First Steps for Lay Leaders Left Behind
As a missionary serving with WorldVenture for 21+ years, my ministry in Hungary has involved evangelism, teaching, church planting and rejuvenating struggling churches. There I have filled pulpits for small churches in several denominations— Baptist, Brethren, Methodist, Reformed, and Lutheran. Whenever I returned it was usually for a period of weeks and sometimes a few months. In 2015 my family returned to the States for an extended home assignment, and during that prolonged stay I experienced reverse culture shocks. Most alarming was that during my travels through U.S. cities, I noticed many church buildings in need of serious renovation, scantly attended, and others converted into businesses. Some financially partnering churches had declined severely, and a few disappeared altogether.
What happened here in the USA? Church revitalization expert Thom Rainer estimates that over 150,000 American churches suffer from institutional sickness. (1) Often these sick churches find themselves without a pastor and are struggling to gain a foothold. Most publications address the issue from the clergy’s perspective, while ignoring the reality that the lay leaders are often left behind to run the church. The remaining lay people are like hikers injured on a lonely trail with no guide or first aid. So, what should the layperson do in those desperate times? The lay leader must resolutely take specific steps, however imperfect the foot holding, before the church slips so far that it cannot ever recover.
Take Leadership: a quick focus
The Apostle Paul admits in the early verses of his letter to Titus that some things were left undone on his previous missionary journey, namely the appointment of capable leaders (Titus 1:5-9). Paul knew that qualified leaders, both lay and pastoral, are important for the local church. Those who remain in a struggling church without a pastor must quickly take up the responsibility to lead the church and find a pastor.
The painful transition period, which could take well over a year, will present many challenges. Lay leadership must not hesitate to initiate honest communication with the congregation and make intentional efforts at corporate cohesion and confession. They must listen as they communicate with confused and disappointed church members. If they are at fault for the pastor’s premature departure, they will need to confess and apologize to members. Also, they must strive for immediate consolidation of both human and financial resources. Most likely, more people than just the pastor left. Not only will lay leadership need to find someone to fill the pulpit, but they may also need to find someone to lead worship, work the nursery, clean the toilets, pay the bills, and much more.
Because they may feel that they were “burned” by a previous leader, the laity may be sincerely reluctant to seek a new pastor. This shyness to follow a leader happens in big and small churches. Some churches may be tempted to just do the ministry on their own without ever seeking a pastor again. Some go this route for a couple of years and then decide to look for a pastor, while others will go indefinitely without a shepherd. In either case, the local congregation will suffer, lose ground, and lack direction if a senior leader remains absent. The smaller, struggling church in tight financial circumstances may need to select a capable bi-vocational pastor. Even those congregations, which have a more "primitive" church polity need someone with leadership giftedness to provide wisdom, vision, and guidance.
During transitional periods the laity must honestly evaluate the congregation's situation, and then take the necessary steps to appoint a small pastoral search team according to the church’s constitutional and/or denominational requirements. They will need to assign pulpit supply or hire an interim pastor, as well as network with other churches for ideas and personnel. The pastoral search committee must study and consult to determine what kind of leader the congregation needs to regain its foothold and move forward. A temptation exists to seek a pastor according to one’s personal preference and not according to the needs of the entire congregation and community.
Seek Outside Counsel: a broad focus
Much of the New Testament was written as advice to churches from outside experts like Paul, James, John, Peter, and Jude. While Paul did have some authority and relationships with people at the various churches he addressed, those individuals and congregations still had a measure of autonomy to accept or reject his wisdom. He was not a local, but he had extensive wisdom and broad experiences to draw from as he sought to encourage, correct and redirect churches in Rome, Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus, Colossae, Galatia, and Thessalonica. He not only wrote to them but made plans to visit and address specific problems in these churches (Acts 15:36, I Cor. 16:5, II Cor. 2:1, 13:2). Wise counselors can give us a panoramic view of the world beyond the problems of our town and our church.
Outside wisdom, networking, and consultation will help the declining church to recognize its sickness, guard against continued losses, and see the potential for the future. A church's regional denominational office may recommend or require a consultant. If the lay leadership of an independent or non-denominational church needs assistance they must network with other likeminded churches in the area or find a trusted and experienced pastor to give them advice. Sometimes a nearby seminary or Bible college can provide some expertise. Online Christian employment services like Vanderbloemen.com or churchstaffing.com provide tips for both the church and the ministry seeking pastor.
