If I was a pastoring a church today …..

Posted on 24 May 2021 - By Gradon

This blog may look initially as a pessimistic outlook on the future of the NZ Church, but, after painting a bleak picture, I think that behind the negative landscape God is wanting us today to prepare for a revival here in NZ “ when the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea” Hab 2:14

The problem as I look back on 30 years leading churches, is that there was so much day-to-day busyness that there was rarely time to do the big picture stuff as to what God might be saying to this land. When I was ordained, a product of a vibrant Charismatic movement, I came into ministry with a dream that this move of God would move from strength to strength. So it’s with much grief that I drive past churches that have been turned into cafes or art galleries- knowing that the original leaders built the building with the similar dreams that I once had. 

In his book “The Death of Christian Britain”, published in 2009, Callum Brown writes, ‘This book is about the demise of the nation’s core religious moral identity. As historical changes go, this has been no lingering and drawn-out affair. It took several centuries (in what historians used to call the Dark Ages) to convert Britain to Christianity, but it has taken less than forty years for the country to forsake it.’

He, later in the book, attributes the death process to several events that started in the early sixties. One of the key moments in my opinion was the publishing of the book “Honest to God” By Bishop John Robinson in 1963. At that time bishops were defenders of the faith and were very heavy-handed to those clergy who professed doubt or cynicism towards the faith of the church. When I was a theological student, I lived next door to the guest flat. Bishop John Robinson was a guest lecturer for about a month staying at that flat. I found him to be charming and personable, very easy to talk to. Be that as it may, he set off a chain of events that allowed mainstream orthodox belief to be challenged and replaced with a liberal agenda on all things to do with belief and practice.

Now if you fast forward sixty years, to a post-Covid-19 analysis of the impact on world missions and the church by Patrick Johnstone (see the full article in Missions interlink May 2021 page 3 ) He writes, “Trends visible over the past 20 years were likely to have taken another 20 or more years without COVID-19. These will now be squeezed like a concertina into a few months. It is hard to keep our eyes on all the rapid developments!…… The old models of church life were already failing—fewer services, less giving, less brand loyalty, wobbly leadership pyramids, and so on. The speed of change will continue to be dramatic. One of the most spectacular will be the collapse into bankruptcy of many mega-church empires. Large churches are becoming generally unsustainable due to social media, culture change, less loyal giving, and the huge decline in birth-rate and loss of young people.”

He briefly analyses twelve things that will change the world of missions. Below briefly are the ones he believes will impact Churches in the West.

1. The impact of the evangelical church aligning itself with President Trump, at the same time evangelicalism has had its good name tarnished with every imaginable kind of scandal – questioning the point of why convert to something that more corrupt than what the world is.
2. The end of objective information. As the world moves from well-researched sources of information like The Economist magazine for example, to social media posts that often have no fact checks – being purported as truth.
3. The decline of available wealth & giving as the long-term effects impact the church. He writes “After an initial spike [in giving during the pandemic], already many charities in the UK and elsewhere have suffered huge declines in donations. One NZ denomination said that across the board there has been a 10% drop in giving in their churches.

Now I’m hopeful about the future and believe the shake-up that we are going through is but a prelude to a move of God, as the church begins to refocus on doing its basics well. I make these observations after encountering the vibrant church in the 2/3rd world who are seeing, in many countries, enormous growth and yet are facing day to day,  even greater pressures than we will ever endure. These are my observations having travelled to 40 of these lands as a missions leader or missionary. 

If I was a pastor at your church these are the things I would be focussing on.

1. Helping read the bible for all its worth. To learn to hear God’s voice not the voices of commentators ( as good as they are). Lectio Divina would be a good method to start with. 
2. Help people understand the power of their story ( and be able to recite it in less than 90 seconds!) to teach disciples how to share their hope and no just give empathy. Most Kiwi Christians have never led anyone to Jesus. It’s not that they don’t want to, they simply don’t know how. Sometimes you need outside help on this because you are wanting to change the culture of your church.
3. I would get your known prayers to seriously engage with praying for your unconverted children , young people and spouses. Asking them to pray for their salvation – promising a front row seat at their baptism! as well as giving regular updates. As a young person I belonged to a large Anglican youth group where almost every young person came to the Lord, half of them went into some kind of full time ministry. The secret I discovered many years later was one of the ministers engaging the serious prayers of the church, giving them regular updates on progress.  
4. Get your house groups/ connect groups operating as discipleship groups ready for the longed-for move of God. That everyone in the groups has turns learning to lead. The three- thirds method see here for an outline is the most successful discipleship model I know overseas and is seeing good fruit among largely Maori communities in the far north. 
5. I would look at ways to stir up all the gifts of the Holy Spirit among your people. Most people come to the Lord when they encounter some kind supernatural revelation, and then they discover Jesus waiting for them. The gifts of the Holy Spirit were created by God for use in outreach as well as for use in Church ( John 14:12)
6. I would get an outside consultant/coach to help your leadership do a refocus and seek afresh God’s mission agenda for your community and beyond. Mark Fortney ( a Church mobilisation specialist) says “ when churches survey the needs of their community, they look at all the things they should be doing, they get overwhelmed and end up doing….. basically nothing.” What an outside church consultant/ coach does is help your leadership understand your current reality, what your dreams are, and then build a bridge from dreams to reality. They help you create a concrete plan with budgets, accountability, and timelines. I’m currently working as a Church coach with five very different churches and I have seen first-hand the positive changes that happen. Some things that were not bearing fruit ( and draining energy) have been closed down, some things have been improved and new projects connected with the dreams have been started. The thing that encourages me most after Covid-19, is that they are each beginning to discover a new momentum unique to their situation.

May we see the time soon “ when the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea” Hab 2:14 and be ready as a church to see the great harvest that will come from it.

Ngā mihi nui,

Gradon Harvey

(Author Gradon Harvey was a leader in Charismatic Anglican churches for 30 years, a missionary, church planter in Uruguay, and a leader in four different mission organisations. Three years ago he started, with some friends, North-South, a faith based, church mobilisation organisation that seeks to serve Kiwi churches, to help them reach their communities and beyond.)