Five Observations in the New Era of Christian Networks

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Five Observations in the New Era of Christian Networks– and What Denominations Need to Learn. The network advantage… and what denominations can learn from them

 
In his Christianity Today’s blog “The Exchange“, Pastor, author, and blogger, Ed Stetzer explores why people are more attracted to networks than churches or denominations. This blog post is drawn from a recent seminar he gave at a Pastor’s conference. At this seminar, he challenged denominational leaders with five ways that denominations could adapt and become more like networks.

The questions apply to network leaders as well. How well can we answer these questions? Are we leading and fueling the fire? Are we growing collaborative partnerships and relationships? How strong is our Kingdom ethos? Are we keeping everyone close to the field and the felt need? Are we improving our communications to different audiences and generations?

 

5 Key Points:

  1. People are attracted to fire, not fences.
  2. People like partnerships, not taxation
  3. People care about ethos, not tribe
  4. People respond to near, not distant
  5. People want digital, not analog

 

Quotes:

  1. “There’s no denying the power, pervasiveness and efficacy of Christian networks in recent Christian history. This shift continues to gather people and gain momentum globally…”

  2. “networks are reinventing how Evangelicals and others cooperate and shaping ministry in many contexts and across various denominational barriers.”

  3. “Networks are built on fire and energy: “We’re doing this together and we’re in this together.”

  4. “Practically speaking, if you’re basing the future livelihood of your denomination on your people maintaining a sense of tribal identity, you will be sorely disappointed. For good or for bad, the next generation doesn’t care too much about commitment to a denomination compared to the cause of the kingdom.”

  5. “What people have in networks that they don’t have in denomination is a nearness to the mission. Nearness is the call of the day.”

  6. “To keep and reach the next generation of leaders, denominations must develop better digital communication.”

  7. Denominations need to be driven by the fire has to be what drives us, the partnership has to be what gathers us, the ethos has to be what excites us, the nearness has to be what enables us and the digital tool has to be what equips us.

 

Source:

Christianity Today – The Exchange Blog – April 11, 2016   |   Archived Link