Seeking advice from outsiders can be humiliating, but it is a necessary task. If our car breaks down with a flat tire, we may not seek assistance and try to solve the problem on our own. Most likely we will succeed with a minor setback like a flat tire, but if we continue to have flat and unevenly worn tires we may be experiencing symptoms of repairs that we are not capable of fixing. Such is the case with many struggling churches. They need someone who has seen and solved this problem in other churches. Most likely, other churches have sailed the same perilous storm. Hiring a consultant can be expensive and admitting that one’s church has problems is humiliating, but this is a vital first step to survival.
Unfortunately, a declining church may have certain members who just refuse to listen to the wisdom of an outsider. Sometimes an individual or family within the congregation has dominated the life of a church for an extended period. They may hinder outside influences for positive change. John in his third epistle denounces a fellow by name for selfishly dominating a church and running off other leaders,
I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church (III Jn 9-10, ESV).
Dealing with destructive personalities may perhaps be the most formidable obstacle and challenge to a church’s revitalization. Additionally, churches tend to view their problems from their own narrow regional perspective. Often, they do not even know that they have a problem because they have been dysfunctional for such a long period of time. Solutions and coping strategies may exist which were never thought of by the local leaders.
A wise counselor will realize that not every outside solution used somewhere else will help in the local context due to unique cultural, economic, and spiritual factors. Some novice pastors may recommend a particular model or method, which they mistakenly think will solve the church’s woes. Such silver bullets only work in tales about slaying werewolves. Simply buying a projector, changing the music, and designing a website will not suffice. The lay leadership must seek advice from many sources. King Solomon gave advice to rulers of ancient kingdoms, which is applicable to churches as well, “Where there is no guidance, a people fall, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety (Proverbs 11:14, ESV).”
Expert counsel can help the church recognize its unique giftedness as well as the socio-economic shifts, which have occurred in the area since the church was established decades ago. Like a human body a declining church may have complexly interrelating comorbidities that hinder growth. Not only may the church body suffer from spiritual illnesses, but other issues may need attention-- subculture, building arrangement, organizational structure, and constitution. A church, which was established many decades ago was most likely comprised of members of similar ethnic, economic, and social backgrounds. Now years later the aging and dwindling church membership may not match the demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods. An experienced outsider will help the church detect these cultural shifts and see what potential the church has to survive and revitalize in its present environment.
Promote Unified Prayer: an upward focus
The church in transition must engage in robust corporate prayer to gain a Spirit led upward focus. During the time between Christ’s ascension and Pentecost, and even after Pentecost, the Jerusalem Church was avidly engaged in congregational prayer. Luke records the church as experiencing power for effective ministry after they participated in intense times of prayer. While the setting of Acts was certainly a unique time in Christian history the book does present examples for succeeding generations to follow. Theologians may rightfully debate the descriptive versus prescriptive character of the book, but prayer is certainly a normative practice for believers of any era. Luke reiterates in the Book of Acts that effective church ministry results from unified prayer. Both prayer and unity are frequent themes in the Book of Acts, especially as conveyed in the Greek term homothumadon, a favorite adverb of Luke the writer of Acts (1:14, 2:1,46, 4:24, 5:12). Luke uses this term ten times in Acts. Homothumadon is translated as “one accord” (A.V.), or “one mind” (NASB) or simply as “together” in several versions. The word depicts not just the physical state of being together, but the unity of their hearts and minds as well.
In Acts 1:14 the term is used to describe the unity of the praying disciples who were obeying Christ as they waited in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:1, which relates to the same gathering, the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples who continued to pray together. In Acts 2:46 the Christ followers are with “one mind” meeting in the temple where they were praying, breaking bread, and listening to the Apostles’ teaching (2:42). After Peter and John were summoned before the Sanhedrin and beaten for teaching in the name of Jesus Christ the disciples meet once more to pray aloud “with one accord” (A.V., NASB). Prior to receiving their saintly status in later centuries Peter and John were merely uneducated laymen in the eyes of Jewish religious leaders. When the Sanhedrin or Jewish Council summoned Peter and John they considered them as “unlearned and ignorant.” When Peter and John returned to a gathering of believers, they engaged in corporate prayer asking God for boldness in their witness (Acts 4:23-31). Even though the early Christians were under severe pressures of persecution and poverty, the Holy Spirit gave them boldness to declare the resurrected Christ and a holy persuasiveness to draw others into becoming followers of the Way. After times of prayer and fasting the Holy Spirit empowered them to select leaders, to evangelize, and to receive guidance for the next steps of ministry. Prayer enhanced their unity and resulted in continued growth of the church. Once again, the term homothumadon appears in 5:12 describing the gathering of believers under Solomon’s Portico. A result of their Spirit led unity was that “more” were added to the church (5:15). Church leaders, both lay and professional, must unite the members with passionate and intentional times of group prayer. Prayer will prepare and empower the congregation to engage in working with the new pastor, not against him.
