Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 3-174 (Leadership Issues)

A Pastors/Leaders Survival Guide [12]

7-3 RELEVANCE/CONTEXTUALISATION

By Rowland Croucher

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Continuing our series on Pastors’/Leaders’ ministry-survival. The full text of these chapters can be found on the John Mark Ministries’ Website – http://jmm.org.au/articles/8658.htm to http://jmm.org.au/articles/8667.htm

In this series of leadership studies, I am looking at the factors associated with ‘longevity’ in ministry – whether pastoral or other leadership ministries. We will major on pastors, but these principles apply equally to any leaders in the church.

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7-3 RELEVANCE/CONTEXTUALISATION

I was talking to a missionary one day. He listed some of the errors well-meaning ‘visiting missioners’ make when they communicate Western ideas in a traditional cultural setting. ‘The translator sometimes has to be clever enough to preach his own sermon while the visitor raves on about ideas which have no relevance to those people!’

Back to Builders / Boomers / GenX. Here’s a rough breakdown of their differences (adapted from Gary McIntosh, Make Room for the Boom, or Bust: Six Models for Reaching Three Generations, Fleming H Revell 1997) –

BUILDERS: 57+ years (in 2002)

Commitment to Christ = Commitment to Church

Program-oriented

Money to missions

In-depth Bible Study and prayer

Loyalty to denomination

Minister out of duty

Support missions

BOOMERS: 38 – 56 (in 2002)

Commitment to Christ = Commitment to Relationships

People-oriented

Money to people

Practical Bible Study prayer/share

Loyalty to people

Minister for personal satisfaction

Support big causes

BUSTERS: 19 – 37 (in 2002)

Commitment to Christ = Commitment to family

Community-oriented

Money to causes

Issue-oriented Bible Study, prayer/share

Loyalty to family

Minister to meet needs

Support local causes

Within our culture, if we want to make Christianity contemporary, we’ll first have to look at our language. When do your neighbours say anything like ‘We praise your glorious name’, ‘Lift (Jesus) higher’? Our hymns and songs (and often our preaching) are filled with odd or meaningless cliches!

Sexist language is another challenge: let us work hard to use non- discriminatory language – not because we are addicted to political correctness, but as a matter of courtesy and justice to women. And because in all educational and media institutions, gender-free language is now the norm: we will alienate thoughtful people if we aren’t sensitive at this point. (However, I believe we can still allow God to be ‘Father’!)

And we must look again at our methodologies: what kinds of meetings/classes do people attend in our society without being able to ask questions of the speaker or teacher? Church services may be the last group-activities where questions aren’t allowed!

And let us be aware of other habits we have in church which may be off-putting to visitors. A chaplain-friend wrote: ‘Having visited many churches of various denominations over several years on deputation work I learned very early not to sit unaccompanied in the front seat, as the aerobic nature of worship in different churches can vary considerably, and I didn’t have eyes in the back of my head.’

Melbourne’s Herald-Sun on 22 May, 2002 had a headline: ‘Church Bores Young’. The message: ‘Teenagers were most likely to bored in church, said the [NCLS] survey of 435,000 worshippers from 19 Christian denominations. It found a generational gulf between older people, who wanted traditional services, and younger parishioners, who preferred more modern services and contemporary music.’

And, another input, from a member of a Western Australian Uniting Church (anonymous, but quoted here with his permission): ‘A couple of years ago at my local church, some of the pre and post twenty- somethings spoke at a congregational meeting. They were asking if some more contemporary music could be used during the family service. At the end of their presentation, one of the matriarchs of the congregation rose, smiled and said that of course younger people were more than welcome at “our church” but that they “must respect our ways”. That was the end of that discussion. After the meeting was over, I wandered out with some of the twenty-somethings who had given the presentation, and one exclaimed “Why are they so selfish? Why do they have to keep it all for themselves?”

‘Some months later, at another congregational meeting, the question of music came up again. This time one of the elderly members of the congregation rose and said that if the younger people in the congregation wanted more modern music and worship styles, then why didn’t they go to the local Church of Christ or Baptist Church, which she understood used modern music in their worship.

‘A year or so after that, I overheard another discussion. A couple of the elderly members of the congregation were wondering what the Elders were going to do about the young people in the congregation who no longer attended. One of the elderly members had heard that some of them were going to the local Church of Christ and a couple had even joined in worship with the happy clappies who meet in the local high school. Another elderly member said that the Elders needed to talk to those former younger members about their “disloyalty to their church”.

‘As of now, the congregation has maybe 3 or 4 pre-twenty and twenty- somethings left. Some of the 18-30 group who were there 2 or 3 years ago have moved to other UCA congregations (which have a more contemporary style), some have moved to the local Church of Christ or Baptist Church and a couple are on the fringes of the local AOG. Meanwhile, the local UCA congregation continues to get smaller, to get older and to experience increasing financial stress.’

7-4 FINANCIAL PLANNING.

I occasionally talk to (mostly older) pastors and ex-pastors who are broke – and sometimes without a home-asset. I believe it is important to prepare for our financial future, and the possibility that if something happens health-wise to us our spouse and family will be cared for. Suggestions: get into a superannuation fund early (compulsory in Australia anyway for all employees); and I would also suggest getting into the property market – even if it’s a small flat or holiday cottage, which can be let to cover some of the mortgage costs. God’s not making much more land (!), so it is a finite resource, with more people demanding a piece of it in the future.

It is important to get wise financial advice: sometimes a bank manager in the congregation will help gratis. Bank managers, please note, are generally conservative: and we want them that way! Thirty years ago whilst a student-pastor on a very low income we ‘bought’ three houses, with virtually no up-front capital: one with a first home-buyers’ loan which paid the deposit; the second a house which was to have been demolished to make way for a factory: we moved it onto another property with the help of a bank loan; a third with the help of vendor’s finance. All these were let and the rent helped pay off the loans. Later we sold the houses – before the property-market started booming. Oh well… You might think of other creative ways to do it! This section’s called ‘Problem- solving’ eh?

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Shalom!

Rowland Croucher http://jmm.org.au/index.htm