How Do We Do More with Less? A Post-Pandemic Answer

How Do We Do More with Less? A Post-Pandemic Answer

Over the past month, I’ve written a series of blogs addressing the three post-pandemic questions every church leader wants answered. The first two questions I explored were “When do things go back to normal?” and “How do we get people (back) to church?” This week I am diving into the third persistent question: “How do we do more with less?” By answering this question, you will be encouraged to see things in a new light and take your next steps. Although the pandemic took much from us, it also has given us potent opportunities to forge a new path and embrace the next normal.

 

The Problem

The question of how to do more with less worried churches even before the pandemic. Your church may have already been struggling or fighting against declining numbers. As you know, the shutdowns exacerbated this trend. Whether it be less money, less togetherness, or less resources, nearly every church leader I spoke with revealed that they were having to make do with less and the answer was nowhere in sight.

 

Avoid the Pitfall of Hopelessness

If you can relate to being stretched thin in ministry, you might be tempted to feel hopeless. However, take heart. While much was lost in the pandemic, much was also gained. Amidst all the losses, congregations were actually gaining in their ability to adapt to unexpected situations, incorporate new technology, and find creative ways of connecting and being together. In some ways, we grasped Christian hope more tightly than before.

For the last two years, the Creating a Culture of Renewal® community of church leaders has generously shared with me how they were both struggling and thriving in the midst of the pandemic. They struggled because they’d never been through a pandemic, but they also thrived because of the resources and support we offer. Their experiences gave me fresh insight, which I share in my new book, Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World.

While researching the book, I found that we are not the first Christians to wrestle with the question of how to do more with less. Those that went through the bubonic plague evolved technologically to cover the gaps left by the plague.

 

Tech Helps You Do More with Less

Just as we use Zoom and other online technologies to maximize our effort at connecting, so medieval society developed their own tech advances.

From the refinement of the printing press, to the mass production of books, to the rapid spread of information, to the active collaboration of a wide range of voices in science and the arts – all of this got its start during the bubonic plague.

After the bubonic plague was finally over (it last for three centuries), medieval society did not look back and say, “Thank goodness we can be done with books now and advances in the arts and sciences.” Rather, people who had a book in their hand for the first time looked forward to the future. They felt excitement and wonder as affordable books came into being.

Just as we have integrated technology into the life of the church – for meetings, Bible study, worship, and even communion – now is not the time to abandon those options. Technology has helped us do more with less. Even folks who don’t like to drive at night have an opportunity to be involved. Families with a sick child can attend worship and comfort their child at the same time. Adopting new technology has forever changed our expectations about what’s possible. As this pandemic ends, I doubt we will say, “Thank goodness! Now we don’t have to meet online anymore. We’ll happily drive two hours for a one-hour meeting.”

Like books expanded the reach of knowledge post-plague, online offerings erase distance, connect communities, and give instant access to new people and places post pandemic. Digital technology is the new reformation. The question is, now that you’re there, how will you stay and continue to adapt?

 

Online Is Here to Stay

Once people have online options, they treasure them. Online worship means your people can participate while traveling, indisposed, sick, or pressed for time. Don’t give any of that up, even though face-to-face worship is once again available. In this way, you can continue to maintain and even expand your reach and mission. Online options also help you extend your shelf life. Unlike starting an additional worship service, which depends on a certain number of people in attendance to be considered viable, online worship lives in a different time frame. It can be experienced hours or months later and still be fresh.

As with any new technology, people and institutions adopt them at different rates. As Rev. Sarah Payne, a Creating a Culture of Renewal® participant, pointed out: “You can’t master technology because it’s always changing.”

However, staying on the journey of adopting technology is essential. Your congregation is important to your community. Your message is more relevant than ever before. Embracing technology, without breaking the bank or overloading your people, is important. With the whole world moving online, your church needn’t be left behind.

 

Your Next Steps for Doing More with Less

Consider these words from Upper Room’s master innovator Terrell L McTyer, “The cousin of relevance is audience.” Keep your audience in mind as you choose which technologies to incorporate.

