In the last decade the world has changed drastically. The church isn’t exempt from that transformation…and we’ll give you nine examples.
The website church leaders.com has come up with nine things that worked in the church a decade ago….but don’t anymore.
The article was written by Carey Nieuwhof, the founding pastor of Connexus Church and author of several books, a church leaders blog and a leadership podcast.
First, relying on an automatic return to church. There was a day when you could assume that once young adults got married and had a child, they would automatically come back to church. Those days are gone.
Next, appealing to people out of guilt or obligation. The number of people who feel guilty about not being in church on Sunday shrinks daily.
Simply being better than other churches. Better isn’t going to get you the mileage it used to. Different will.
Gimmicks. Using them every week get old fast.
Inauthentic leadership: People’s fake detectors are set at a higher level than ever.
A self-centered mission: You have to be careful not to make the mission about your church.
Random Programming: random programming pleases insiders but rarely reaches outsiders.
Assuming people know what their next step is: The average unchurched person arrives knowing almost nothing about Christianity,
And Relying on what you’ve learned in the past: there’s a growing gap between what leaders need to know about the culture and what they actually know.