and stores were reopening. These are several challenges, but let's focus on one more: the trend toward post-denominationalism. During the 20th century, we became accustomed to the medical community already having the answers to whatever ailed us. They just get new data that leads to a change in tack. I sometimes get the impression that God is using the pandemic to winnow the wheat from the chaff, those who are genuine disciples of Jesus from those who are following someone else, a pastor, for example, or something else, a way of thinking and doing things, which upon examination has little to do with Jesus and more to do with our own inward desires which tempt us. Challenges Facing The Church in Africa. It is not. If wrong make another one. Many who had covid but gratefully recovered are facing incredible medical bills. Unemployment/Uncertain Financial Future. 91% of us expect to stay in a job less than 3 years. Since the 1990s, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join the growing ranks of US adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular, Pew wrote. What are the greatest challenges for the church? - Dale A Robbins 11) The Idol of Autonomy. There could be serious conflict or even concern about toxic or abusive systems related to racism, sexism, religious trauma, or any variation of the issues addressed above. What's on the Minds of America's Pastors - Barna Group We begin to tell a story, grounded in the data, that gets at your original focus question. Top 5 challenges facing Christian leaders | Biblical Leadership We also live in a time when we need to pool our ideas as well as take a good hard look at the resources that our church has available to it and how we are using them. As the US adjusts to an increasingly non-religious population, thousands of churches are closing each year in the country a figure that experts believe may have accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic. We live in a culture that is commitment averse. Many leaders I know feel completely depleted and hopeless after a long season of dealing with the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. We chat with multiple people at a time, post one fragment of our lives here and another there, consume visual media in one window and read the Bible in another. With the first wave of COVID, church leaders expressed confidence in one of two paths forward. 1) Pastor/Church Leader; 2) Executive/Management. Biblical literacy is a huge problem in the American church, and it makes many of the challenges on this list all the more challenging. PDF Major challenges that the world church faces today In 1900, more than 80 percent of Anglicans lived in Britain; in 2008, that number had fallen to 33 percent. About a quarter of the young adults who dropped out of church said they disagreed with their churchs stance on political and social issues. Here are the seven most common challenges we see with churches: 1. Increased cynicism toward the government and politicized scientists. 90% of covid ICU patients are unvaccinated. Church leaders need to be quick-thinking and quick-moving. Little poses a bigger threat to the church in 21st century western culture than the pervasive mindset that individual people are the sole arbiters of their identity, morality and destiny. No one foresaw the virulence and spread of delta Variant. The second wave has been a real challenge. Masks were coming off. 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? We see it in the enormous staffs and array of programs that turn churches into bureaucratically complex corporations. What happens in America that I think dampens down the rise of the nones is the cold war. Reason #3 - Churches come across as antagonistic to science. 3) Disembodied Tendencies. Name what you are noticing, holding it before Gods Spirit and before your congregation. There will not likely be a new normal any time soon, if ever. Word and Spirit. The core of Christian nationalism is xenophobiafear of those who are not like us.. The 10 Biggest Issues Christian Americans Are Facing Today The people I know are sympathetic to clergy who did change many things. But Here's How We Keep Going. 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. The West is in the middle of a cultural moment that centers all of reality around the autonomous self. Here are the seven most common challenges we see with churches: 1. b. Ken 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..

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