  1. Select ones that will be relevant and accessible for your particular congregation and community.
  2. When it comes to smaller or older congregations, avoid the mistake of doing too much too fast. Smaller and older churches tend to be late adopters. They won’t be the first on the technology bandwagon, but they needn’t be the last. If you do too much too fast, you’ll hit a wall of resistance. Instead, start with what is most needed and go from there.
  3. To draw young people to your congregation, focus on building your social media. Check out Facebook reels, YouTube, and TikTok videos to see what kind of content and format grabs the attention of young people.
  4. Understand the theology of technology. Technology has expanded our sense of incarnation. In much the same way that God stretched from the invisible to the visible through Christ, we are extending beyond the tangible into the intangible through digital connections.

If you’re still questioning how your congregation can do more with less, or how to incorporate technology into your setting, join me for my July workshop, How to Do More with Less, so that you can spend time in community finding the answers that work for you.

 

Excerpted and adapted from Rebekah’s new bookForging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World (2022).

Copyright © 2022 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

How Do We Get People (Back) to Church? A Post-Pandemic Answer

How Do We Get People (Back) to Church? A Post-Pandemic Answer

How do we get people back to church – or even get them there for the first time? This is the second of the top three questions most on people’s minds post-pandemic. Worshiping together is the heart of the church. Empty pews are a tough reality to face now that the world has opened up again.

“How do you get people back to church?” isn’t a new question, though. It’s one we’ve been asking for years. The truth is that people have been leaving church for a long time.

This week’s blog is part three of a four-part series that sheds light on the top three questions church leaders are asking in a post-pandemic world.

 

Why Aren’t People Coming Back to Church?

As I’ve discovered while researching Forging a New Path, according to many studies, religious affiliation has waned in the decades since the Third Great Awakening of the 1950s. Church attendance has dropped year by year since 1960, with the most dramatic declines in the last ten years. While church attendance regularly fluctuates based on societal changes, studies indicate that beginning in 2000, the decline was twice as great as it was between 1960 and 1970, marking this period as the Great Decline.

 

Tips for Building True Community that Bring People Back to Church

Even as people leave church, they are still hungry for community. What if we could create strong, spirited community at church? Here are four strategies for building the kind of spiritual community that makes people want to stay.

Before you start, though, let me dispel one myth. You may think you have to do things on your own. You don’t. In fact, you can’t.

Remember that no one person can do this work alone. As the church comes together to create spiritual connections, approach community-building as Creating a Culture of Renewal® participant Rev. Heather Bailes Baker learned to do. At first, Heather went about her work in the church, fearing she was burdening others when asking them to help or lead ministries. This fear left her shouldering too many responsibilities for rebuilding and growing the church. As she learned to delegate responsibilities to others, she saw a new way to approach the work ahead, referring to it as “our” work, not simply her work as the clergy. Building community is always “our” work.

 

1.     Start Small Groups

Small groups have always been at the heart of the church. Jesus conducted the first small groups as he called disciples and then sent them out as apostles. His small group lasted a mere three years, but all of his students became teachers of new classes after he died and was resurrected.

Many churches are creatively reinvigorating their outreach by crafting “fresh expressions” of faith, including initiatives like Pub Theology or Bibles and Beer. Instead of insisting that new people come to the church building to worship with them, church folks meet people at bars, pubs, coffee shops, laundromats, and restaurants to engage in faith discussion with them. Sometimes informal settings outside the church encourage greater self-revelation and create an easier way to get to know each other.

 

2.     Keep it Short and Sweet

Spend time together but keep your offerings short and sweet. People’s attention spans have shortened, and their lives have gotten busier. Instead of a year-long Bible study, offer a four-to-six-week study. Instead of a ninety-minute learning session, try forty-five-minutes instead.

Instead of a three-day retreat, invite others to a three-hour retreat. The point is to build togetherness with the time that people have. Many touches with the same people over time will build a more enduring community than one long experience never to be replicated.

 

3.     Mix Social and Spiritual

Intentionally combine the social and the spiritual to create stronger community. Often small groups are organized around spiritual material, and the social part gets added in. But I want to encourage you to think about having groups based on social activities that add in the spiritual. For instance, gather a group that enjoys going to the movies, with a meal before or after the film.

Discuss religious or spiritual themes in the movie, letting the movie prompt discussion about your own lives. End your time together by praying for one another.

