In a recent interview Frank Page, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, indicated that the convention is rapidly declining. He said that the resistance to change could cause more than half of the 44,000 churches to die by 2030. In a matter of 22 years, more than 20,000 churches could close their doors.
I have spent almost 28 years as a local church minister. I have given all of my adult life to the church, either in training or serving local churches as a minister. Having given my life to the local church that statistic scares me. It scares me, not because I may not have a job, but because I'm concerned about the church we are leaving my children.
It is time for the church to do whatever it can to reach this younger generation. These 20 somethings consist of one of the most spiritual generations in history. The problem is, to quote a book title: "I like your Jesus, but I can't stand your church."
What are the changes that need to be made to reach this generation? I honestly don't know, but I know that our time, our resources, our scheduling, our politics, our music styles have to change to reach this generation.
1 comment:
Randy,
Sad statistics but good food for thought...I think ultimately our ability to reach others will lie in our ability to get over our love of self. It's our love of self that causes us to want things our way and fear anything different that might reach others. Until the church realizes that it really isn't about us, then I'm afraid this trend will continue to grow and younger generations will look elsewhere to find their answers to life's tough questions...Just my thoughts.
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