Why 2018 Is so Different Than 2008 in the Local Church

Here are some topics Ranier covers:

• I think in ten years, we will see more co-vocational church staff.
• The decline of “Cultural Christianity” is not a bad thing.
• The church leader of the future has to be a learner.
• The problem with information is not the lack of it, it’s curating it to find what you actually need to know.
• The program-driven church model is a dead model today.
• Time is the most precious resource your church members have.

The first one. 100% 1000% Infinity % The future will have bi-vocational pastors. It is the only reasonable and realistic way forward for churches with shrinking budgets. It’s healthier, because it won’t be one guy against the world. It’s also more stable for the pastors, because they won’t be tied to a shrinking income. It will free the church up to invest in missions, or anything else. In short, it’s the way of the future. I also think it’s a better model. I did the “one pastor full-time, against the world” model. It wasn’t fun.

The obstacles:

• People aren’t used to this model so it’ll be hard to implement. Perhaps the shrinking budget will convince some, but others will never accept it.
• It will be difficult to convince pastors to accept this, especially if their entire education is bound up with theology, and they thus can’t secure a good job in the secular workforce. This is one reason why I believe a pastor should pursue a secular technical or undergrad degree, and save the theology degree for graduate training.

Rainer is indeed an advertising maniac. He posted on Twitter the other day about how we should buy an HVAC optimization guide from some silly company, to make our churches more efficient. He takes sponsorship to an extreme level.