 

4.     Start with an Existing Community

Another Creating a Culture of Renewal® member, Pastor RJ Davis, noted that the congregation he serves was founded out of a housing development. These neighbors already had strong relationships and realized they wanted to be able to worship together, so they contacted denominational authorities and asked for a church to be planted there. True to their community nature, this congregation is all about doing life together. “People go to dinner together, take vacations together, and celebrate their kids’ birthdays together,” RJ notes. Others want to be part of this level of community, and it’s brought new people to the church. Their vision is to “Bring intentional community back to the neighborhood.” What already existing community can you build upon to create spiritual community?

 

How the Power of Being Social Gets People Back to Church

I admit, “being social” sometimes gets a bad name in the church. Inward-focused church communities may be dismissed as little more than social clubs. Churches that focus less on being of service in the community than on hosting potlucks, socials, and meals for each other, can be seen as selfish or not really a church. In fact, I used to share that critical view: these weren’t churches as much as they were social clubs.

But the pandemic has changed my mind. I now believe that the church, in addition to being spiritually focused and service-oriented, needs to be a lot more socially minded. Here’s my thinking. Social connections create a sense of belonging. A sense of belonging leads to emotional and relational stability and provides an ingredient essential to the formation of spiritual community: trust. Trust is built by the hard work of honesty, vulnerability, celebration, and accountability. In addition to trust, belonging and stability are the blessed results of living in true community.

Ironically, I think there’s a connection between the disconnect people feel in society and their  disconnect from each other. Even before the pandemic, America was experiencing a crisis of connection, of belonging. Interestingly enough, according to a study of American life, this crisis of belonging isn’t limited to a specific demographic or generation. The study shows that people of all demographics – including both Democrats and Republicans as well as the young and the elderly – experience a lack of connection with others. The shutdowns fueled the rise of mental health issues by forcing us apart even more than we already were. Longing to belong is as basic to human makeup as spirituality. In fact, satisfying the longing to belong is fundamental to creating a spiritual community.

Now that you have these four strategies, it’s time to put them into practice! This can be trial and error, so don’t give up too soon. I’m always interested in helping people forge a new path, so let me know what you discover.

 

Excerpted and adapted from Rebekah’s new bookForging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World (2022).

Copyright © 2022 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

When Do Things Go Back to Normal? A Post-Pandemic Answer

When Do Things Go Back to Normal? A Post-Pandemic Answer

Given the events of 2020, 2021, and 2022 that have dramatically impacted and changed the landscape in which churches operate, it’s important to address three persistent questions I hear church leaders asking. In last week’s blog, I shared each of the three questions, as well as an important shift in perspective that the church can make to allow us to better take advantage of the time before us. The first question on most people’s minds has been, “When do things go back to normal?” This week, I’ll share what we can learn from pandemics past, as well as the answer, from a 2022 perspective.

In the church, normal means greeting each other with hugs and handshakes and singing together in worship. Normal means taking Holy Communion in the company of others. It means returning to live, in-person worship with the same people we were used to seeing before, while also welcoming new folks. Normal means getting back to the ministries we used to offer and traveling freely without fear. Normal means recovering from the shutdowns, coming back together, and getting past the pandemic. So, when do things go back to normal?

Many churches have journeyed back to the familiar. Others are quickly making up for lost time. I’m all for in-person worship and relaxing in the company of others. After all, we are social creatures. Being together like “before” nourishes the heart and is good for the soul.

There’s just one problem with going back to the familiar, but most people don’t want to hear this. “Normal” doesn’t exist anymore. There’s no going back to 2019. And, even if churches could go back to normal, the rest of the world wouldn’t be joining us. That’s because lives have changed. People have picked up new habits and established new patterns. Life, in general, is not magically going back to a time before COVID-19.

 

The Forgotten Problem with Normal

So, the old normal of 2019 no longer exists. Life has evolved along with the virus, showing up in all kinds of new variants. Today we find ourselves in brand new terrain. While you could try to go back to the same worship service, meetings, discussions, and debates, if you did, you would also return to the forgotten problem with “normal,” which is that the normal way of doing church had actually become a model for decline.

