Christian Unity

In the concluding session of 2010 Elderlink Atlanta, Randy Harris spoke on strategies for addressing the challenges facing churches of Christ for the next generation.  How do we lead our churches in the future?   He proposed an overarching principle for developing leaders for the next generation: “Come follow with me!”

The term “leader” is not a big positive concept in gospels.  Actually “follow” is a much more prominent topic. We need, not to lead better, but to follow better.   To reach the next generation we need leaders who are great followers. Get people to follow with you. Leadership is a side effect of following.

For most of Christian history, most believers did not possess a copy of the scriptures, nor could they even read them.  So how did they do discipleship in a pre-literate world?   In a world where most men don’t read books, we may need to employ methods similar to those used in past generations.  Those methods are not primarily focused “from the neck up.”   They focus on doing things together that build spirituality and character.

Randy presented an illustration from college football.   More and more college football teams don’t have a playbook, because so many players can’t read well enough to get the plays from the book. But they still run plays.  The coach lines up the team on the practice field and shows them how to run the play.  Then they run the play over and over until they get it right.  That is our model.

Randy offered a few examples of the kind of “plays” he is running with a group of ministry students.

• Make a covenant commitment. Sign formal vows. Take them really seriously. Give one another permission to hold accountable. Include statements like, “If you see me acting like a jerk, here is what I want you to say to me”
• Scripture memorization
• Take the group out for a meal.  No one is allowed to get their own food, nor can they ask someone to serve them.  So each person in the group learns to enter a situation where they are focused on serving others rather than on serving themselves.  Run the play over and over until you get it right
• For 48 hrs, don’t say anything that love doesn’t require you to say.  Then talk about it.   The group came to realize that so much of what their conversation is sarcasm — not compelled by love.
  

Randy then presented five fundamental boundaries to instill.  These are not the only needed qualities, of course, but are some needed qualities  that are not talked often about.

1) toughness – like Jesus was tough. Quit whining . Whining is not the appropriate response to anything.  He gave the example of a person with cancer who does not complain.  Be like that person!

2) risk taking He painted a picture of a disciple as being absurdly happy, entirely fearless, and always in trouble.  This requires trust in God.  We can’t be inspiring leaders while always playing it safe.

3) mindfulness of God Being calm and not anxious in all circumstances, with a deep sense that God is working in every situation — not just being aware of God when we are praying.  Hold one another accountable for observing 15 min a day of silence. Challenge disciples to have a 90 second prayer, 7 times a day.

4) exhibit and teach persistence Help them with discipline and commitment over time.

5) fun Being a follower with others following you has to be fun, joyful.

Randy closed with a challenge for all of us to get others to follow with us.  When we do that, everything else becomes an annoyance.   This is the purpose for which God called us to be shepherds.  And it must be done if we are to develop the leaders who will reach the next generation.

After Randy Harris’ opening talk on challenges we face in reaching the next generation, John York took the podium and began talking about the key competencies that church leaders need in order to meet those challenges.  Teaching, he says, is not merely about the transfer of information.  Today’s audiences have access to a virtually unlimited supply of information on their computers and their phones.  No teacher can compete as a source of information.  Trying to do so diminishes the teacher in the eyes of the students.   Instead, the teacher needs to provide meaning, context and relevance for the information.  How does this information change my life?   How can it change yours?

That changes the kind of ministry graduates a university needs to produce.  What are the key competencies a divinity school graduate should possess?  What should a school like ACU do to instill those competencies?   And how can they be measured?

Based on data gathered in previous events, John shared with us the competencies those audiences rated as most important for a church leader:

1) Minister’s spiritual life

2) Exegetical skill

3) Interpersonal relationship skills

4) Family life

5) Conflict management

John commented that training in Greek and Hebrew ranked at the very bottom of the list.  Of course, that doesn’t mean biblical languages are unimportant for a teacher.  But it does mean many in churches don’t see it as very important — far out of synch with the effort and emphasis on them in the university programs.

