Why Churches Stagnate

Had an interesting conversation with my team of musicians yesterday about why many churches that were vibrant in years past are today in decline and not even aware of it. We marveled at the power of leadership... When there’s good leadership, there’s a clear vision and everyone knows how to play their role well. Where good leadership is lacking, there is fuzzy or unclear vision, and organizations (and people) stagnate... and eventually become toxic.

So how do we spot the right leader? They need to be people of character, competence and chemistry*…

Character – defined well as ‘who you are when no one’s looking’. In this age when so many leaders actions are driven by what's popular and based on opinion polls, we need to pray for leaders who stand on principle, and who’s personal lives reflect the same values they preach in public

Competence – here I’m talking about the spiritual gift of leadership. It seems very basic to say, but churches need to be led by leaders! When churches are led by teachers, they are very intellectually informed. When led by shepherds, they are very well cared for. When led by administrators, they have fantastic systems. But for a church to be going anywhere, it needs to be led by a leader.

Chemistry – does the leader genuinely like the people she is called to lead? Does she enjoy being part of them and pray for them or merely see them as a means to an end?

Unfortunately, too many churches and organizations choose their next leader based on their seniority in the organization – rather than on whether they have these qualities!

The result – that church or organization is most likely doomed to many years of stagnation and decay...

And they might not even notice it because for a while, they'll continue with the momentum created under the previous leader. With time however, it will become increasingly clear that they are going nowhere fast.

*these 3 categories I learnt from Bill Hybels

This Is Africa... in America!

For the last 3 weeks, I've been in the US visiting different churches here with a worship team from Mavuno Church. I joined them after they'd spent a week at Chapel Hill Bible Church (NC) and we've since spent a week each at The Falls Church (VA), Hudson Community Church (OH) and Grace Community Church (IN). Currently we're Elmbrook Church (WI) though this weekend we'll be at Wheaton College (IL). At the end of next week, we'll fly to California and visit several churches there before finally flying back to Kenya.

The picture that most people here have of Africa is of a starving child in a stark desert with a buzzing stomach and flies buzzing around his head. Our message to people here is that there is another side of Africa that the media doesn't show. A vibrant, hope-filled, energetic, and creative generation that God is using to turn our continent around.

A generation that is called to greatness...

I believe the time has come for the church in Africa to reach out to and be a blessing to the rest of the world.

You can check out the team's blog... www.thisisafrica.blogspot.com

6 More Urban Trends Facing Church In Africa

Here are six more trends that I think the church needs to be paying attention to!

1.Increasing busyness – Urban Africans work for longer hours today than ever before. Saturdays are full working days for many, and some even work regularly on Sunday. Many people are constantly exhausted, living un-balanced and un-healthy lives. Any extra time that is left over is taken over by family obligations. The result is a reduction in availability of people for volunteering at church, and many even struggle to find time to attend. Another result of this may be a ‘hands free Christianity’, where people see their role as giving financially to support a professional clergy who do the work of ministry. Churches will need to redifine ministry beyond serving in church on Sundays, and to train members to be ‘in ministry’ at the workplace, where they spend so many hours already.

2. Increasing consumerism – Christian TV today exposes people to the view of church as a service that is offered to you, as opposed to a community to which you belong. Today, the phenomenon of ‘church hopping’ is the norm, with Christians moving from one church to the next, checking out what’s on offer and staying only as long as no one else has a better ‘show’ up the road. One of the things the church needs to do to counter this is to explore new ways to engage members in true community beyond Sunday involvement, and also to have a vision for life-discipleship that goes deeper than a new believer’s bible study.

3. Increasing nominalism – Salvation is increasingly seen and defined as a decision one makes, as opposed to the beginning of a life of transformation. Churches have also put emphasis on super-star preachers teaching from the pulpit and not as much on discipleship and follow up of believers. As a result, there are many Christians in this nation who have made several decisions to follow Christ and attend church service faithfully, but show little evidence of their in their workplaces, homes and in the public sphere.

4. Older Singles – Many more middle-class working young adults, especially women, are remaining single in their thirties and above. This is either out of choice or circumstance. The African culture traditionally tied maturity to marriage and the church has tended to follow that model. However, the successful church will seek to give dignity to single adults (after all, Jesus & Paul were single!) and not lump them with the ‘youth’. It will dignify single-hood and have single people in prominent positions of leadership. It will provide structures that allow single and married adults to form supportive family relationships. And it will need to come up with creative ministries that support single parents, who are increasing in numbers among us.

5. Irrelevance of our borrowed church models – our model of church is copied from the West including architecture, financing & leadership. It demands buildings, PA systems, full time professional ministers etc. As our cities get more crowded, it will increasingly be harder to support church buildings that sit empty most of the week. As our society fragments, pastoral needs will only increase, but financing more skilled full-time pastors will cost too much. Should the church be moving towards being led by part time volunteers who support themselves through complimentary vocations? Should our church buildings also be community facilities (e.g. gyms, shopping centers, conference centers etc) that are used by the whole community during the week?

