“preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2)
Below is an article written by Peter Rufus in response to someone who has this idea that the church’s mission is targeting specific people groups in order to get them in the church doors and then saved. Peter refutes this in summing up our (NCC) ministry philosophy in this ‘rant’ as he calls it!
Ok, so here’s something that I think needs to be said.
The salvation of God transcends demographics. So I’m not sure why Pastors and Evangelical leaders are modelling their ministries as if demographics are somehow salvifically significant.
You have not been given oversight of Gen X-ers, Gen Y-ers, Baby Boomers and Millennials. You have been given oversight of the souls that Christ purchased with His own blood.
So please stop treating your ministry as though it were a marketing initiative and start looking at it for what it really is — feeding the flock on the pure and wholesome Truth of Christ the Shepherd.
Souls that have been born again aren’t a demographic. They aren’t a psychographic. They defy generational tags and labels. Because they are souls who are being re-created to fulfil their original purpose — to be images that reflect the glory of Almighty God.
They don’t need to be analysed. They need to be drip fed Truth.
They don’t need to be marketed to. They need to be protected from lies.
They don’t need to be mollycoddled. They need to be prepared for heaven.
So can you please just stop with the demographic appeals and analyses.
Boomers are like this. But Millennials are nothing like that. So if you want to attract Millennials then you gotta ….. Aaaaaahhhhhh!! Stop! Stop! Stop!
It doesn’t matter if your congregation is 33% White Baby Boomers and 17.7% Asian millennial with college degrees and 7.9% vegan Hipsters. Stop trying to control who comes in the door and start controlling the only thing you can (and should) — your own, personal faithfulness to the Word.
Let the Holy Spirit bring whomever He wills. Let Him decide the ethnicity of your congregation. Let Him decide what the socio-ethno-cultural pie chart looks like.
Ministry is not primarily about being attractive to the world; it is about being attractive to those who have been saved out of this world.
You are not here to market Jesus. You are here to preach the Word. In season. And out of. That’s your job. Your duty is soul-care. Your mandate is truth-telling. Your KPI is faithfulness. That’s the program. Get. With. It.