What if the reason the church isn't making a substantial impact in our culture is that every generation abandons the vision and mission of the previous generation in favor of a new vision.
Certainly we need to re-evaluate, re-phrase, and re-strategize as time passes and culture changes, but that's different from abandoning a vision. I wonder if perhaps we're not re-evaluating enough.
It seems like this is a pattern (of course, I'm only 27 and I'm not old enough to have seen one of these cycles in real life...take it with a grain of salt):
- Young, energized, entrepreneurial leader is unsatisfied with the status quo
- Therefore, he casts new vision for what church can be and plants a new kind of church
- Young leader is wildly successful in his 30's through 40's
- After 20 years the benefits and consequences of this new model start to become obvious.
- A new young, energized, entrepreneurial leader is unsatisfied with the status quo...
Here's a gross generalization (I'm about to pretend I'm speaking about other people but I'm really writing about myself and I give myself a nice title)
Young, visionary leaders tend to be...
1) Creative
2) Energized
3) Highly motivated
4) Frustrated with the status quo
5) Critical of the past
6) They think they've got solutions to the previous generations problems
7) Looking to make their unique mark on the world
What if we spent all of that energy building on the past rather than reacting to it
Hence the need for Classical education among Christians -- so they understand the past, how cycles have come and gone in language, politics, religion, the Church, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also think young leaders tend to want approval, so they'll sacrifice once white-hot ideals in order to maintain an audience.
It doesn't even need to be a classical education, just a grounding in history, and particularly for church leaders, church history. Then you have the benefit of lots of past to look through.
ReplyDeleteI have two separate comments:
ReplyDelete1) This ties in nicely with your most recent post...about making sure we are answering questions that are being asked. I think something "young" ministers (and Christians in general) should grab hold of in their youth is the need to remain flexible and teachable. Hopefully I'll be able to expand on that later...my brain hasn't fully finished processing.
2) I see this in the "secular" business world as well. I have witnessed many younger professionals being frustrated with the "older" ones in charge. In the majority of these situations the younger people are not in a position to change the rules, but I do think they carry that frustration with them as they age and accept more responsibility. The ironic part of that story is that many times they end up being that older, frustrating boss to the younger generation.