6. 'Politicization’ of societal issues – Christians are finding themselves unwittingly taking part in debating social issues that were considered ‘unmentionable’ in the past. In the abortion debate for instance, we have seen some prominent doctors and personalities support abortion (using the political language of ‘choice’) in the media. Another is the constitutional debate on the ‘kadhi courts’, and the increasing lowering of standards in our media industry. Christians more and more feel helpless & uninformed about the issues, and thus unable to contribute usefully. Churches will need to proactively set reasoned ethical guidelines and train their congregations to live by these. They will also need to recognize that while it is important to engage in bringing positive transformation to our society, our society is far from ‘Christian’, and it will be increasingly harder to expect it to operate on Christian moral principles. We will need to know which ‘battles’ are worth fighting, and to avoid being sidetracked from our calling.

Does the church in Africa have the courage to define what needs to be done and to do it?

6 Important Urban Trends Facing Church In Africa

A while back, in a monthly meeting I have with other lead pastors from the Nairobi Chapel family, we set out to outline important trends shaping our culture. Here are some of the ones I think we need to pay close attention to!

1. Assertive youth culture – the 844 culture is here! Their official language is sheng, they surf the internet daily at cybercafes, meet on facebook, sms at the speed of light & have their own local pop idols and music. They watch music videos all day on TV that our Kenyan censors would never have allowed to air 5 years ago. They have a ‘get rich quick’ mentality (their models include gansta rappers in America who made a lot of money without too much school). They are extremely bright and inquisitive, and they don’t trust the ‘system’. Very few churches are at presently ‘speaking their language’ or seeking to proactively engage them. The existing church will need to undergo not a remodeling but a revolution to reach this generation!

2. Family breakdown – there is increase in family breakdown due to dissapearing extended family support for city dwellers, as well as increasing economic pressure on the family unit. The result is that parents are away from home for longer hours. Among the middle class, children are increasingly being brought up by house-helpers, who act as ‘surrogate mothers’. The result is increasing cases of marital strife, divorce, child abuse, and delinquency. There is a crisis in parenting, with many parents feeling ill-equipped and helpless in bringing up their children to live according to the values they hold dear. The church needs to actively engage measures to offer relevant support to family life, or else it will constantly find itself counseling couples and families when it is already too late!

3. Growing isolation of a Christian subculture – There is a ‘flight’ from engaging the rest of society as Christians create a thriving Christian subculture. This is seen more and more in Christian radio, TV & newspapers, Christian schools etc. that speak to and serve an exclusively Christian clientele. While these things are not bad in and of themselves, the church needs to proactively participate in our culture in order to impact it positively, otherwise it will become increasingly irrelevant, speaking only with itself, and certainly not being the ‘light of the world’.

4. Increasing suspicion of Christianity – In the past, it was fashionable to be a Christian. Today, the secular media constantly paints Christianity as a part of the ‘status quo’, a colonial hangover that we’re all inevitably moving from. This is only bound to increase. In the future, Christians should be prepared to operate in a culture that is not friendly to their profession of faith and values, and that does not automatically understand their Christian ‘language’.

5. HIV/AIDS orphans – East Africa alone currently has a staggering 4 million AIDS orphans, a number that may double or treble in next 10 years. The implications of this are mind boggling. Governments of the three countries will be overwhelmed for a long time with issues like health care, education & street children. Should Christians be much more aggressively preparing for this by starting children’s homes, VCT centers, HIV support groups, adoption support groups and educational facilities for orphans?

6. Poverty & unemployment - Kenya’s economy has improved greatly over the last 4 years. However, it will take a long time before the economic growth ‘trickles down’ to the common mwananchi. Poverty is dehumanizing – more people steal or go into prostitution today not in a short stint to survive but as a lifestyle. Donations have been shown to do little to stop the cycle of poverty, and in many cases actually worsen the situation. Salvation limits the available modes of survival, and so it is not a good choice for many among the poor! Should churches today be much more passionately involved in engaging people in the areas of creating business opportunities and addressing the issues of poverty?

What must the church of today be doing about these trends? Suggestions are welcome.

The 8-4-4 Generation...

The 4th generation is here (see article below this one)! They are the emerging generation in our churches today. What are some of their characteristics?

• Born in the 1980's and 90's - in Kenya, they went through the 8-4-4 school system
  
• They are regionally conscious but globally aware. We are witnessing the first East African generation. Many went to school with friends from across the region, or have been exposed to regional culture through EATV or radio.
• Their primary language is sheng & they identify with the hip-hop culture
  
• They are very entrepreneurial - due to lack of jobs, they were forced to become extremely creative, and to move away from the 'white-collar orientation' of the previous two generations.
  
