Tod Bolsinger, author of Canoeing the Mountains, said that when he was out jogging, he violated every rule when he encountered a black bear near his home in California. He didn’t stand his ground, talk loudly, and wave his arms. Instead, he ran screaming down a hillside back to his cabin. When he later shared the story with a tour guide in Alaska, he expected her to a approve of his escape technique. Instead, she said, “You were really lucky. If you do that up here, a bear will kill you.”
Tod, who is the vice president and chief of leadership formation at Fuller Theological Seminary, went on to say, “Most of us trying to bring change in a post-Christendom world are attempting to use lessons we learned in one situation that are keeping us from adapting to a new spiritual terrain. But perhaps a humble stance of curiosity, awareness and attention, as well as healthy skepticism at our own success, may indeed be the first lessons we need to learn, especially when our egos are on the line.”
What your church did for success in the past does not necessarily work in the future. Let’s run at this important lesson from another viewpoint. Have you ever experienced success? Did you try to do the same thing hoping for success the next time, too? While visiting Las Vegas, I learned that one of the predictors of a gambling addiction was an early win. Gamblers will keep looking for that thrill even though it never happens again and they lose their shirt. What began as a pastime became a new lifestyle that is stuck in the past behavior.
The season of time we are in is leaving us reeling because of the pandemic, business closures, racial unrest, moral decay, and polarized political viewpoints, just to name a few. Yet, I believe and regularly see people ministering and helping their communities, especially after the two hurricanes called Helene and Mitch.
During the election season, a woman I knew in high school ridiculed Christians for ignoring poverty, not helping immigrants, failing to bring healthcare to the sick, and several other things in her rant that I knew full well that Christians were doing, most of which were being done by CABA churches. On social media, I have learned not to engage in arguments that are blatantly false, but instead seek out things to post on my own platforms that expose lies being told to disparage posts by non-Christians.
In his book, The Gathering Storm, Al Mohler wrote, “These days, we find ourselves opposed, dismissed, and ridiculed for holding to truths that the Christian church has taught for two thousand years.”
By mentioning these problems like expecting wins or encountering people who ridicule Christians for what they do and believe, I do so to say that engaging the Cincinnati Area is not easy. Christians who venture out among their neighbors or cross into mission fields naively aren’t exactly expecting resistance. Shouldn’t our community engagement find people who tolerate our biblical ideas? After all, they really have been available for two thousand years!
Southern Baptist associations – ours included – have planned this year around the theme, “Community Engagement.” Meanwhile, 85% of our association’s churches are plateaued and declining. An argument could be made that many churches are facing the need for revitalization. Some pastors are telling me that their attendance is really low, but their financial giving is actually up. To me, that means people want to pay others to be witnessing avatars in their place.
The Barna Group’s surveys found that one out of three church members have stopped in-person church attendance and 14 percent have already switched to a new church. This rocked the world of church leaders because during Covid-19, church leaders got out of the habit of planning or at least have slacked off. It’s as if pastors especially are waiting for some imaginary form of normalcy. Many churches have moved into a reactionary mode rather than being salt and light that engages a lost world with the gospel.
While we’ve been worried about our churches, our community has been shifting. As the Steve Miller Band used to sing, time keeps on slipping into the future. Community engagement isn’t among people who have our habits, look like us, or even think like us.
CABA is providing new learning opportunities for pastors and church leaders based on the new emerging reality in the Cincinnati Area. We’re not doing it in sweeping generic association-wide events, but we’re providing trained consultants that address your specific church needs. It’s more than about coping, but infusing new skill sets that address deep and lasting church relevance.
After all, you might have once outrun a black bear, but they’re grizzly bears now.
--Mark Snowden serves as director for the Cincinnati Area Baptist Association, which has several church consultants.
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