If I ask you about your teenage years, you might tell me you were the perfect adolescent. If so, I know you also lie about other things.
I parented two children through their teenage years. They were great kids. At times they were awkward or insisted they knew what was best. Even though they loved one another deeply, they could also occasionally fight one another.
The adolescent years for congregations can be awkward years. They occur after the multiplying years. These congregations are between 12 years old and 18 to 21 years old.
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These years are the second of three phases during the lost years of congregations described in a previous column titled “Engaging the lost years of congregations.” See HERE.
The adolescent years are the second-most conflictual years. The most conflictual stage comes much later when the church is seriously plateaued and declining.
The best thing congregations can do during their maturing years is to engage in their second sabbatical year. This should come around year 14 from the time they were launched as a new congregation
Remember that Leviticus 25:1–12 is a starting point for understanding a sabbatical year, which congregations should engage in every seven years.
If congregations will do this, they can show an increased maturity that will empower them through the potential quagmire of adolescence.
The nature of the quagmire
A question for these years is: Are we really turning out to be the type of congregation we thought we should become?
First, the daily life of congregations begins to shift from a culture of leadership to one of management. Doing things right and doing the right things are in competition with one another.
Many of the alleged “right ways” are not written down. Congregations rewrite their bylaws and develop a policy manual that reveals the right way to do things.
Second, the thickness or heaviness of the culture begins to destroy the agility of the congregation. Everything takes longer. Hidden cultural rules abound. Traditions and “the way we do things in our congregation” begin to dominate.
Third, the effectiveness of evangelism efforts begins to slow down. Reaching new Christians and church members may become more difficult unless fed by a significant increase in the population near the church’s location or by growing the number of people groups they serve.
New Christians who come from pre-Christian households are a smaller percentage of new members. The baptism of children coming of age and making professions of faith or non-Christian spouses in families are increasingly a higher percentage of the new Christians in the congregation.
Fourth, moving forward becomes pushing rather than pulling. We are not sure if the commitment of the congregation to God going before them and pulling them is working. Some leaders even wonder if the Holy Spirit is no longer trustworthy to take them where they need to go. Long-term leaders decide they must take the wheel rather than Jesus.
Fifth, conflict begins to emerge among old-timers who sit around the campfire at the congregational retreats and tell false stories about the congregation’s history. Newcomers have no idea what they are talking about.
Once the number of birth generations represented in the leadership of the congregation exceeds three generations, inevitable conflicts of perspective make decision-making more awkward.
Sixth, there is not enough money to do everything the congregation wants to do. Some people want more and different staff. Others want to build new buildings. Conflict over financial priorities arises.
Seventh, subtle and somewhat hidden changes take place. One is that the average age of the typical person attending worship begins to increase. The church is incrementally aging. A corollary is that the average length of membership starts to increase.
The good news about these congregations
In spite of these things, God’s empowering vision for the congregation is still alive and very strong within the congregation. This is particularly true if in the 14th year of life the congregation engages in its second sabbatical year.
They commit anew to a spiritual and strategic focus that brings a fresh commitment to God’s vision within the congregation. This allows the multiple generations plus the long-term and short-term members to create new community and commitment to the congregational journey.
Next: The management years.
EDITOR’S NOTE — George Bullard spent 45 years in denominational ministry. He served on the staff of three associations, was a key staff person working with associations in two state conventions and served on the association missions division staff of the former Home Mission Board of the SBC. He retired in June 2022 as director of Columbia Metro Baptist Association in South Carolina. He has led strategic planning processes in more than 100 associations and has written extensively in this area. Bullard now serves as a strategic thinking mentor for Christian leaders through his ForthTelling Innovation ministry and a correspondent for The Baptist Paper.
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