Hope in uncertain times

Posted on 06 Jul 2021 - By Gradon

In 2019, I visited a rural town in Texas called Uncertain. The story regarding the name was that it was a cartographers note on a map and that he never got around to changing it. I felt that the sign that could apply to lots of churches as we navigate uncertain times as a church.
 
This was illustrated to me when I was sent a graph of the future size of the NZ Church- if nothing changes in the next thirty years. An economist, called Peter Crawford, using the population projections from Statistics NZ against current affiliation, created the chart below. It seeks to show what will happen if the Church in Aotearoa does not change (or see a move of God’s Spirit). There are some unknowns like immigration and how our low fertility rates will alter things – but it does say one thing “Houston, we have a problem”.
 
I  began to look around to see what hope NZ Christian leaders were giving out there. In one book “In One Spirit” by Dave Mann (Big book publishing, 2019) I found some real hope. I need to point out that the author points to some things getting a whole lot worse before things get better.

• That we have moved as a society past post-modernism to post-secularism. This represents a rejection of trust and faith “that human beings can fix human beings problems”. It’s time for the church to engage in the deep needs of society. Getting involved in organisations like Te Hāhi ( a Christian organisation that partners with police doing pastoral care for family harm situations) and others groups, secular or sacred who are making a difference in the lives of the broken.
  That Westerners are still spiritual people
  A 2012 study found that 46% believed in a God, 31% in a Higher Power, and 19% in none of the above. In a dinner conversation lately, a friend shared how he has been having lots of spiritual conversations lately, simply by asking people“what’s your God story?”.  Starting at where they are, rather than working off a set script. Most Kiwi Christians have no confidence in sharing their faith. Perhaps this and other empowering questions have been overlooked.
• The bicultural journey. As Churches honour Te Tiriti and seek to go on a bicultural journey as Churches, it will inevitably reconnect with the injustices. Sometimes on the journey, we can rediscover the rich faith history we have, when God moved sovereignly long ago in our communities.
   “Biculturalism is a significant cultural trend for the Church because of the way it could interplay with the place of spiritual things in the public square,” Mann suggests simply inviting a leading elder/ kaumatua from your local iwi to come and tell their story to your pastor’s group and then see where the conversation goes.
• Revival is still a strong possibility – but Dave Mann suggests two hands are required. “ Revival is in some ways like a ‘cultural tipping point’. Through consistent prayer, faith and effort, a community and spiritual environment is slowly changed to become a place the Holy Spirit chooses to inhabit in a special way for a season”. The two hands are earnest prayer and our best efforts. The image of a surfer having to paddle to position himself for an approaching wave is an image used in the book. 
• Pastors need to rediscover the power of working collectively in their community. This is the key message in the second half of his book. The NZ churches that are networking well are seeing more fruit and growth in their churches.
  
  I don’t do justice to this book but I have sought to capture some hope from it – especially when the trends out there aren’t painting a rosy future for the Church.  
  I’d like to finish with some words of Peter Crawford, on his conclusions on the graph that he created ( he created two graph scenarios from the statistics – the one you have is the more hopeful one!) – believing that helping people to learn how to hear from God as we read the bible, is a good place to start in creating a change process. 

“I am hearing much more in the church about mobilisation, but somehow we need to close the gap between what people want to see happen and them taking personal responsibility for evangelism in their own community.  Often evangelists aren’t the best people to lead that process because what works for them often doesn’t work for others.  I think it comes down to challenging people into a deeper walk with God, where they are challenged by His passion for the lost, His strong dislike of sin (of all forms and not the few sins we tend to focus on), ready to speak His words into peoples’ lives and have a vibrant testimony of what God is doing in their life.  There’s been too much emphasis on getting decisions, but not making disciples.  There are real basics, like reading the Bible, that so many Christians aren’t doing.  It’s such a great starting point for hearing from God.  We have to create an environment in the church where we can challenge and encourage each other to do what God has called us to do.”