John then proceeded to collect similar survey results from the Elderlink attendees.  And along the way, he collected our self-evaluation of our own competency in those areas.  Our top areas were:

1) Appropriate boundaries

2) Interpersonal skills

3) Listening skills

4) Mentoring skills

5) Spiritual formation

6) Gospel, evangelism

7) Prayer

It is clear that in the view of this group of elders, high on the list of important skills are matters related to interpersonal relationships and reconciliation.  Interestingly, those are not listed among the qualifications in Titus 1 and 1 Tim 3.  (Although it could be argued that they are demonstrated in the kind of family that those passages describe).   In general, the group rated itself as decent but not great in most of these areas.  There is clearly room for (and need for) improvement. We need a way to develop those competencies in elders and in ministers.

I’ve noted before that the ICOC has taken a different approach to building church leaders.  Churches of Christ appear to take people with good academic credentials and turn them into leaders of people through on-the-job training.  The ICOC has done the opposite — attempting to identify people with natural leadership skill, and trying to supplement that with biblical training from time to time along the way.    Neither is ideal, but God can work with weaknesses.  The key ingredient IMO is Lordship.  If there’s one thing the scriptures say over an over, it’s that God can use a person wholly devoted to him, despite great weaknesses.

Randy Harris opened up Elderlink Atlanta on Friday night by stating that the future of the church for people under 30 will be decided by people over 50 who are responsible today.   If we are selfish about how we do that then we will fail.  We must be willing to change and to serve the young.

Randy enumerated five challenges facing today’s leaders in preparing the church for the future:

1) Technology

Technology is a deep distraction among younger people today.  A typical twenty-something will be found today browsing the web on their phones, texting their friends, checking Facebook updates, following people on Twitter…  Whether in the classroom or in a meeting on the job, you never have their undivided attention.  They experience no quiet; seldom pray; don’t know how to pray.  They have constant input from technology.  If they’re only doing one thing at a time, they are bored.  That is a serious impediment to teaching someone to have a relationship with God.

Many of them simply will not read bible. Most men do not read a single book after they finish school.  They consume input in 140 character doses.

How to perform spiritual formation?  It takes 10 years to do anything meaningful. Spiritual formation requires intense attention over time.  It takes a level of commitment that few young people give to anything.

2) The “post-church”era

We are not in a “post christian” era, but post-church.  People are not hostile to church, but see it as irrelevant.  Megachurches are still growing, mostly from people who already share many of their values.  They are not reaching the rest.

We won’t reach the world by improving the worship experience.  They’ll never know about the change, because they don’t come!  It has nothing to do with the quality of preaching, nor instrumental music, nor any of the other things we tweak trying to attract people.

3) Age, gender, and social gap in churches.

Churches are growing older.  There are far more women than men.  Churches of Christ are predominantly southern, white, and well to do. Where are the young men?

4) We need to examine our definitions.

What is the good news? What does a disciple look like? What does a kingdom community look like?   What is important? It’s not all about sexual ethics

Community is overused word.  I can join a community of bicycle riders simply by buying a bicycle.  The community of a church has to mean far more.  Randy used the word “communitas”  meaning a group held together by shared struggles and shared lives.

We need to be committed to reconciliation as a top priority.  The world is tribal and crazy about it. Church should not be Democrat, nor Republican; predominantly rich nor predominantly poor; caucasian or African.

Randy pointed to the news story a while back about a murder in an amish community.  Their public response of forgiveness was a light in a dark world.  We need to be known as that kind of community.

5) What is success, and how do we measure it?

We need to redefine what success looks like.  It’s not “how many people come to church”.  Church attendance  should not be the goal of our love, benevolence, and community outreach.  Church is not all about “butts and bucks.”   Instead it should be about living out values of the kingdom

Success is measured by how many Jesus followers are here — people who are radically walking as Jesus walked.

The dichotomy between men and women in church is a big problem.  “He doesnt ‘get’ church.”  “She doesn’t ‘get’ that he doesn’t ‘get’ it.”  “He prefers his ‘christian’ relationships outside church. Doesn’t like the singing, the preacher… But sees himself as a follower of Jesus.

Young people haven’t given up on truth. (except for college professors and grad students).  But we are not reaching them thru sermons.  And when they attend a sermon they are texting at the same time.  We need a new approach. We won’t reach the next generation thru traditional church.

Hearing Randy’s message, I couldn’t help but think of the way the campus ministries of the 1970′s grew.  It wasn’t by putting on a dramatic, compelling worship service.  Instead it was done one-on-one, and in small groups on campus.  If the church can get back to that model, I think we’ll be ok.