| As you contemplate tomorrow, you need to keep in mind two cultural phenomena that will shape your future: time and gasoline prices. Sunday ministries tend to be time-insensitive because people will travel an hour to church. That hour isn't available on weekdays, however. With every adult in the household working long hours, travel-to-church time tends to shrink to 30 minutes or less.
As you contemplate tomorrow, you need to keep in mind two cultural phenomena that will shape your future: time and gasoline prices. Sunday ministries tend to be time-insensitive because people will travel an hour to church. That hour isn't available on weekdays, however. With every adult in the household working long hours, travel-to-church time tends to shrink to 30 minutes or less. As congregations look for ways to serve non-Sunday needs, time and distance become decisive factors. More than in the past, travel issues will influence people who expect more from their religious experience than an hour of worship on Sunday. Moreover, people will allocate their time only to activities that promise real content. This isn't fickleness. It's time management. As gasoline edges inexorably to $10 a gallon, the calculation of distance and content take on additional urgency. Bland offerings simply won't justify a $20 trip to and from church. Some will be tempted to bypass face-time and minimize in-the-flesh gatherings. A better strategy will be to provide real value. A $20 investment in community building, transformative learning, and faith deepening makes sense. An additional possibility, mostly untested and unknown, is that congregations will start focusing on their neighborhoods, at the expense of denominational loyalty. Like the stores, they will start to filter into urban neighborhoods, anticipating a day when people walk to their service providers. No one strategy is guaranteed to succeed. These changing cultural conditions require you to examine how your people live, what they value, and what content they seek from their church. Tom Ehrich is a writer, consultant, and leader of workshops. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. The church wellness project may be found at www.churchwellness.com
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed