This question has been bouncing around my mind for quite a while now.
Where will we be? and more importantly how will we end up there?
The choices we make as an Australian church TODAY will make a difference as to where we are in 10 years time.
some issues to think about:
1. how many pastors (who are not retired) will we have in 10 years at the current rate of 'recruitment'?
2. how many active churches (ones with actual people attending) will we have in 10 years at the current rate of church planting?
3. what will be the Australian Nazarene church's demographics be?
what are your thoughts?
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Good questions mate, 10 years is not that long but i think we will see significant changes in our churches. At our current rate i cant seen any new pastors emerging from within, maybe from without ie overseas or other demoninations. We dont really seem to be to worried about it though, as from an NTC point of view (lol had to get a dig in you say!) It concerns me as to who follows me, who can i hand over too? Is that God's responsiblity so let him worry about? The future of pastoring as i see it is shared by a group of bi vocational men and women in a team approach. Are we geared for that? No, is our educational insitution preparing for that? No. Is there any real discussion, apart from this, about this topic? No. So grats on starting something that might make a difference!
ReplyDeleteMight share some more later
Adios or is that rascist? LOL
Man those are some good questions Caine!
ReplyDeleteYour first question is about pastors, and specifically how many will we have in 10 years time as some of the current ones retire.
A concern for me, and I hope for those above us, is the rate of pastoral burn out. Yes, we will loose pastors to retirement, but that's just the passage of time. How many more might we loose to burn out due to unrealistic expectations and the lack of proper support.
We can't stop people getting old, but can we stop people burning out?
great point copland!
ReplyDeleteYeah i think that is so true, how do we begin to find ways to develop ministries where pastors/leaders are in for the long term and have the support structures and self awareness to know when the limits are getting pushed.
You are right, we cannot stop people getting old....can we begin to look to our lay leadership to 'step up' and take on some bigger responsibilities?
I think we need to move away from the idea that the Pastor does everything. This is not healthy, biblical or great leadership. In fact i think it is weak leadership if the pastor is trying to do everything.
So what do we do then?
How do we find/recruit/enlist/develop/inspire fresh leadership for the future?
I agree glen, our college is not currently addressing these issues and so maybe it is our role to begin to find ways of, in the short term at least, euipping local leaders around us to be able to 'share' the load?
who knows? keep the discussion flowing.
What about church planting? how many chuches will we have in Ten years?
In my opinion we will have 30% less churches across australia. This will be from the current demographics of our church and our current pastoral situation, no pastors from burnout or age means potential for a HUGE leadership gap.
any thoughts?
I don't think less churches is a bad idea (shock!).
ReplyDeleteI think it better to have a few healthy churches where people travel a bit further and where the church is in a good situation.
I think one way to avoid burn out is to have a good pastoral team (and I am so glad to see that our district is going down this road).
A team has so many benefits, it provides immediate support, people to bounce ideas off, people to share the load with, people to work in the areas of their passion and gifting (I know we all know this).
One question that comes out of the whole team thing is 'What makes a good team?' Just calling your ministry a "team ministry" is not enough, as we are learning.
I think one of our DAB goals was to have each church develop a team ministry in the coming years. Am I right in saying that DAB members? Do you have a plan to make that happen? And I'm just asking, not complaining.
Good points copland!
ReplyDeleteI agree that in SOME cases maybe less churches would be better. I do not agree that travelling a bit further is a good idea. anything beyond 15-20(max) minutes in my opinion creates problems. You are not as 'connected' to you local communty as you probably could/should be and so we want to 'do' minitry around the loacl church, but the potential is that our people live so far away they have no idea of what are the needs in the church area.
on your second point, i would be interested to know that as well Ian or SD DAB members? I have read the strategic plan but i have forgotten some mof the finer details. if you could post something that would be great.
Copland, maybe you coule post another discussion about TEAM MINITry, how it works, what it may look like and so we can discuss it? Thanks mate.
so glen, what things would be needed to 'educate' bi-vocational team ministries?
ReplyDeleteWhat subjects would we need to teach and how would we teach it? I do agree with your view that bi-vocational may well be the 'norm' forour churchs (if it isnt already). Just wondering how our future minister could/would be educated with this view in mind, doesthat make sense?