Church Shift

In his book Shift: Three Big Moves for the 21^st Century Church, my colleague Mark

Tidsworth outlined three changes that our churches should make to engage people today

and a process to implement those changes:

From attractional church to missional church;
From consumer church to sacred partnering.

Although this process is usually introduced in a weekend workshop, I was invited to cover these movements in one-hour sessions on two consecutive Wednesday evenings earlier this year. We had a good response and a number of church members, including some my age, were very affirming with comments such as, “This makes sense. We have to change to be the church.” There was a little pushback, but I think it was due more to semantics than disagreement with the process.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in how we do church have become mandatory rather than elective. Many churches, including my own, have embraced new technology, as well as ways of different relating and serving. We have discovered what is really important. It has not been easy, but good leadership has made it happen.

So what are we learning in this time of change? Have we started some things that we should continue? Have we realized that there are some things that we have stopped doing that need to be dropped? How will we prepare for the next significant challenge that comes our way?

No one wanted this pandemic, but it provides an opportunity for us to not only change but to learn.

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