How successful is your congregation as a multi-generational congregation, united in love of the Lord, joyful worship, and service to a broken world? Good planning needs a clear understanding of the problems and opportunities so have a church team use the Manual's challenging yet realistic evaluations to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and begin planning for the future to which God is inviting you and your new members!
The First Evaluation is taken from a study by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research on factors that predict growth or decline in churches. We selected the best predictors of growth for the Manual. These elements involve the congregation's mission and purpose, its vitality and spirituality, its willingness to meet new challenges, the nature of the main worship service as being joyful rather than stilted, and whether the members are involved in outreach. Your evaluation team's members each rate the present performance of the church and develop a joint value as a baseline to measure future results. Throughout your time together team members also use a personal notebook to record insights for improvement actions that will be invaluable in later planning sections.
The Second Evaluation utilizes 10 factors which characterize the culture of the younger generations from Dr. Johnson's book "Where have all the Young People Gone" (2012). Your team discovers how social interaction between older church members and the younger generations might create some discomfort and works to proactively identify possible solutions.
The Third Evaluation is similar to the second in that it addresses the young people's cultural values, but here they are taken from a college chaplain's advice regarding how to get more young people involved. Your team now moves beyond the objective scientific elements using the nuances found here to provide another great opportunity to understand the younger generations.
In this third evaluation we introduce discussion of specific moral issues such as mixing pharisaic teaching and behavior with basic Christian anchoring (focusing on the letter of the law, rather than on the spirit of the law). The insight in this section is that congregations who love the law rather than love the Lord will find Generations X and Y hard to attract.
The Fourth and Fifth Evaluations are linked together in the Manual because they cover similar issues with living Jesus' New Commandment of love. Your team looks at coffee hours, social and business meetings, and greeting new people at Sunday services.
The New Commandment is the most serious of the generational issues. It appears widely but is taken for granted and often simply set aside; the bible, however, talks about actually becoming a new person in Christ. Jesus said, "Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). This emphasis is vital to the Manual. Our conviction is that effectively reaching out to others through evangelism, the Great Commandment of Jesus, loses much of its punch unless love is integral to the efforts.
Planning: When your congregation's team has finished the evaluations, they have covered elements found in a spiritually powerful church; they understand young people on many different levels; and they have some idea where your own church stands with respect to love (sheep, goat or hybrid). Their notebooks are filled with insights for possible improvement actions and the love that must go with them. The Manual at this stage provides guidance to your team for drafting both a proposed vision statement and sample action plans. Your team's results, in preparation for building the love in your hearts for those that God already has in mind for your church to minister with, are, finally, entrusted to the leaders of your church for implementati
About the Author: Dr. Johnson and coauthor Nancy McLaughlin have written this Evaluation and Planning Manual for congregations in low growth or a death spiral without young people. These communities may be willing to consider adaptive change in order to reach across the generational barriers and become, once again, a multi-generational congregation. Dr. Johnson is a PhD scientist (Cognitive Psychology) with a background in Chemistry and Physics. He is also an Episcopal clergyman. He has been a parish assistant, as well as a prison chaplain (Attica) and a college chaplain (Hobart). Since 1973, he has earned his living as a senior scientist primarily in the areas of Energy and Environment and has contributed his time to churches in transition or trouble. Dr. Johnson wrote a theological dissertation (STM) on an experimental ministry during the Vietnam upheaval in which he documented the impacts of changes in ministry and in American society on people who welcomed changes and those who deeply rejected them. Most recently, he has authored Where Have All the Young People Gone (2012). This book traces changes since 1945 which have produced sharp generational differences and the alienation of the young from congregations of older people. It also identifies detailed ways in which the older might reach out to the younger. Dr. McLaughlin holds a Master of Arts in Theology (counseling), a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry in Advanced Studies in Congregational Development. She has worked as a graduate level university professor teaching scripture, Christian leadership, as well as spiritual formation and mentoring courses. She also does hands on ministry with the elderly, and enjoys conducting spiritual retreats, Bible study, and fostering ministry in daily life. She is the mother of two young adult sons. Dr. McLaughlin's master's thesis was on developing small church groups in neighborhood settings. Her doctoral thesis researching congregations with significant involvement of members was published by Morehouse/Church Publishing as Do You Believe? Living the Baptismal Covenant. She also coauthored Godparenting: Nurturing the Next Generation. She is the presenter of becoming a Godparent for ChurchNext online courses for individuals and congregations. She has served on national and diocesan committees for congregational development and baptismal ministry. She acts on her beliefs and invites others to strengthen their faith and spiritual life in action too.