Long before the pandemic erupted, churches were already worried about their health and vitality. Younger generations and their parents weren’t as interested in church as previous generations. Boomers fretted about how to attract more children and their parents while resisting changing the worship service to meet those needs. The Pioneer generation worried if their congregation could stay vibrant long enough to ensure that at least someone would be there to conduct their funeral, even if the congregation didn’t outlast them by long.

That’s what “normal” looked like before the pandemic hit. The normal way of doing church wasn’t just a series of unfortunate dynamics. Instead, it was a pattern of expectations woven into the very culture of church life.

Simply resuming the “normal” way of doing things in church – Sunday worship + Sunday school classes + small groups + administrative meetings – won’t make the needed difference now. While we can all be forgiven the intense desire for normalcy, “normal” wasn’t a sustainable model for building a robust life of faith or for growing a vital congregation before the pandemic.

And it still isn’t.

 

Medieval Churches Faced a Crisis Before the Plague, too

Before waves of the bubonic plague rolled across Europe, the church had already shifted some of its focus from the care of souls to gaining political power and amassing wealth. Religious and political leaders formed alliances similar to marriages of convenience to achieve their individual goals. This focus on political power weakened the spiritual power of the church by diverting its attention from the care of bodies and souls to worldly matters. This revealed the need for greater spirituality in the church and gave rise to a medieval version of the spiritual but not religious movement.

As the plague decimated the ranks of the clergy, the church trained new priests, but many of them were young, poorly educated, and ill-equipped to serve people well. People were left to find their own way to safeguard their souls from the plague they believed was a sign of the wrath of God. While still identifying as Catholic, because no other form of Western European Christian faith expression existed until the Protestant Reformation of 1517, people went around the church authorities and structures to create new ways of connecting to God. The development of the Reformation itself was an example of this yearning for more direct spiritual connection.

I used to think that the rise of the spiritual but not religious movement – people who were once associated with the church but left to pursue their relationship with God on their own terms – was a twentieth- and twenty-first-century phenomenon. But it’s clear to me now, looking back at how people responded to the plague, that this movement began much earlier than I ever suspected.

 

Embrace Spirituality and the Next Normal

In the quest to return to normal, many church leaders and members are operating from the assumption that the church as-is can grow past the impacts of the pandemic. These churches believe once the pandemic is over, we’ll go back to something recognizable. They believe, in the meantime, we need to get our programs back up and running, offer a full calendar, go invite people, and wait for them to show up.

While there is some validity to this approach, it misses the innovative opportunities before us. This is the perfect time to learn from medieval Christians and pandemics past to align ourselves with God’s unfolding future. It’s time to envision a new path forward beyond putting the coffee pot back on for the fellowship hour and passing the offering plate. The church today has a similar, contemporary version of the spiritual but not religious movement.

Even as religious affiliation has dropped over the years, spiritual affiliation has dramatically increased. The God of the Bible is a God of direct encounters. But, over the centuries, people of faith have taken this record of spiritual experiences and mined them for morals, lessons, and do’s and dont’s. We have recast these spiritual experiences as religious experiences by focusing on the beliefs and behaviors derived from them rather than the transcendent states being described in them. As a result, sometimes even church people think that a direct experience of God is out of reach.

Rather than fearing or dismissing the message that the spiritual but not religious communicate by leaving the church, let’s learn from them instead. They’re signaling the need for a shift in church culture we can all benefit from.

As we pay attention, I think we’ll find that the news is generally hopeful. People want to experience God and the transcendent. People want more of church, not less. As you move the church forward in this post-pandemic world, this is the perfect time to lead people to refocus on the spiritual aspects of the Bible, and to encourage divine encounters in their life. Not just to learn about Jesus, but to be in the presence of Jesus.

If you’d like to build deep relationships with fellow church leaders in spiritual community, consider joining a Creating a Culture of Renewal® cohort! Our three-year leadership development program will empower you to bring renewal to your congregation and community.

Excerpted and adapted from Rebekah’s new book, Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World (Market Square Publishers, May 2022).

Copyright © 2022 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

Three Post-Pandemic Questions Every Church Leader Wants Answered

Three Post-Pandemic Questions Every Church Leader Wants Answered

We are two years and two months out from the day the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. Churches and other houses of worship have been profoundly affected by the pandemic. These places where people gathered in the tens, hundreds, and thousands – considered essential for so many of us – spiritually, emotionally, socially – were deemed “nonessential services.” That hit the church hard because many people had already decided churches were non-essential. That steady stream of people leaving had put the church in a decades-long decline. It has brought to light three post-pandemic questions every church leader wants answered. If we can grapple with these questions well and live into new answers, we can enter a new phase of renewal.

