South American countries—like his messages of “forgiveness and grace. ... They feel an openness here.”
8. Influence of individualism. The concept of religious individual- ism—the right to express individual religious preferences—is a hallmark of American culture. The challenge today, Roberto of LifelongFaith said, is that a growing sense of reli- gious individualism in our culture leads to a decline in “connected- ness” and weakened ties with a faith community.
Kathryn Lohre, president elect of the National Council of Churches in the USA, expanded on this chal- lenge: “In the ecumenical context, the quest for Christian unity is suffering. … Rather than seeing this particular moment we’re in with this recession to further deepen our quest for unity … there is this turning inward of fear and self-preservation.
“On an individual level, I think we see this in terms of how people are reducing their giving [to their congregations].
“But for every example of that,
there’s an example of the contrary. We only have to look to the major natural disasters in the past few years to see a broadband outreach [and] individu- als overcoming the individualistic impulse to live into a communal ethos of creation. I find balance there in terms of hope.”
9. Living in a digital world. An average of 140 million tweets a day were sent in February 2011. Nearly half of all American adults (47 percent) report getting some news from their cellphone or tablet com- puter, according to a study from the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. Nearly 80 percent of all Ameri- can adults report using the Internet (for adults 18 to 29 years old, it’s 95 percent).
Why should congregations pay attention to digital technology? As Mary E. Hess, associate professor of educational leadership at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., explained, we make sense of our world through our relationships with each other, and while “digital technology is not all that good at starting relationships … it’s very good at sustaining and inten- sifying them.” “Theologically, if we start from the promise that God is in relation- ships, and then we say that digital technology is thoroughly permeating our relationships, then we ought to be paying attention,” Hess added. For Erik Ullestad, family life and youth director of Windsor Heights [Iowa] Lutheran Church, it’s impor- tant to view digital technology not just as “tools for communication but as tools for engagement.”
As an example, Ullestad shared the impact of social networking at Wind- sor Heights: “We don’t need to do … the mixers and the ice-breakers in youth ministry. They can take a goofy little quiz on Facebook. … For me, it does change our physical gatherings because of what’s happening online during the week.”
10. Increase in adults 65 and older.
According to the Census Bureau, 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 years or older in 2050, a 147 percent increase from 2000. The first of the nation’s baby boomers will turn 65 this year, with many more following behind. “We think it’s a terrific oppor-
tunity, a historic opportunity,” said Judith M. Baker, chief operating offi- cer of Adult Lutherans Organized for Action. “Never before have people in this age group had so many gifts, skills, talents, education, technical expertise. The challenge is how to tap those resources and motivate these people to look at this as a new oppor-
tunity for ministry. The catch for congregations is that they aren’t used to working with so many people in this age group who don’t function like they’re used to.”
Adding to the challenge is that the proportion of adults age 85 and older will also continue to rise, from 2 per- cent now to 5 percent in 40 years. Many in this group will be in good health and remain active, Baker said. But a number will also have signifi- cant needs. “Churches aren’t dealing with one generation of older adults, but three separate generations of older adults,” she said. By themselves, these trends aren’t
new. We see them, live them, encoun- ter them on a daily basis. But taken as a whole, the interconnectedness of these trends presents a current frame- work for ministry that Roberto said is critical for many faith communities. “People feel something has changed, the ground has changed under their feet,” Roberto said. “Congregations are critical” in responding to the opportunities and challenges of these interwoven trends, he said. “We have to be inten- tional and proactive,” he added. “This is the decade to do it.”
At the same time, countered Hess of Luther Seminary, we shouldn’t respond to our changing world with fear.
“We get so nervous, so we cling instead of recognizing that the tradi- tion is big enough and deep enough and God’s grace is big enough,” Hess said. “We feel we have to defend it. And keep it in a box. And in the very process of putting it in a box we make it irrelevant to people.”
After all, Hiortdahl of Resurrection reminded, Lutherans have a tradition of ministering in a changing world. “The good news,” he said, “is that the church has changed before and we stand in a reformation tradition that teaches us to do that.” M
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