I sort of apologize for that last, blank page, post but I was telling by showing.
The ERC's new New Strategic Plan plan ignores the issue that we are driving away people under the age of 40, perhaps 50...
...though it acknowledges the problem.
I have a few observations:
One is that the issue appears to be important, at least to my readers. The blank page post got more hits in the first 24 hours than any post in more than a month. Some people do care about the ERC having a future! And, that is a good thing. A very good thing.
I literally beg you to read the PDF containing questions and answers from the Town Hall meetings. The issue of reaching young people was raised and no reply, from leadership, was recorded in the notes.
----------------
In my opinion, for at least the last 30 years, ERC leadership has cared about pleasing the geezers in the churches who PAY THE BILLS.
They've favored church boards over pastors who've brought, to the church, sinners who are rough around the edges. And, they've dumped on pastors who've prioritized reaching youthful people with the message of Jesus over caring for shut-ins.
Perhaps the best way to describe the new New Strategic Plan is that it carries on those values.
----------------
I am a person who lives and works among millennials. I know millennials and love them...and, I believe, that love is returned. They do seem to enjoy geezers who are authentic. They are far from offended by a joyful, robust Jesus-focused lifestyle.
----------------
As much as the hierarchs of the CGGC don't want this to be true,...
Clearly, it's what I write on this blog that inspired the challenge to my credentials...
Yet, what I write here makes sense to millennials who love and follow Jesus...
What I write, backed by the incarnational way I live, blesses those millennials...
...it attracts them...
...and, while people like Lance talk about valuing missional and incarnational living,...
...what I write here, in concert with our lifestyle, is treated, by the CGGC and ERC leadership culture as if it is a curse.
...and, they have cursed it by attacking my credentials and expelling my ministry from the CGGC.
---------------
If the new New Strategic Plan works perfectly...
...and, as far as I can tell, even most ERC insiders are already convinced it will crash and burn...
...It will only take care of the Boomers and Builders still around...
...and be viable for what? 10? 20 years?
THIS PLAN IS LITTLE MORE THAN AN ATTEMPT TO PERFECT THE VERY DYSFUNCTION THAT HAS DRIVEN THE CGGC DECLINE FOR GENERATIONS.
IT GIVES NO THOUGHT AT ALL, AND MAKES NO EFFORT, TO MAKE JESUS MEANINGFUL TO PEOPLE YOUNGER THAN THE BABY BOOMER GENERATION!
----------------
We must repent.
No comments:
Post a Comment