Community

September 20, 2018

Gen Z, Church preferences, and influence: What turns them on and off

In our continuing series of blogs highlighting the characteristics of the new youth culture, Gen Z (those born from 1998-2015), we have previously outlined their views on identity, self-fulfillment, gender, worldview, and life goals.  Today, we’re going to peek at how they view the church and their participation in it.  What makes this striking is that their image of an exemplary church differs significantly from what is often seen in our world today, and ministry leaders and pastors better take notice of it. Using the excellent resources from Impact 360 Institute (the book Gen Z) and the Barna Group (their […]
September 7, 2018

Gen Z’s Sense of Identity, Life Aspirations and Goals: A Potential Ministry Path

We have been exploring over the last several weeks characteristics about the new youth culture known as Gen Z (born 1998 to 2015).  The oldest in this group are now in college, and they have a decisively different view of the world, themselves, their family, and the Faith.  Today, we’ll take a look at their sense of identity, life goals and what they deem as priorities for their own “life fulfillment.”  Knowing these trends can greatly help church leaders devise outreaches that can possibly attract them into their congregations for evangelism and discipleship. In their works, Gen Z and Barna […]
May 26, 2017

What Post-Christian Thinking People Want: 8) Personal Problem-Solving

“I got problems.  You’ve got problems.  All God’s children got problems.”  It seems that problems and difficulties are a common denominator in the human experience.  But it is how those problems are addressed and resolved that gives Christians enormous opportunities for gospel witness and persuasive leverage towards post-Christian thinking people. A generation or two ago, our western society found many answers to their life problems either in their own nuclear family, broader family, or close-knit neighborhood relationships.  Those were the days when far more marriages and families were kept intact, and where people received “community-wisdom” to the life issues challenging them. […]
February 21, 2017

What Post-Christian Thinking People Want: 4) Relational Initiative

Robin S. Sharma once stated: “the business of business is relationships.  The business of life is human connection.”  We live in a world with so much communication technology at the touch of our fingers, yet the touch that most people need and want–especially post-Christian minded ones–is the touch that comes from altruistic human initiative. The kind of relational initiative that I am referring to is not a utilitarian kind of connection (“I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine”), but rather the genuine attempt to connect with another person for who they are, and for what you see in them […]
February 8, 2017

What Post-Christian Thinking People Want 2) Transparency

Mother Teresa, the late Founder of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India said often: “Honesty and transparency will make you vulnerable.  Be honest and transparent anyway.”  Her words remind us that in an age of skepticism, criticism and doubt over motives, what post-Christian thinking people want is transparency, something that illuminates an open path directly to the human heart. The idea behind transparency is allowing light to enter freely so that people can see to the core with clear and unobstructed vision.  In increasing ways, society has become more skeptical of the way advertising is presented and politics are played because people […]
February 1, 2017

What Post-Christian Thinking People Want: 1) Community

In his work, Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage, Kurt Vonnegut writes: “What should young people do with their lives today?  Many things, obviously.  But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” We live in a time of profound communication technology.  We have smart phones, social media, instant video “chatting” with others, texting, and emerging technologies that can link us with practically anything and anybody.  Yet we dwell in a culture that is vastly lonely and disconnected.  People today yearn for community and a place to belong in an ocean […]