Tom Sine – Where Is the Church Headed and What’s Our Response
You probably should walk into this seminary with Tom Sine in a ready mode. If you are having a rough time this may push you further over the edge –lol. However, depending on what you are upset about (like if you are upset with how the moms in your youth group are treating you) it may snap you out of it because you have new problems.
He’ll be giving this seminar on Monday morning and I highly recommend it if you are reading this and here in Pittsburgh.. There are a lot of notes below but here’s a bit of summary. Things are changing, politically, socially, economically, etc. Different generations are generations are interested in different things and different things are going to interest and un-interest them. So, we will not be able to live as our parents lived – that track is gone.
You may know by now that we younger Generation X’ers and Millennials, will be the first generation to make less income as our Boommer parents. Generally we will not be living in some of the homes we grew up in. Tom anticipated that the next two years will be difficult economically and only two years would be optimistic.
(Though not at the moment), The industrial growth of China and India will raise the cost of oil to $300/barrel. This will affect many things of commuter culture. Even the idea of commuter culture or regional church will be fading out. He also said on a side note that we won’t be building too many mega churches in the next 20 years.
As youth workers or as people in our churches, we need to prepare people for change. We should be teaching people stewardship, budgeting, lifestyle, warn against traps of materialism, greed, purpose. The bigger theme was teaching our churches God’s dream as opposed to the American Dream.
If you are interested, check out his book called the New Conspirators.
Walked in a little late but here are some of the notes I took
Crisis of Foresight
Long range planning in a time warp
Forecast how your community will look 5-10 years.
Who’s moving into the community?
Taking the future seriously in turbulent times
Leading with foresight
Anticipating new challenges
Creating new responses.
Housing markets
Examining the attitudes and behaviors of jr. highers as indicators ….
Culture shift
Waking up on a ship of fools headed into an economic hurricane.
Future of the rich and super rich.
Future of middle class
Future of the global poor
Future of new majority world
Future of the planet
Life stewardship practices the democrization of culture
Taste of wealthy lifestyle always dangled in front of middle class.
Future of the church & mission response
Shrinking church – losing 20’s & 30’s year olds.
Retiring boomers mission funding crisis.
Join the Conversation.
Conversation 2
What are your creative ways to respond to new challenges:
In our lives?
In our churches?
In youth ministries?
We need to find ways to collaborate with others. – We need to get the church out of the building.
Good live of God versus the Good life of the American dream.
Help people do budgeting.
Leading with discernment
Crisis of vision
Joining the new conspirators in taking the culture seriously
Engaging and critiquing modern and post-modern culture.
Checking out high statues/extreme cool”
What does this have to do with following Jesus?
Markets of McWorld defining for people everywhere what is “good life & better future”
No 1 reason why Christina college students are not headed into missions is their parents are forbidding it.
Because of the American dream
· But I think also because boomer parents know to not believe in the church.
· They are the ones on our trustee, elders, missions commission meetings cutting the funding to our missionaries. Of course parents do not want their children to live as vulnerable like this.
· Become an accountant or a banker or a pharmacist so you can support yourself and then volunteer.
· We can give our hearts away to God and the stranger, but not the vulnerability of our pockets.
A warning form the matrix – a reality being pull down over our head
A vision of the good life becoming the norm for our global village
Joining the new conspirators in taking the kingdom seriously
What are God’s purpose for a people and world?
Is. 65:17-19, 2:1-4, 25:6-9, 58:5-7. 35:1-7. 9:2-7
The good life cannot be obtained by pursuing anything in this world.
Only in the paradox of Christ can we find the good life
The good life of God is the life being given away.
The major evangelism is the call to significance.
Our worship music should reflect on how Jesus wants to change the world not
Joining Shane Claiborne in reimagining the kingdom,
Another world is possible
Another world is necessary
Another world is already here!
In the risen Christ, in communities, in shalom
Joining the new conspirators in living into creating into serving into collaborating into
Conversation 3
What is your response to:
The critique of the global mall in shaping our nations of the global life
In the suggestion that the good life of God is not found in seeking life but in losing life in service to God and others?
Joining the new conspirators in ….
Arrod mckenna – peace three community – this generation doe snot need more slick entrainment – they long for space where their deepest questions can be discussed
One mustard seed a tat ime.
New Cons – calling us to authentic whole-life faith
Family loving on purpose through hospitality
Emerging leaders in the UK living on purpose by working only 30 hrs/wk to free up 20 hrs for mission
Nurturing a liturgy of life.
Creating new counter-cultural communties of the kingdom
Small groups with a mission
Proximity communities with a mission
Resident communities with a mission
Temescal co-op, community, Oakland
Turba house Raleigh- durham US
Mustard Seed House/celtic monastic village
Creating new sustainable communities to both embody the kingdom of reduce costs
Creating new approaches to worship
Inviting eh young:
To create new expressions of church
To create a worship that connects profane culture and ancient liturgies
To create new missional worship
Creating US birthing centers fo new expressions
Forge – Melbourne
Fresh expressions, UK
Launch Toronto
Reinventing youth ministry to launch the young
Urging all churches to invite the imagination and innovation fof teens 20- & 30- year olds.
Creating new celebrations of that world that is already here
Joining the new conspirators in partying the kingdom 24/7
Celebrating the world that is already here with Babetts’s Feast.
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