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The “greatest generation” (I love the labels we now have for people – even adding an “alpha” generation when we needed a new name after we used up “generation Z”).  To be in the greatest generation you need to be 94 and older. 

In a province with over 1 million people, I hear the statistic from StatsCan is as follows:  there are 4,005 people still living (less than the population of Kindersley, where I live).  I happen to know a few of them.  They live, presently, here in this town and around the province. 

As you might guess, they are dying off – fulfilling that one statistic that we can’t get around – physical death! 

Not a bad time to consider connecting with a greatest generation person – before it is too late!

One of those provocative statements that gets me thinking.  A tweet by “Michael Frost”.

“Church Growth Theory didn’t result in church growth, and the Christian leadership industry didn’t give us better leaders. So can we stop trying to do Christian ministry with tools from the fields of marketing, management and psychology now?!”

I heard the predictions of this in the 1970’s.  I appreciate that science and observation have a place in everyday life – otherwise I wouldn’t know how to brush my teeth.  At the same time, manipulation is never a proper response to science and observation, but too often it is the response.

Four years ago my first book was being rolled out.  Today I’m working with some college students on a new book.  We will be gathering together some themes on small churches that we expressed in podcasts I did during the pandemic.  I’ll keep you posed on when the book is ready to be accessed.

I ran across some very interesting comments on Facebook today – one by Wes Mills (ACOP President) and a reply to his thoughts by Glen Peder

Wes Mills (posted March 14, 2022)

The Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich is credited with saying that “Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step…if you want to change a society then you have to tell an alternative story.”

The gospel is the alternative story our society desperately needs to hear and see.

Glen Peder (reply March 15, 2022)

Wes, Illich is right, we need a metanarrative of unusual proportions.

Through the ages, many have tried to create an alternate metanarrative for humanity, but all have failed. So we have seen the rise of post-modern anti-narratives, the uncoupling of story from truth that fractures and reduces all narratives to the insignificance of relativism.

Sadly, many in the Christian church today have become deeply infected by this postmodernity. I see it all over. I have myself felt its attraction. Yet, many in the world have begun to cry out for a true narrative. They have seen the product of relativism and come to realize its destructive power. They want truth.

If “the Gospel is the alternative story our society desperately needs to hear and see,” the church first needs to learn it, believe it, and put it into practice. Only when we apprehend this narrative will we have a story to tell the world.