• They are extremely expressive and artistic (I refer to them as 'the sight and sound generation') They would rather watch it than read it!
• They are the first generation where its cool to aspire to be a DJ or a dancer - as a career!

Considering that 50% of Africa is less than 15 years old, we need to be paying attention! Rather than insisting they learn our language, perhaps we should be learning theirs! Incidentally, the corporate world has figured that out, and a majority of the ads on our TV stations are aimed at this demographic. I believe how well we reach this generation will determine how successful the church will be in penetrating African culture in the next 10 or 15 years. Anybody listening?

This Aint Your Grandma's Church

As I venture out into the brave new (for me) world of blogging, I wanted to begin with a topic close to my heart. You see, the fact that I grew up in church was more an evidence of God's grace (and of my parent's upbringing) than of the church's ability to attract 'people like me'. The problem, I believe, was best stated by historian Arnold Toynbee when he said that 'nothing fails like success'. The things that helped the church (or any other organization) to succeed yesterday are the very things that are causing it to fail today!

What do I mean? Let me try and explain. I believe the church in Africa (at least in my corner of it) has had at least three distinct phases...

1^st GENERATION – ‘THE CONVERTS’ born pre 1940

• 1^st converts in their areas (they directly encountered the early missionaries)
• Ostracized or on the fringes (rejected in their culture and thus open to the new, or became rejected by their cultures for accepting the new)
• Village identity but tribally aware (their sense of identity came from their village but they were aware of the larger tribe out there)
• Focus of the church was on the missionaries giving care to the locals (e.g. through schools, hospitals etc)

Every good (and not so good) thing has a shelf life however. A time came when nationalist movements began to agitate for independence from Western influence, both nationally and within the church. Some breakaway churches (e.g. Legio Maria) completely rejected western ways. For much of the church, a transition to the 2nd generation had began...

2^nd GENERATION - ‘THE CONFORMERS’ born 1940-1960

• 1^st generation African leadership (many were educated in missionary schools)
• Christianity widely accepted in the culture (people were expected to at least be church goers)
• Expected to retire upcountry – even if they worked in the towns (they had a ‘dual status’, as immigrants in the city)
• ‘Culture abandoning’ – They picked up not just the gospel but also the missionary culture and methods…e.g.

*Prized Western ‘baptism’ names (identification with missionary culture)
*Valued Western methods of worship (e.g. classical hymns, clergy robes and choirs)

• Tribal identity but nationally aware - even groups in church were (and in many of these churches still are) divided along tribal lines…..

This, incidentally, describes the church that I grew up in - my parent's generation. With time too, that became dated. As African's began to settle in towns and become truly urbanized, it was time for a new generation church to be born...

3^rd GENERATION - ‘THE ADAPTERS’ born 1960-1990

• 1’st true Kenyans (or Ugandans or Tanzanians etc)! Born as citizens of a nation/state and not naturalized citizens from a former colonial power like their parents. We have no memory of colonialism (e.g. in Kenya, most don’t know the difference between Madaraka & Jamuhuri Day)

• Urban – Many grew up in the city which is their first (and perhaps only true) home. Those still migrating in don’t intend to return. (The 2004 Kenya Youth Survey showed that 64.8% of youth across Kenya live in or aspire to live in the city).
• The paradox of ‘Neo-Africans – (we are very western BUT reaching for & proud of our African-ness e.g.
  

*Many (& certainly their kids) have African names but don’t speak our mother tongues
*‘African’ weddings in English (incredible 'African' décor but with only 150 people in attendance!)
*Many claim to love their nations (‘jivunia’ in Kenya) but don’t have a voter’s card
*We know more about European soccer clubs than about our own national teams!

• National outlook but globally aware – (this generation went to school with people from other tribes – groupings are along social class, rather than tribe)

Our main question is 'does it make sense?' Christianity and church need to make sense to us, and because they often don't, church attendance is often reserved for weddings, holidays and special events.

THE PROBLEM
Here's the problem... Many church's in Africa are using 2nd generation methods to reach a 3rd (or even 4th) generation!

When I reflect on Jesus' stories e.g. the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son in Luke 15, I begin to wonder if this does not present a major problem. Jesus did not set out to start churches to meet our needs, but he envisioned a movement of His followers who would live lives that point people back to God. The reason we're here right now and not in heaven is so we can share His love with those who don't have it! And in the process of doing this, we ourselves are formed to become more like Him and - paradoxically - we find our own needs met!

So, maybe it's time to for the church to stop being a 'safe' place for Christians to hang out and to become configured to serve others, and especially those most in need of God's love and relationship. Or what do you think?