These are three post-pandemic questions that every church leader wants answered:

  1. When do things go back to normal?
  2. How do we get people (back) to church?
  3. How do we do more with less?

Medieval Christians Asked the Same Three Questions

Medieval Christians weathered a deadly pandemic too. The bubonic plague erupted across Europe for more than three centuries deeply disrupting all of society, including the church. They needed answers to these questions too.

Based on my research for my new book, Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World, here is what I believe would be the medieval Christians’ answers based on their experience with the plague.

When do things go back to normal?
They don’t. Something new had to emerge. In medieval times, that turned out to be the Protestant Reformation.

How do we get people (back) to church?
Instead of getting people back to church, they had to go forward, and invite people into something brand new.

How do we do more with less?
Trying to fill the gaps of leadership and trust left by the plague wasn’t very successful. Instead, they had to reorganize the very way they did church.

While there are significant differences between the bubonic plague and the COVID-19 pandemic – not to mention the societies they unfolded in – we share a surprising number of similarities with people of that day. The good news is that medieval Christians figured it out – just as we will.

In the following weeks, I’ll answer these three questions from a 2022 perspective. I’ll also share what we can learn from pandemics past to shape a positive future for the church.

In the meantime, let me leave you with this: the Latin origin of the word pandemic is from the Greek roots “pan” meaning “all, every, whole, or inclusive” and “demos” meaning “of or belonging to the people.”

In many ways we’ve looked at ourselves as victims of the pandemic, but understanding the root of this word can change our perspective. If pandemic means “of or belonging to all the people,” then the church has a choice about how we answer these questions. This important shift in perspective for the church allows us to take advantage of this post-pandemic time to make things better.

If you’ve found yourself asking these same three questions and want to explore new answers, I invite you to join a Creating a Culture of Renewal® cohort. Beginning this fall, you’ll have the opportunity to work closely with church leaders across the country and learn how to bring renewal to your congregation and community. Visit the link above or contact us for more information!

 

Excerpted and adapted from Rebekah’s new book, Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World (Market Square Publishers, May 2022).

Copyright © 2022 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

Methodist Spirituality in a Post-Pandemic World

Methodist Spirituality in a Post-Pandemic World

According to Google, searches for prayer were at an all-time high during the height of the pandemic. Six out of ten people in the US and around the world prayed for an end to the pandemic. People were desperate for a solution. But now that COVID is receding, churches have reopened, and we are resuming familiar ways, prayer searches are back to normal. Yet the need for a deep connection with God remains. How do we help people cultivate their own relationship with God? Good news! Methodist spirituality can anchor us in our post-pandemic world.

In this article, I am going to share three strategies to deepen congregational-based spirituality in your setting. But first, a word of warning. If you are tempted to skip this article because you think your congregation already provides deep spirituality, please read on and keep an open mind. Too many churches confuse reading or hearing about God with experiencing God for themselves.

 

Jesus’ Emphasis on Spiritual Community

A peek into the community that Jesus formed with his circle of closest friends, known as The Twelve, gives us a good idea about life lived in spiritual community. These twelve disciples were a diverse group of people who might not normally mix, yet this group transcended their differences to become trusted friends.

How?

First, they embraced honesty and vulnerability by living a transparent life. As they journeyed through life together, challenging themselves and one another, their transparency built trust.

Life on the road with Jesus wasn’t easy. Several of the disciples thought about returning to their old lives. On more than one occasion they couldn’t understandJesus’ teaching and way of life.  Despite all this, Jesus never sent them away, nor did they leave. They felt safe enough to share their confusion, doubts, what they really thought, felt, and believed. In other words, they practiced vulnerability, which opened the door to accountability.

During their three years together, Jesus sent the Twelve (and others) on assignments where they were told to heal the sick, raise the dead, and share the coming and presence of God’s Kin(g)dom. When the disciples returned, they would give account of who they spoke with and what they accomplished. Sometimes they had miracles to share! Other times they returned empty-handed. Regardless of the outcome, the Twelve knew they were accountable to and loved by Jesus.

