>>>Note: The following is from Jimmy Long's The Leadership Jump: Building Better Partnerships Between Existing and Emerging Christian Leaders.
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Where Do We Go from Here?
Not today. Not tomorrow. Not even next week or next month. Probably not even next year or in the next five years. However, within the next ten years, we will know. Within the next ten years, we will know what direction the church will go in. We are at a crossroads. The decisions that we make within the next ten years will determine the direction for the church for the next fifty years and more.
Within the next ten years, many of the senior leaders of our churches will retire. A whole new generation of leaders will take their place. What is still to be determined is whether this new generation of church leaders will take over the vacated positions in our existing churches or start their own churches.
In many ways the church today is sitting on the western side of the Appalachian mountains trying to decide whether it will allow its energy to jump over the mountains and empower the fledgling nor'easter trying to form off the Carolina coast. The fledgling nor'easter is waiting to see if it will receive the assistance from the once-powerful storm that is now bouncing against the Appalachian mountains. There is no question that the fledgling nor'easter will move up the coast. There is no question that the once-powerful storm from the west will eventually die. The only real question is whether the once-powerful storm will send its energy over the mountains to become the energy source to form a powerful nor'easter or whether the nor'easter will be left on its own to proceed up the coast as a much weaker storm.
The question for church leaders today is different from the question asked ten to fifteen years ago. In the 1990s we were asking the question, are we heading into a postmodern or emerging culture? Today, except for a few holdouts, all agree that the answer is yes-- we are in the midst of a transition into a new culture. And so the question we are wrestling with now is, how is the church going to respond to this transition? Does this emerging culture present a crisis to the church that we must withstand? Or does it present an opportunity for the church that we must seize? How we answer these two questions will eventually determine whether existing leaders and emerging leaders partner together in the present and future to develop a powerful church or go their separate ways, neither as powerful separately as they could be together.
many existing leaders are concerned that the emerging leaders will not only seize the opportunity to minister within the emerging culture but also will be seized by the culture and become absorbed by the culture. On the other hand, emerging leaders are getting impatient with the existing leaders who are standing outside, afraid to enter into the emerging culture lest they get tainted.
How do we break this impasse? First, existing and emerging leaders should talk to each other instead of ignoring each other or throwing grenades at each other. The type of dialogue that is needed is not happening. Whether we are talking about existing and emerging church leaders within a given church or about national existing and emerging leaders, we have to set up a mechanism for these two groups to talk with each other.
Second, as existing and emerging leaders gather together nationally, they should be discussing the broad theological and sociological implications for the church as we move into this emerging culture. There is presently no mechanism in place for this type of dialogue to take place. The Leadership Network was initially a place where this dialogue took place. However, there was a parting of the ways between the existing leaders network and the emerging leaders network. The National Pastors Convention for a couple of years hosted a joint conference for existing and emerging leaders. However, even though they were at the same location, there was little real dialogue between the two groups. Dialoguing on the larger issues is critical. The national dialogue is critical to decide if we are going to move ahead together or separately.
In addition to a new leadership structure, existing and emerging leaders should journey together to discover what ministry changes need to occur to effectively and faithfully minister within the emerging culture. The strategies of the past will have to be pushed aside. Existing and emerging leaders together will have to relearn how to communicate, disciple and evangelize within this changing culture. Existing leaders will have to allow the emerging leaders to lead us as we explore new ways to minister.
Not only will existing leaders need emerging leaders to take the lead in the exploration of new ministry strategies, but existing leaders will also need to empower the emerging leaders to eventually become the primary leaders of the church. We have to inspire these potential emerging leaders to be willing to lead. Then the existing leaders will have to be willing to step aside and bless these emerging leaders as they lead the church of the future.
Let us pray for God's guidance as he takes his church and his church leaders into the future.
Acts 17:22
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Worshippers from more than 20 area churches, and pastors from nearly every major church in Aurora, gathered for Celebrate Jesus Together in August to pray for citywide reconciliation. Nine pastors offered prayers of peace and unity for Aurora's residents, and participants gathered around elected officials present to pray for them. By the end of the event, about 25 pastors were on their knees pledging to renew their commitment to the church, the city and the Lord. Aurora is one of the cities in the Fox Valley, a Loving Our Communities to Christ partner.
Why We Do Justice
