{"id":1710,"date":"2011-10-29T12:53:08","date_gmt":"2011-10-29T12:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1710"},"modified":"2011-10-29T12:53:08","modified_gmt":"2011-10-29T12:53:08","slug":"5_cultural_shifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1710","title":{"rendered":"5 Cultural Shifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interesting, and short, article on cultural changes that we need to pay attention to, particularly if we care about emerging generations and their interest in and involvement in their own spiritual lives and our worshiping communities.  Here are a couple paragraphs…<\/p>\n

Five cultural shifts that should affect the way we do church<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

“It’s probably good that most churches aren’t all wrapped up in the latest fads. We don’t have the cash to keep up with most of it, and if we do, we’re probably better off spending that money on feeding the homeless rather than making sure the youth room has the newest flat-screen TV…<\/i><\/p>\n

“But there are cultural shifts that congregations and church leaders need to track and respond to sensibly. Here are five of them.”<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read it all here<\/a><\/p>\n

By: Carol Howard Merritt on the Duke Divinity School blog, “Call & Response blog”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n


\nFive cultural shifts that should affect the way we do church<\/b><\/em>
By Carol Howard Merrit
September 22, 2011<\/p>\n

Churches aren’t the most culturally savvy places. I know that some congregations are still fighting about whether they should be singing “contemporary” songs, which were written in the 1980s. Or they’re wrestling over the use of PowerPoint, which can be tiresome for people who have endured two decades of PP board meetings.<\/p>\n

It’s probably good that most churches aren’t all wrapped up in the latest fads. We don’t have the cash to keep up with most of it, and if we do, we’re probably better off spending that money on feeding
\nthe homeless rather than making sure the youth room has the newest flat-screen TV.<\/p>\n

But there are cultural shifts that congregations and church leaders need to track and respond to sensibly. Here are five of them.<\/p>\n

1) Finances.<\/strong> Younger generations are not faring well in this economy. They didn’t do so well when the rest of the country was booming either. Why? Younger generations face high student loan debt, high housing costs and stagnant wages (if they’re even able to get a job). The shame they bear matches our debt load, and they feel like they need to get their life together before they go to church.<\/p>\n

Are people ashamed of their monetary situation in our congregations?
\nIs the first thing that comes out of our mouth at coffee hour, “So,
\nwhere do you work?” Can we think of another question, like, “So,
\nwhat keeps you busy these days?” Do we introduce new members by
\nhighlighting their shiny resume? Are we realistic in our giving
\nexpectations with young adults?<\/p>\n

2) Work hours.<\/strong> People who go to mainline churches are wealthier<\/a>.
\nOr wealthier people go to mainline churches. It’s a
\nchicken-and-egg thing. We don’t know what comes first. But young workers
\nknow one thing: many people in their 20s and 30s work retail or
\nin the service industry. The blue laws faded long ago, and you don’t
\nget Sunday mornings off unless you’re management.<\/p>\n

Do we have opportunities to worship or engage in the community beyond
\nSunday morning? In the future, is Sunday morning going to be the best
\ntime to have worship services? Can we use new technologies to
\npodcast our services so that people can stay connected when they can’t
\nmake it on Sunday?<\/p>\n

3) Families.<\/strong> People marry and have children later in
\nlife. Some people say that adults in their 20s and 30s are just
\nextending adolescence, having fun in their odyssey years, or
\nthey’re too commitment-phobic to settle down<\/a>.
\nYet, we’re a society that expects financial stability before a
\ncouple gets married, and many younger adults can’t manage financial
\nstability.<\/p>\n

Does our church leadership operate with rush judgments that condemn
\nthe character of emerging generations? Do we expect “young families” to
\ncome to our church? Do we have space for single folks or people
\nwho don’t have families? Do we expect people to enter our doors
\ntwo-by-two?<\/p>\n

4) The Internet. <\/strong>Church leaders have a lot on their
\nplate. Many don’t think they have any time for Facebook or Twitter. They
\nmay still be working with the misconception that the only
\nthings people are blogging about are what sort of breakfast they had on
\nTuesday (although if you’re reading this, you probably realize
\nthat blogs are good for more than personal over-sharing). But there’s no
\nway to ignore it any longer. Even if a church leader shies away from
\nthe web, people may be talking about you on Google Map reviews or
\nYelp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is your congregation keeping up with its online presence? Are you
\ngoogling your church and finding out what people are saying? Are you
\nusing Facebook for pastoral care? Are you staying in contact
\nwith emerging adults who move away for education or jobs?<\/p>\n

5) Politics.<\/strong> A new generation is exhausted from the
\nculture wars. Many people growing up in the last few decades had a
\ndifficult time keeping “Christian” <\/a>and
\n“Republican” in two separate boxes. Emerging generations look at
\npoverty, the environment and war as complex issues, and many
\nyounger evangelicals are less likely to vote on pro-life credentials
\nalone. Many young Christians who grew up evangelical are trying
\nout mainline congregations .<\/p>\n

Is your church leery of evangelicals who grew up non-denominational
\nor without any religious affiliation? Do we expect people to have the
\nLord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed memorized before they
\nattend worship? Do we make snide comments about people who “don’t even
\nknow what it means to be Methodist (or Presbyterian or Lutheran,
\netc.)”?<\/p>\n

There are many shifts occurring in our current religious and cultural
\nlandscape. Have our churches thought about the larger changes in an
\nemerging generation? We can become much more effective in
\nreaching out to a new generation if we do.<\/p>\n

Carol Howard Merritt is pastor of Western Presbyterian Church in
\nWashington DC and author of “Tribal Church” (Alban). She blogs at
\ntribalchurch.org<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\nPosted by Carol Howard Merritt<\/a> at 9:35 am \t<\/div>\n
\nIn
\nMillenials<\/a> | Pastoral leadership<\/a> | Trends<\/a> \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interesting, and short, article on cultural changes that we need to pay attention to, particularly if we care about emerging generations and their interest in and involvement in their own spiritual lives and our worshiping communities.  Here are a couple … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,24,26,6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-generations","category-imagodei","category-politicsculture","category-quotes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}