What is Contextualization and Is It Really Biblical?
Contextualization is a term that missiologists, aka teachers about Christian mission, use to describe effective Gospel communication. Basically speaking, this term refers to the Christian communicator's effective expression of the message of God to people of other cultural settings. Underneath this concept resides the intention of creating a specific understanding and response from the listener. The Christian communicator desires that the receptor or listener understand and obey God's will as taught in Scripture, experience personal redemption and transformation, and in turn effectively express that message to others.
We all do contextualization everyday whether we realize it or not. Whether we are a Christian preacher, teacher, evangelist, VBS worker, childcare worker, musician, artist, web designer, or videographer we are communicators with an important message to give to a specific era, subculture, age group, language, or ethnicity. At one given moment we might talk with our three-year-old, and the next minute, we might pick up the phone to talk with our lawyer. We don't use the same vocabulary and tone of voice in both conversations, but we subconsciously switch gears to speak in a way that makes sense for the listener and the topic at hand. In such a case we could say that we have mastered the practice of contextualization, especially if you are a mother with a degree in law. In other contexts, with other kinds of people, we might find ourselves struggling to understand as a listener and express our thoughts as a communicator. Some Christian preachers are deathly afraid of the term, yet at the same time are practicing it every week.
Fear of the concept may stem from misunderstanding, so some basic explanations are necessary to dispel those fears. If we read the Bible with an open mind and heart, we will discover that the Bible itself is a compilation of contextualized books written by authors who desired to communicate to a specific people, in a specific place, at certain point in time, and in an ancient language. Both the medium of Scripture and its message embody and engage in contextualization.
In past decades only a few scholars addressed the topic of contextualization within the medium and message of Scripture. In 1978 missiologist Charles Kraft emphasized the importance of comprehending contextualization on the basis of Scripture, “Contextualization of theology must be biblically based if it is to be Christian” (Charles H. Kraft, ”The Contextualization of Theology,” Evangelical Missions Quarterly, January 1978, 14:36.)
Others have also expressed the need to address contextualization from a biblical perspective. For example, H.D. Beeby notes, “the more we reclaim the Bible as a whole, the more we see the canonical scriptures as providing a missionary mandate, a missionary critique, and a missionary objective” (H.D. Beeby, Canon and Mission, Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999, 29).
Leading Evangelical Christian scholars have offered many definitions of this difficult concept. Here are a few below with the author's name and sources referenced.
Dean Gilliland
Gilliland defines the meaning of contextualization in theology:
True theology is the attempt on the part of the church to explain and interpret the meaning of the gospel for its own life and to answer questions raised by the Christian faith, using the thought, values, and categories of truth, which are authentic to that place and time.
Source: Dean S. Gilliland, ed. The Word Among Us: Contextualizing Theology for Mission Today. (Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, 1989), 10-11.
David J. Hesselgrave and Edward Rommen
Evangelical missiologists Hesselgrave and Rommen define contextualization as
. . . the attempt to communicate the message of the person, works, Word, and will of God in a way that is faithful to God’s revelation especially as is put forth in the teachings of Holy Scripture, and that is meaningful to respondents in their respective cultural and existential contexts.
Source: David J. Hesselgrave and Edward Rommen, Contextualization: Meanings, Methods, and Models (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2000), 200.
A. Scott Moreau
Steering the term towards a holistic direction, Moreau defines contextualization as
the process whereby Christians adapt the forms, content, and praxis of the Christian faith so as to communicate it to the minds and hearts of people with other cultural backgrounds. The goal is to make the Christian faith as a whole—not only the message but also the means of living out of our faith in the local setting—understandable.
Source: "Contextualization: From an Adapted Message to an Adapted Life, " A. Scott Moreau, in The Changing Face of World Missions, eds. Michael Pocock, Gailyn Van Rheenen, and Douglas McConnell (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), 323.
Expanding on the breadth of a holistic contextualization Moreau defines it in a more recent text.
Contextualization happens everywhere the church exists. And by church, I'm referring to the people of God rather than to buildings. Contextualization refers to how these people live out their faith in light of the values of their societies. It is not limited to theology, architecture, church polity, ritual, training, art, or spiritual experience: it includes them all and more.
