Here’s a starting point for personal reflection and parish discussion on the topic of disruption:
8 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2021 – With Carey Nieuwhof
1. The Majority of Attenders May No Longer Be In The Room
2. Growing Churches Will Shift Their Focus From Gathering to Connecting
3. Some Pastors Will Try to Fill Auditoriums While Others Focus On Fulfilling The Mission
4. Growing Churches Will See The Internet and Their Buildings Differently
5. Content Alone Won’t Cut It. Community and Connection Will
6. Generational Differences Will Become Clearer Than Ever
7. The Political and Ideological Churches Will Lose Influence With the Unchurched
8. Spiritual Entrepreneurs Will Thrive
disruption:
1. The action of preventing something, especially a system, process, or event, from continuing as usual or as expected;
2. The action of completely changing the traditional way that an industry or market operates by using new methods or technology;
3. An interruption in the usual way that a system, process, or event works.
– The Cambridge Online Dictionary
Those who know me well, know that I’m an avid sky watcher, looking for messages from God in the clouds. My prayer space at home consists of an extra-large meditation cushion placed on the floor in front of the floor to ceiling windows, so that I can clearly see the sky.
In fact, I was raised to look to the clouds for messages from God, and I am never disappointed, especially when the full moon is shining on a mildly cloudy night. When I wait and watch on such a night, I keep my journal handy, to write down or sketch all of the beautiful messages I receive.
Indeed, we are promised in scripture that we’ll see Jesus “coming in the clouds” when all kingdom things are fulfilled at the end of time.
“Sing to God, sing praises to God’s name; lift up a song to God who rides upon the clouds — God’s name is the Lord — be exultant before God.” – Psalm 68:4
During the full moon in November, as I looked to the sky, and the clouds passed — one, by one — across the face of the moon, the edges of the clouds blazing in the night sky with the orange, pink and blue colours of the universe, with orange and pink and blue, I was indeed singing praises. It was a moment of perfect wonder, peace, grace and awe. And I thanked God for disrupting the darkness with such glorious light.
Then, I thought, “Yes, that’s it: We are called to disrupt the darkness while we wait for Jesus to “come on the clouds”: “I’ve come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I’ve come to change everything, turn everything rightside up—how I long for it to be finished! Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I’ve come to disrupt and confront!” – Luke 12: 49-52, The Message
No more business as usual for Rome or the Temple system. He came to make all things new, to return the world and the Temple to God, to liberate the outcasts from the tyranny of exclusion from the family of God’s children, to touch the untouchables, love the unlovables, raise up the unraisables.
If that’s what disruption in the Way of Jesus looks like, sign me up!
DISRUPTED WORLD, DISRUPTED CHURCH
Over the last two pandemic years, many people have indeed been talking about disruption — in the world and in the Church. The disruption of the economy; of trade, commerce, the stock market. The disruption of our everyday routines; of our families, our education and healthcare systems, the way we work. The disruption of parish life; of the way we fundraise, worship, celebrate Eucharist, baptism, funerals, and gathering in any way.
We’ve had to think on our feet, adapt frequently and quickly, learn how to be a “hybrid church” and make many tough decisions at warp speed. And all of these challenges are showing us what we’re made of. Some churches have fallen. Some are just surviving. Some are thriving. It seems that the ones most ready and willing to innovate, adapt and change without fighting are the ones surviving and thriving. If we’re honest, most people want to go back to “the way things were,” business as usual, Church the way it was. If we’re courageous, we will see that this is the last thing we should do.
Many look at the disruptions of the last two years as a gift, a calling from God, an unbelievable opportunity to truly wake up, see things in a new way, illuminated by that light of God that shines in the darkness to help us see everything in a new way. To finally break open the conversations that we have avoided, to avoid the inevitable conflict that arises with massive, forced change. Yes, it is a time like no other to let go of the past (whether we want to or not), to dream new dreams, to “make all things new,” especially our life together as the Church. For as much as we, as the Church, have been disrupted by the pandemic, we are also followers of the One who “came to disrupt and confront”, do we are also called to be disruptors, following in His Way, confronting our fears, speaking the truth in love, changing our ways to build a more vibrant future.
A STARTING POINT: READ THE FULL ARTICLE
WATCH CAREY’S YOUTUBE SYNOPSIS
8 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2021 (The Rise Of The Post-Pandemic Church) with Carey Nieuwhof
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amdnAzX9CsY
CAREY’S INTERVIEW ON “EXISTENTIAL FLEX” WITH SIMON SINEK
Why the Church is Losing Ground, the Importance of Existential Flex and How Deep, Personal Crisis Spawned Start With Why
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amdnAzX9CsY
So, grab your journal, and “look to the sky’ – I know that’s what I’ll be doing, praying that the Light will disrupt my own darkness and inspire me to do new things for Jesus, who calls us to be His followers, His disruptors in this time and place.
I’ll see you back here in the February Issue, where I’ll share with you how we are going to try to disrupt business as usual, as we begin The Good Shepherd Cares Parish Project in Beaver Bank, our new year-long mission in public.
Photo Credit: Ross Stone, Unsplash
