Don’t ask your goldfish how the water is. Goldie won’t have any idea what you’re talking about. The same could be said of most of us. We are swimming freestyle in our culture each minute of the day immersed in currents of joy and struggle. At times it can feel like we are caught in the riptide. It requires careful discernment to look for trends and, most importantly, to see how those trends are pulling us.
Here are three trends shaping us in this moment.
Fear. Declining numbers in our churches in an increasingly post-christian culture breeds desperation that can take us to extreme fear. Many church budgets are shrinking leaving pastors wondering if they can afford to continue to receive a full salary from their church. Strictly based on making a living, being a pastor is not exactly the best R.O.I. on your education today.
What’s the alternative to God’s people living in fear? Calculated courage. Obsessive fear isn’t winsome. It’s also not healthy. It clouds our vision, makes our hearts falter and cripples us. Fear is the modus operandi of our culture, but courage is a choice. As a pastor I see massive potential for non-paid leaders in the church who bear no ministerial title to be unleashed in unique ways.
Self obsession. We live in a “selfie culture” fixated on being famous, known, followed, successful, hip, and envied. A friend of mine works as a guidance counselor for one of the fastest growing Christian universities in the country. The number one thing incoming freshman want to be: famous. Dear Lord, help us. Ultimately this is a misplaced desire to apply our genius to real world issues, but this culture of self is spinning out of control.
What’s the alternative to self obsession? Generosity. The people of Jesus must dare to live lives bigger than ourselves and greater than our own impulses offering ourselves and our gifts (our genius) for the sake of the world.
Longings for the good life. People are asking a lot of questions about “the good life” (You can read extensively about this topic in James K.A. Smith’s book You are what you love). Millennials and those in the creative class are highlighting longings for a different way of life that gives great potential to influence our culture in robust ways through work, neighboring, craft, generosity and relationships.
What’s the opportunity here? We can seek curiosity about the why behind this longing. We can ask probing questions. People are becoming increasingly discontent and bored with consumption. Our hearts are fat and unhappy. We long to contribute. We want to thrive. These conversations can hit a nerve.
These three cultural forces collided to conceive and develop into my next book, Everyone’s a Genius. Can we call it gestation? Every new message is birthed into a place and a time. This time is ripe for a new narrative, ripe for opportunity, ripe for new kinds of leaders offering themselves back to the Creator and to a waiting world.
Courage. Generosity. Curiosity. If we embody these three imagine the beautiful things that might spring forth.