Source: A. Scott Moreau, Contextualizing the Faith: A Holistic Approach (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018), 1.
Dean Flemming
I take contextualization, then, to refer to the dynamic and comprehensive process by which the gospel is incarnated within a concrete historical or cultural situation. This happens in such a way that the gospel both comes to authentic expression in the local context and at the same time prophetically transforms the context. Contextualization seeks to enable the people of God to live out the gospel in obedience to Christ within their own cultures and circumstances.
Source: Dean Flemming, Contextualization in the NT: Patterns for Theology and Mission. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2005), 19.
Jackson Wu
Wu sees the concept as a process involving Scripture and culture, "Good contextualization seeks to be faithful to Scripture and meaningful to a given culture."
Source: Jackson Wu, One Gospel for All Nations: A Practical Approach to Biblical Contextualization (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2015), 8.
To sum up the observations of these scholars we conclude that contextualization is biblical, holistic, dynamic, powerful, meaningful, Spirit-led, and sometimes difficult. To appreciate the beauty of the New Testament as a contextual document one should read and study Dean Flemming's work referenced above, Contextualization in the NT: Patterns for Theology and Mission. Proper contextualization is anchored on the truths of Scripture and is adequately dynamic to address the needs of different cultures. Because God created humanity in his own image and gave us the Scriptures to address the need of humanity's redemption, we can have confidence in the content of the Scriptures to address that need.
At the same time, we should follow the Bible's example of recontextualizing older Scriptures, which sets the precedent for our need to recontextualize God's message. The Scriptures are filled with a plethora of quotations and references to previous Scriptures. Here are a few examples -- numerous OT quotes and metaphors in the NT; the reapplication of the Abrahamic Covenant in the teachings of Jesus, Romans, and Hebrews; the repetition and reapplication of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy, the Gospels, and the Epistles. Why are older Scriptures repeated in both the OT and NT? Because God knows that his people of all eras and cultures have universal needs as well as live in unique, dynamically changing contexts. Yes, there is always the danger of over-contextualization or syncretism, but to not engage in contextualization eventually leads to syncretism and meaningless religious practice.
The figure below may help in understanding the concept as a dynamic process.
The gradient two-way arrow depicts the continuum of biblical contextualization. The extremes to avoid are syncretism and obscurantism. Obscurantism occurs when the communicative expressions are so culturally distant or outdated, that disciples and inquirers cannot adequately comprehend certain teachings of the Christian faith. They may better comprehend those teachings if we modify the way we express them. A clear line between the boundaries of syncretism, obscurantism, and biblical contextualization does not always exist.
While cardinal teachings and universal moral values of the faith fall in the middle or white region, some practices may be on the edge or in the fuzzy, grey area of classification, or they have entered the darker extremes on the continuum. Sometimes practices which are obscure or nostalgic may once again become effective tools of biblical communication, especially in times of extreme societal or technological shifts.
The extreme fluidity of contemporary life in a Western culture that values change makes the task of contextualization even more challenging. The condition of liquid modernity intensifies our challenge. By liquid modernity, I mean that we are living in an era that mixes elements and thinking from ancient, modern, and postmodern eras. The numerous works by and about Zygmunt Bauman who popularized the concept explain the idea in greater detail (Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Modernity, 2000). Other factors which contain blessings and challenges include globalization, mass immigration, digital technology, and the abundance of intercultural exchange of ideas and products. The recent Covid-19 pandemic as well as accompanying political polarization have also highlighted the needs and challenges of contextualization. The postmodern idea that power produces knowledge rather than vice versa remains a major issue. Finding balance between the need for both security and freedom will also be a major issue for years to come. While we may not have the answer for every contemporary issue, we do have an anchor in Christ the Living Word as well as in the Scriptures, the written Word. The eternal life-giving Logos, who is Christ possesses the knowledge, power, wisdom, and redemption that all of humanity needs. Only the Logos can provide the contextual message for all people of every age.