 

Spiritual Community in Early Methodism

In much the same way, early Methodists gathered in small groups, or “bands,” for spiritual growth. Historically, band meetings were centered around these five questions:

  1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
  2. What temptations have you met with?
  3. How were you delivered?
  4. What have you thought, said, or done of which you doubt, whether it be sin or not?
  5. Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?

The purpose of these groups was to build genuine relationships with one another, and with God. This honesty, vulnerability, and accountability created powerful bonds between members, and with God. Methodist spirituality powerfully undergirded the church.

 

Post-Pandemic Spirituality Reimagined

Both Jesus’ community and Early Methodism give us examples of spiritual community. When you look at your church, do you sense this level of connectedness? When people gather for worship, Sunday school, classes or small groups, during fellowship or other events, do they transparently disclose what’s really happening in their lives? In the tough times, do they support each other, no matter how challenging or uncomfortable they feel? Do they share their struggles and overcome personal biases to be together?

If we are to emulate Jesus’ way, then we must build a true community within the church that is spiritual in nature rather than simply functional. Here are three strategies for building spiritual communities:

Strategy # 1:

Practice accountability. In my work with pastors and lay leaders around the country through Creating a Culture of Renewal®, I have been surprised how often spiritual leaders struggle with holding their people accountable. As institutions that generally put relationships first, learning how to cultivate relationships is paramount. Instead of focusing on keeping everyone happy and not rocking the boat, build true, genuine relationships with and amongst your people by creating safe environments where they can be honest about their life’s struggles and hold one another accountable as, together, you grow as disciples of Jesus.

Strategy # 2:

Highlight spiritual experiences contained in the scriptures. The God of the Bible is a God of direct encounters. Over the centuries, however, people of faith have taken the Bible and mined this recounting of spiritual experiences for morals, lessons, and do’s and dont’s. By focusing on the beliefs and behaviors rather than the transcendent states being described in them, church people begin to think that a direct experience of God is out of reach. Remind people that they can have an encounter with and experience the love and grace of God.

Strategy # 3:

Lengthen the time for silent prayer. Have you ever noticed that silent prayer during corporate worship might last only five to ten seconds before the space gets filled with words again? That brief silence in a noisy, crowded week doesn’t leave much room for people to connect with their soul or for God to speak with them. People are looking for something more substantive and more soulful. In fact, those who are leaving the church tell us that they want more spirituality in the church, not less. Allow your people time to talk to God, and for God to answer. You may find that this extra time allows you to nurture your own spirituality, which we too often become disconnected from when we are too busy working for God.

Excerpted and adapted from Rebekah’s upcoming book, Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World (Market Square Publishers, 2022).

 

Copyright © 2022 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

Ministry in a Digital World

Ministry in a Digital World

The pandemic hastened online adoption in nearly every area of our lives. However, as with any new technology, people and institutions adopt technology at different rates. While online tech is the answer for many congregations, not every church will be able to do all the things they’d like to do. So, what if you can’t do it all or you just don’t have the people who can do tech?

In conducting research for my new book, Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World (Market Square, 2022), I came across a thought-provoking concept noted by author Ryan Panzer. In his article, “Digital Ministry: More about Culture than Computers,” he keeps technology in proper perspective by focusing attention on what tech can do for Christianity. “We don’t need to be sophisticated users of technology; sometimes we may not need much technology at all. As church leaders, we simply need to notice these values in action and to determine how they align to God’s work in our Christian community.”

Technology itself is not a utopian solution. It’s more about the culture that digital technology has brought about. Panzer concedes that it’s not so much that churches need to become masters of technology. With technological advancements happening daily, there is much that simply can’t be mastered. Rather than try to stay abreast of every platform, keep up with every breaking trend, and use every app, he suggests that you look instead to the culture that digital technology has created. He calls this “tech-shaped culture.” Its four values include questions, connection, collaboration, and creativity.

Let’s look at them in turn.

 

Questions: Invitation to New Answers

Long before she had ALS, my mother was the first person I heard say, “Let me Google it,” when looking for an answer to a question. Now “Google” is an accepted verb and a commonplace way of researching information on the internet. Practically everybody uses it.

