Remember the Oldsmobile marketing campaign where they would end each commercial with the words, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile”? Of course, this was an attempt to make the Oldsmobile brand feel young and relevant. But it also reflected the reality that the world has changed—a lot!—in the past 20, 30, 50 years.
This new world affects not only companies marketing their products. It has also affected the Church (that is, all churches—Chrisitanity around the world, as a whole, especially Europe and North America). Whereas Christianity once held a dominant place in our culture, that just isn’t the case anymore. Christianity has lost its place at the center of culture; instead, it is today only one of many options available to people as they journey through life.
On the negative side, this has resulted in far lower church attendance over the years, and attendance continues to decline. Fewer people are being exposed to the life-changing love of Jesus.
But on the positive side, this new scenario has forced the Church to rethink who it is and why it exists. What’s our purpose in the world as the people of God? And, more specifically, what is our purpose as Northminster?
Over the next eight weeks, we’ll be in a series that I’m calling Crash Course: Being a Church with Purpose. What I want to do in this series is begin to look at why we exist. Why has God put us here on this earth? Why had God called you and me together to be a part of this particular church?
My hope is that over the next eight weeks we’ll get a sense of who we are as a church, why we exist, and where God may be calling us in the future. I’m looking forward to learning and growing together with you over the course of these eight weeks!