Charting the Course in Dangerous Seas: Churches in the Cross Currents
The cross currents of modernity and postmodernity have forced many a church vessel off course, and some have become shipwreck like the individual lives of Hymenaus and Alexander (I Tim. 1:20). Some church leaders do not understand why so much change and chaos is happening in their church, their members' families, and their communities. Because contemporary western societies are so fluid and dynamic Christian leaders must repeatedly navigate the vessel of the church in uncharted waters. Using Marx's phrase, "melting of all solids,” Zygmunt Bauman's seminal work, Liquid Modernity, describes western society as not having totally thrown off modernity for postmodernity, but he maintains that society flows like liquid in and out of the two paradigms. Bauman describes our situation with the term "liquid modernity." His book describes contemporary society as struggling with the themes of emancipation (freedom), individualism, community, time, space, and commodification. Modernity and postmodernity are difficult terms to describe. Some thinkers define the terms as feelings, moods, perspectives, or philosophical paradigms of thinking. They have affected politics, art, theology, social relationships, clothing, music, economics and almost every area of European and American lifestyle. When I think of modernity I think of Batman, the consummate human blend of intelligence and athleticism, who utilizes high tech gadgetry in a modernized city full of skyscrapers. He may appear as a highly cultured and respected billionaire in his fine suit and tie or as the daring pale white crime fighter racing in his Batmobile to defeat the next criminal. Modernity embraces the values of institutions, programs, systems, orderly protocol, science, and high culture as containing the right answers or showing the way to a better life. When I think of postmodernity, I envision a bearded hipster artist with piercings and minimalist, torn clothing protesting a big institution's abuse of power and privilege. Postmodernity embraces the values of community, simplicity, nature, raw transparency, and multiculturalism. Describing the two terms in a child's perspective, modernity's cartoon characters approximated real, lifelike animals and people while postmodernity cartoons are two dimensional, flat, and absurdly proportioned. Yes, this description of the two terms is limited, but if you want to know more read a philosophy book or find a good video online.
Bauman's perspective helps us understand why the younger generation loves smartphone technology and minimalist styles, but despises modernity's institutionalized church, highbrow music and culture, and hierarchies. The older Baby Boomers are slow to engage in the latest computer technology and apps, but wallow in the once praised models of beauty, titles, institutions, and bureaucratic programs. Each generation picks and chooses different elements from modernity and postmodernity. Bauman's term "liquid modernity" helps us understand why the bankers, business executives, politicians, and some Christians still wear suits and professional attire while computer geeks, hipster artists, and other Christians will wear whatever crosses their screens that given season. The clash of the two worlds of postmodernity and modernity helps us see why in some spheres of Western society rules and complex protocol are abundant while in other areas of life a Wild West anarchy prevails. We may have too many rules or not any at all. The permanent print of the Gutenberg world clashes with the spontaneous and ever-changing digital Google reality. The lines have been blurred between reality and fantasy, between a practical realism and an idealistic imagination. Such is the case in the so-called reality television shows. We used to know when we were in fantasy and reality, but now we are lost at sea as the waves crash from both sides. Some thinkers say we must return to the old debates between Plato and his young disciple Aristotle, ideas vs material reality, but that is another topic.
Bauman claims that people and institutions must become light and nimble, or they will drown trying to hold on to everything that they can access. Such is the plight of older generations holding on to every electronic product ever produced since the 1970s. You just cannot hold on to everything from modernity. Bauman also warns that societies must hold on to some anchor to steady life in the rushing waters. While I certainly do not subscribe to any neo-Marxist political stance that Bauman may hold, as a secular sociologist he has made some very astute observations for Christian leaders to consider. Christianity has solid truth to offer those disappointed in the solids of modernity and the fluidity of postmodernity. For some years Christian thinkers have warned about the dangers of postmodernity. At the same time, we should beware of the dangers of an arrogant and outdated modernity. Attempting to bring balance to the two worlds, D.A. Carson recommends a "chastened modernism and a 'soft' postmodernism" (Christ and Culture Revisited, 89). Holding on to everything from modernity can be like hanging on to that old 200 lb. television set with its fuzzy resolution and incompatibility to current digital technology. We hate to get rid of it because we spent so much money on it in the late 1990s. It's too hard to move out of the house because it is so heavy, and we are reluctant to pay someone to take it away.
A local church can be in the same plight as the leaders struggle with what programs, structure, music, and customs to use. Church leaders must hold on to something solid while letting unecessary things go. Some churches make the mistake of casting off their core doctrines and biblical morality as if they were just throwing out old Sunday school curriculum. Others refuse to change anything in their church, and therefore the visitor or newcomer feels like he is stepping back into a previous decade, century, or even another country. The church visitor may suffer from a cultural shock and wonders if following Jesus here requires his adaptation to a totally new culture.
