January 6, 1999
Most ministry leaders
'ill-prepared'for future challenges
___MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP) --The evangelical church in North America must undergo radical change with new kinds of leadership to fulfill its mission in the next century, a church growth scholar said at Golden Gate Seminary.
___"This ongoing process of dying in order to live should not unnerve us if we are reading the Scriptures right, for crucifixion followed by resurrection is at the very essence of the ministry of Christ," said Eddie Gibbs, professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
___Gibbs warned churches must embrace transitions or "forfeit the possibility of exercising a transformational ministry withinchanging cultures."
EDDIE GIBBS
___In the shift from a modern era emphasizing rationality and unified progress to a postmodern era characterized by pluralism, ambiguity and relativism, the church faces a context in which former concepts of self-identity and purpose are challenged, Gibbs said.
___"The church itself will need to go through a metamorphosis in order to find its new identity" in the dialogue between gospel and culture, he said.
___The cultural changes with which Gibbs said church leaders must grapple are global, rapid, complex, comprehensive, unpredictable and discontinuous. Most ministry leaders, Gibbs said, are ill-prepared for these new realities.
___"For the church to become a missional church, a new kind of leader will be required," Gibbs argued. "It will not simply be a matter of people with traditional mindsets acquiring new ministry skills to supplement what they already know."
___Gibbs labeled some models in church growth thinking as only tactical attempts to breathe new life into old structures.
___"I rejoice at new movements, but ... we have yet to see renewal movements at any place in the western world that have, in fact, turned the tide of (declining) church attendance."
___He predicted stressful and confusing days ahead.
___"Some churches will simply entrench and fire salvos over their protective ramparts, and other churches will become subverted by the cultures they are seeking to engage," he said. "Still others, hopefully ..., will demonstrate a true incarnational ministry which entails becoming immersed in the culture as a challenging and transforming presence, welcoming people as they are, but at the same time not condoning destructive and degrading lifestyles."Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!