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A couple of weeks ago, a group of leaders joined me in watching the simulcast of the Leadership Institute from the Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City area. One of the speakers was Savannah Kimberlin from the Barna Institute. Barna provides research for those wanting to understand how to grow the kingdom of God through the local church.
I’ve been rewatching Kimberlin’s presentations today. I am very right brained, and need to see data/numbers more than once to understand them. She showed a slide that I ask you to ponder with me. In her presentation, she explained that, “1 in 5 churchgoers–those you have on your email list that you are trying to keep engaged with the church–have not attended since the beginning of the pandemic.” Then she went on to state that for Millenials and Gen Z, 1 in 5 have said they are, “not interested in returning to church because they are rethinking or drifting from their faith practice.”
Rethinking or drifting. I’ve had times in my life when I did the same thing. And through all those years, a local church was always there to welcome me home, to ground my faith in Jesus Christ, to provide a place where I could connect once again with others who were choosing to love God and love their neighbor. Ponder and pray with me what we can and must do both as a church and individually, so that The Downtown Church continues to provide all God’s children a place to call home.
I hope to see you Sunday online or in person,
Lori
P.S. Below you will find a survey sent by Bishop Farr who writes: Your input is critical as we develop Conference-wide strategies and tactics toward becoming a brave, empowering place for people from all diverse cultures and generations so that we can become a Church for all God’s people. Please take a moment to complete it.
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