From the Enlightenment and Age of Reason to recent times, thinkers and movers of western society attempted to guide and mold society into their preferred structures, institutions, and systems. Marxism and fascism attempted to produce totalitarian societies to create utopias in Europe, South America, and Asia. American capitalism clothed with Christian values attempted to project a commercialized dream and secure way of life, which is now unreachable for many among the younger generations. Denominations used to argue about which one had the best and most biblical form of church. Perhaps in the past we argued too much about lesser things, and now our churches are all just trying to survive. Our compass of truth cannot point to true North, and so we have coined new terms like post-truth and alternate facts. Modernity took humanity to the heights of industrial accomplishment and scientific knowledge, but the paradigm's bent toward arrogance, racism, disrespect for nature, and doubt in the supernatural brought humanity to the brink of destruction in the World Wars. Unfortunately, many churches and denominations embraced the same errors. Postmodern thinkers led societies to doubt the very nature of truth, and their beliefs are destroying societies by redefining morality, the nature of humanity, and the meaning of family and sexuality. Describing the emancipation of postmodernism, former Czech president and writer Václav Havel warned, "We live in a postmodern world where everything is possible, and nothing is certain." Extreme postmodern voices claimed that truth is relative to community and cultural upbringing. Without truth there is no meaning. Where meaning is lacking so is purpose.
On a positive note, postmodernism has helped western society and Christianity to once again respect nature and ethnic diversity as well as restore the possibilities of supernatural reality. Delving into quantum physics, some secular thinkers are postulating a simulation theory of the universe in which some higher being, perhaps God, simulates and regulates the universe according to a higher plan. In the new branch of science called biomimetics, researchers seek to imitate and utilize nature's design in technology under the assumption that something or someone bigger and smarter than humanity "designed" the world. Without sounding irreverent, postmodernism makes all things possible. Western Christians who have a philosophical bent toward excessive individualism have rediscovered the necessity of community in spiritual growth and understanding Scripture. While truth has been called into question by society at large, Christians now have a platform to prove the superiority of their Savior by living out truth and sharing their experiences of the supernatural Christ with a world which doubts everything. By telling their personal stories of their relationship with Christ, Christians now possess a unique advantage that was not present two decades ago. Christians can now evangelize by telling their own raw and simple testimony without resorting to a prescribed sales pitch with three or four well developed points.
In North America we must realize that we are a mission field with a unique confluence of many cultures and ideas. In some newer communities, churches are certainly thriving, while in many other areas churches are plateauing and declining for various reasons. Too often local church successes arise not primarily from conversion growth but from a geographical redistribution of the mobile masses of existing believers who moved into a new community for a job relocation or educational opportunity. In the 1980s and 1990s Christian leaders started to speak about the best models and patterns to follow for church and ministry, but in the confluence of the currents of liquid modernity, globalization, local ethnic shifts, and employment instability, we are reticent to proclaim a model shoe that fits every foot. Two or three decades ago, American churches only had to struggle with receiving new members or a new pastor from a different region with a regional accent, however, now we must learn to minister with people of different races, languages, worldviews, and philosophical perspectives. Adding to the cultural mix, some immigrants come from countries which have three paradigms of inhabitants: pre-modern (ancient and so-called primitive, tribal societies, now called "indigenous peoples"), modern, and postmodern. I can remember attending a Christian college in the early 1980s with a classmate who converted from an African tribe. The fellow still had tribal markings scarred on his face but wore the typical American business attire with white dress shirt and tie. Now I wonder if postmodernity has led him to a third style and perspective. Understanding how culture and Christianity influence each other is indeed much more complicated than in the previous generation.
Neither modernity nor postmodernity provide a fail proof sail for guiding the church on the right course. The fluidity between modernity and postmodernity explains why Millennials and Baby Boomers just do not understand each other in the workplace or in church. Paradigmatic fluidity explains why such concepts as cell church, organic church, multi-site, and simple church have arisen in our time. Nobody can claim that any of these "models" are right for every church but borrowing the best ideas from specific models might increase our chances for better sailing. Every pastor and lay leader must figure out the best technique for his own ship and course. Imitating a megachurch model or some specific branding will most likely cause shipwreck for the smaller church in another context of ministry. Also, importing a supposedly successful American church's patterns and style overseas often makes unnecessary rigging for the indigenous vessel designed for a different climate. The worship forms, leadership styles, and organizational principles of modernity do not work for churches comprised of people from a postmodern and pre-modern cultural bent. On the one hand, church leaders must be ready to try new techniques and jettison the weighty cargo of old programs and approaches so they can take on new passengers. On the other hand, leaders and laity must hold on to their relationship with Christ who is their only secure anchor. They must not battle with each other while sailing on the same vessel, but they must work together as they depend on their Anchor who gives hope and security (Hebrews 6:9).