Growth Points with Dr. Mc

A Generation Behind

On Your Mark — Have you heard it said the church is behind the times? It’s true! When it comes to ministry, churches are typically ten to twenty years behind. Why is this so?

One reason is leaders form their basic values and habits before they reach their twentieth birthday. Their thinking is then shaped by the adults in their lives—professors, teachers, parents, pastors, coaches, mentors—each of whom is working from a paradigm that was developed forty years before.

Most young leaders don’t get the opportunity to serve in a key decision-making role until they are in their forties or fifties. For example, a youth pastor may serve until thirty-five or forty-years-old before they get a chance to be a lead pastor. By the time a youth pastor transitions into the role of lead pastor, they are using concepts that were acquired twenty or more years before. Their ministry approach may appear new, but they are already a generation behind.

Get Set — Ministry approaches tend to have a fifteen to twenty-year life cycle. During that period of time, they represent an innovation in approach. For example, consider the Church Renewal Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the Church Growth Movement of the 1970s and 1980s, and the Missional Church Movement of the 1990s and 2000s. Each of these movements provided helpful insights for fruitful ministry. Yet, each was most innovative in the first twenty years of it’s lifecycle. Such ministry paradigms continue to be helpful, but today’s forty-year-old pastor is working with a ministry paradigm that was developed in the 1990s and 2000s.

Go — So, what is the new ministry paradigm? What’s the new ministry approach developed in the 2010s and 2020s. Any ideas? Share your ideas in the comment section below.

-Gary L. McIntosh, Ph.D.
Author of The Ten Key Roles of a Pastor

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