The world you grew up in no longer exists

This month, I would love to receive some feedback from readers. In particular, from those of you who don’t consider yourself regular church attenders.

I have asked four simple questions at the end of the article. I would appreciate you taking a few moments to send me your thoughts on these. I will keep specific responses and identities confidential. Thanks so much!

One of today’s foremost influences in the Canadian church is Carey Nieuwhof. He writes on the state of the church and culture via podcasts, blogs and books. I recently read some of his thoughts on how culture and the church have changed and thought it would be worthwhile sharing with you.

Some of the following comes from his writing thoughts.

“You know things are changing, but the real question is how quickly and how deeply.”

Well, the change is pretty fast and pretty deep.

In fact, unless you’re under 25, the world into which you were born doesn’t really exist anymore.

You may have heard of the Beloit College Mindset list. It comes out every year and often makes the news.

The list is designed to get college faculty (and others) into the headspace of the entry class. Essentially, it’s a tutorial on how much the world has changed since the people who will be teaching that class were in college.

Here are a few random snippets from the Class of 2019-20 mindset list (the entering students are on average 18 years old):

• If you want to reach them, you’d better send a text – emails are oft ignored.

• They disagree with their parents as to which was the “first” Star Wars episode.

• Wayne Gretzky has always been retired.

• They have never seen billboard ads for cigarettes.

• There have always been iMacs on desks.

• They have never licked a postage stamp.

• Princess Diana, Notorious B.I.G., Jacques Cousteau, and Mother Teresa have never been alive.”

Recognizing the fast pace of change in our culture, it is important for businesses, organizations and the church to know how to connect with its community. If they do not, they will be ignored eventually.

Just think of businesses that have closed in recent years – some which were very successful in days gone by – because, in large par, they lost touch with the community.

Some of the changes identified by Nieuwhof with regard to the church are telling. Here are a few that he offers:

• Church Attendance Is Now A Fringe Activity (That doesn’t mean church attendance is impossible. It just means it’s not normal.)

• “All Welcome” Means Nothing (Think about it, if you didn’t go to church, would you take that as an invitation?)

• Regular Church Attendance Is Irregular (Culture has changed so radically in the last decade or two that even committed Christians aren’t in church as regularly as they used to be.)

• God Has Become Generic (In other words, what people define as Christian and what constitutes genuine Christianity may be two different things.)

• Background Understanding Is Often Zero (Gone is the era where any preacher can say “As we all know…”)

Four questions

1. What do you think is the greatest need in the greater Truro/Bible Hill areas?

2. Why do you think most people in the area don’t attend church? (Perhaps upwards of 80 per cent of the community do not regularly attend)

3. If you were to look for a church to attend, what kind of things would you look for?

4. What advice can you give to a church that really wants to be helpful to people in the community? (Or, what could we do for you?)