A new year is less than one week away. Based on my work with churches around the country, here are some trends I see moving forward into the next year:
- The divide between younger and older generations will become more apparent. Despite the growing interest in multi-generational churches, this divide will not go away. Both generations feel passionately about their opinions and positions.
- The call for multi-cultural churches will increase. This trend is not new, but I’m seeing more leaders and scholars suggesting that a church that is not multi-cultural is not necessarily a New Testament church. This debate will be an ongoing one.
- The trend toward plurality of leadership will continue to grow. Some thought this trend was only a by-product of increased interest in Calvinism, but I’m seeing more young pastors move in this direction. They not only see it as biblical, but they also deeply want to serve with others beside them.
- More churches will face this issue of, “How do we best serve children through our offsite small groups?” That’s an easy answer when children are infants, but not so easy as the children grow up. A video isn’t always the best answer then.
- Many senior pastors will preach less regularly. Particularly among younger leaders, sharing the pulpit is not only a means to train others, but it’s also an assumed necessary break for refreshment. We older folks who’ve grown up with something different will need to adjust.
- College ministry will gain prominence. Several factors will contribute to this trend: (a) growing interest in church planting on campuses; (b) increased calls for trained lay graduates to go to the mission field, and (c) young leaders looking for opportunities to do apologetics on campuses.
- More churches will debate the relationship between social ministry and evangelism. That’s because younger generations are committed to social issues in a way that my generation wasn’t. Issues debated in decades past will necessitate more discussion in the future.
- Somebody reading this post will fall. I pray I’m wrong here, but I’ve seen too many leaders fall in the past several years. Every one of us must make the prayerful, intentional decision now to finish 2017 well before the year ever starts.
What trends are you seeing? Let me hear your thoughts.
As always, thank you for your blog. You constantly cause me to think or re-think and I appreciate it!
In #3, what is plurality of leadership? Is it a wrong thing? Are any of these things that you mentioned wrong?
Thank you.
I’m not arguing that plurality is wrong at all. In essence, plurality means that leadership is based in a group rather than a single person. Of the issues I’ve listed, I would say that #8 is not a good thing. Thanks for writing.
Can you elaborate on item #1? What specific issues are you seeing that’s dividing the older and younger generations? And how best to deal with this from a “what’s best for the Kingdom” perspective.
I still see differences about worship style, leadership style, denominational leadership, etc. As an older leader, I think I’m responsible for investing in younger leaders not only to help guide them, but also to learn from them. Mutual commitments to growth and understanding are important. Thanks.
Church plurality is a major issue we cannot assert that we admire or want to be like the church of Acts them take the position that the role of the saints is to respect the anointing of the leader and submit. The former is most certainly necessary an correct but much in same way that Moses father in law told him that the better plan was to appoint people to help lead we will get better decision making by sharing leadership. Sharing leadership does not and should not deminish the value and potion of the leader I believe Paul lead in the plurality mode.
Thanks, Clem!