On Ministry and Revolving Doors, Part 3
Practical Challenges and Ideas for Ministry in a Mobile Society
September 02, 2010
III. Responding to mobility
Do we just hate mobility in the culture? Usually people will simply critique it or completely buy into it. Is there a gospel response? How do we do that:
A. Idolatries: (Definition: When some functional god/master occupies a position of authority in a person’s heart so that the object of his over-desire [lust] has an inordinate amount of rule, loyalty, preoccupation, and control over every dimension of human life).
(C. S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters-Screwtape talks to Wormwood about irregular churchgoing)
“If a man can’t be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighborhood looking for the church that ‘suits’ him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches. The reasons are obvious. In the first place, the parochial organization should always be attacked, because, being a unity of place and not of likings, it brings people of different classes and psychology together in the kind of unity the Enemy desires. The congregational principle, on the other hand, makes each church into a kind of club, and finally, if all goes well into a faction. In the second place, the search for a ‘suitable’ church makes the man a critic where the Enemy wants him to be a pupil. What He wants the layman in church is an attitude which may, indeed, be critical in the sense of rejecting what is false or unhelpful, but which is wholly uncritical in the sense that it does not appraise-does not waste time in thinking about what it rejects, but lays itself open in uncommenting, humble receptivity to any nourishment that is going. (You see how groveling, how unspiritual, how irredeemably vulgar He is!). This attitude, especially during sermons, creates the condition (most hostile to our whole policy) in which platitudes can become really audible to a human soul. There is hardly any sermon, or any book, which may not be dangerous to us if it is received in this temper. So pray bestir yourself and send this fool the round of the neighboring churches as soon as possible.”
[1]. Economic mobility-Commodification – Consumerism – Money – (people leave for the sake of making more money or advancing their career) … they might not make their decisions according to the kingdom priorities, but according to money.
Money becomes an idol.
[2]. Professional Mobility – advancement, status, influence, power, comfort, approval, training, education, etc.
Career becomes an idol.
[3]. Autonomy – wanting the freedom to do whatever without being tied down.
Freedom becomes an idol.
[4]. Escapism – “leave it all behind”, a chance to “start over”, go to a new city (or even a new church), etc.
Comfort becomes an idol.
[5]. Personal/relational development-relationships are too important.
Relationships become an idol.
B. Realities of mobility (primarily in center city urban areas)
[1]. Busyness – raising up lay leaders, people attending small groups, general connected.
[2]. Transience – two year graduate school programs; medical, law, education schools; residency; work-related travel, etc. Visitors – Non-Christians contribute to mobility, transience.
[3]. High time-consuming professions (e.g. Healthcare industry, hospitals)-people have work that consumes a lot of their time-they travel (consultants)-they can’t be as committed in the traditional sense (attending all mtgs).
[4]. Higher percentage of singles-therefore-more mobile (can move because of relationships/marriage, work [at a more developmental stage in one’s career; training], residence [affordable housing outside of the city]).
[5]. Globalization and the new global competition for talent (cf. Richard Florida, The Flight of the the Creative Class [New York: HarperCollins, 2007]).
[6]. Fragmentation-people’s story plotline is broken with many fragmented social spheres pulling the individual (e.g. work, friends, church, family).
Ministry as Gardening[i]
I. What is not under your control?
a. "Soil Conditions" - The external context. Your broader community will have different people groups within it. Some groups, humanly speaking, are more receptive to the gospel as you present it while other groups are less so.
b. "Weather Conditions" - The sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. God's spirit will simply work more powerfully at times than others. He uses certain persons, certain situations, (even certain sermons!) at certain times more than he does others.
C. Identify potential opportunities of mobility (kingdom intersection)
1. Mobility allows us to plant more churches-being more missional. Those who are new are more interested in getting involved in a church plant/a new movement then others who have been there long-term.
2. Unlike moderns, post-moderns have a greater rootlessness, they are looking to connect with a community that will help them connect with history: a community with deep roots. Mobility gives us opportunities to connect with people like this.
*On the one hand, rootlessness creates shallow relationships, but on the other hand, people are more ready to begin to connect with people very different than themselves.
*On the one hand, people want healthy, strong, stable relationships; on the other hand they still want their mobility. There is an inner tension … Rootlessness & hunger for connections
Industrial Revolution (Simmel, Metropolis and Mental Life) (“Fordism”): conveyer belt, specialization, globality induced mobility. People don’t feel connected to the products they produce. People become replaceable cogs in a larger conglomerate. The person becomes more dispensable. History of traditionalism (religion), modernism (scientific progress), post-modernism (nihilism). The desire for autonomy is one of the roots of mobility.
3. Openness to change (non-Christians may be more open to Xianity). Ethnically diverse: the converging of worlds makes people more open to new ideas, cultures, etc.
4. Expert culture (specialists, professional, etc.) – emphasizes high quality teaching & preaching, sophistication, intelligent presentation. Careerism – greater interest for faith & work integration in a mobile society. More sexually active – not prudish about sex which provides a greater platform for talking about it. Rootlessness – opportunity to build community & provide permanence. Contextualize the gospel to mobility; Addressing the idolatries behind mobility and cultivating a Membership Culture
[i]Taken from Tim Keller’s unpublished materials on leadership (Adapted by the Staff at Citylife Presbyterian Church).
