The rise of indifference

While attempting to reach our community this Christmas, perhaps the greatest challenge is capturing the attention of a highly distracted audience. They are, largely, indifferent towards church, worship, and God’s means of grace. A word being used to describe this attitude is “apatheism.” What are ways to confront this trend and to communicate the value of what Christ has done?

The rising level of indifference is requiring churches to examine approaches to engage, invite, and communicate the benefits of church membership and the value of God’s means of grace.

Finding solutions can be overwhelming. Innovation is difficult to embrace. With so many ideas, it’s hard to know where to start. In this newsletter, let me share with you what I have been reading and learning.

Confronting apathy outside the church

Reaching an audience that is indifferent to the church requires innovative approaches. It is a risky exercise that will require a high level of commitment and sacrifice because there is no guarantee that whatever you do will work.

“If you want your church to grow, stop trying to attract people, and start trying to engage people, because in the future, churches that engage people will have a far greater impact than churches that gather people.” [Carey Nieuwhof]

This quote presents an uncomfortable reality. People today are not going online searching for churches to join. They are searching for answers. And many will be reluctant to initiate interaction with a local church.

This is an interesting experiment. Type in the following questions on your Google search: “How do I become a Christian?” “What does the Bible teach in [your city]?” Where does your church come up in the results of the search?

Digital outreach is an attempt to reach people where they spend most of their time. People are going to want to connect with your church online before they attempt to connect within your church. Creating content is not going to be your challenge but learning how to distribute the content.

Thoughts above are from the book: MetaChurch by Dave Adamson.