The ability to ask a question and have Alexa, Siri, or Google answer your question is a turning point in the quest for knowledge. Before these search engines, knowledge was organized by answers, not by questions. If you wanted to know what dinosaurs ate, you had to find a specialized book, or look up the entry “dinosaurs” in an encyclopedia, then browse the entire book or article to pick up the answer to the question. That’s very different from asking, “Siri, what did dinosaurs eat?” Further, encyclopedia entries are contained, assuming this information is all we know, or maybe even this is all there is to know about any particular field of study.

A question-oriented culture is a major shift in context. Asking questions pushes boundaries and opens possibilities. The question-asking culture encourages curiosity, agency, and engagement. It assumes that no question is off-limits, that every question has an answer, that a range of answers is available, and that questions are good and welcome.

In church cultures where every correct answer is “Jesus,” this sort of open-endedness and freedom can be both uncomfortable and exhilarating. It expands the boundaries of what can be created. So how can you encourage the asking of questions? Start by being willing to entertain and engage questions. Ask open-ended questions during worship and Bible study rather than give answers. Allow new points of view to shape new answers—especially points of view that come from a variety of generations and backgrounds. Allow people time to process, ask new questions, and discern the best answers.

Connection: Transcending Boundaries

The second value of the tech-shaped culture is connection. Digital technology connects people in Zoom rooms, on FaceTime, and through Facebook Live. It even connects people across the physical and the virtual, creating hybrid experiences. It transcends boundaries like location and distance in real-time, allowing for connection across many realms.

 

Collaboration: Participation and Contribution

In addition to online platforms like Zoom that allow people to meet together in real-time, other online tools allow people to collaborate by creating documents. Google Docs is one prime example. The world has come to expect collaboration; Google Docs has made it easier. Working together makes for stronger buy-in. It includes many points of view, and it engenders a sense of community. Leadership in the church is often seen as top-down, or sometimes, bottom-up. But imagine collaborating laterally in the realms of worship, mission, liturgy, and the future of the church. This type of teamwork goes beyond committee planning to a deeper give-and-take between and among people. Collaboration is consistent with our trinitarian theology. Just as the three persons of the trinity flow into one another and become inseparable, so collaboration produces something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

 

Creativity: An Expression of the Divine Within

In the online world, each person is a content creator. From the simplest post to sharing photographs to recording a video, social media platforms have encouraged an explosion of creativity. This profusion of self-expression can easily be encouraged and included in the church as well. Imagine people sharing their prayers, artwork, and unique spiritual experiences with one another. Historically, church has been a venue for creativity from spoken word, to fabric arts, liturgical dance, and music ranging from classical to traditional to innovative. Creativity is the ultimate expression of the divine Creator. As we share our own creativity, we have the opportunity to expand the presence of God in the world.

 

Changing Your Focus

Making this shift to a tech-shaped culture doesn’t require any special equipment. All it requires is a change in focus. When you think about it, church sanctuaries are arranged like classrooms of old where a teacher stood in front of the class to dispense knowledge. But even classrooms have changed. Instead of a teacher standing in front of rows of desks, children are often gathered in huddles of desks so that students can learn together in groups. Students not only learn from the teacher, but they also learn from each other and from other sources such as books, online resources, and outside experts. One way this recent model of learning can be applied to the church is to envision church in the round.

Open Space is one such example. This format, developed by Rev. Mary Beth Taylor, forms Jesus-based community by fostering open-ended questions and discussion about matters of faith during in-person and online church meetings. Mary Beth has found particular success with bringing young people in by offering permission to ask questions in a safe and welcoming space. When churches discourage questions, they self-sabotage by pushing younger generations away, making them feel as though they should just “be quiet and believe everything they’re told.” Only, that’s not the way it works anymore. Not in a tech-shaped culture. In a tech-shaped culture, questions, connections, creativity, and collaboration mean anyone and everyone can participate.

If you are still struggling to get your people on board with technology, I invite you to join me for my upcoming webinar, How to Do More with Less: Leading the Post-Pandemic Church. We’ll explore not only how to do more with fewer resources, but also with less experience.

 

Adapted and excerpted from Rebekah’s upcoming book, Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World, 2022.

 

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