Many say the drive is the most exciting shot in golf. I say the accuracy and variability of the approach is far superior.
Though theology is more like the approach, our temptation is often to swing like a drive.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Diversity in 3D


Diversity has been on my mind a lot as we get closer to church planting. We have long had a vision to plant in an area where “the urban poor and urban professional communities intersect”. This is typically an area where development or redevelopment is occurring in what has in recent history been a lower income area. Our hope is to plant a church that includes both urban poor and urban professional, because we believe both have much to learn from the other.

But diversity is of course a much broader topic than just socio-economic considerations. I typically think of three key dimensions of diversity. The first, and perhaps most obvious, is race (or ethnicity in a broader sense). The second is socio-economic, which often (but not always) coincides with race. And the third is age.

I think that in terms of a church plant, the priority of these three is the inverse of that given above. Don’t hear me wrong, racial diversity is important. But church plants often max out on age at the approximate age of the church planter. Attracting elder members to a church plant is a real challenge for a young pastor. But not having the wisdom of elder members can present major problems for a church planter, particularly as the church itself matures.

So how does a young church planter go about recruiting elder members? I have a few ideas, but I would like to get some more. One idea I have is to go to some of the suburban churches in the area and ask if any empty-nesters are moving back to the city for high-rise living (a significant trend in metro areas). And of course a high priority must be put on finding older members to be a part of the launch team, because what you start with is often what you will inherently grow to be.

Please share your ideas about priorities and instigating healthy age diversity. We have a year to generate ideas before we form a launch team.

(PS - the picture above is one page from a demographics study Joe Haack and I did for Harbor, the columns coincide roughly with my three areas - ethnicity, economy and age)

1 comment:

Michael and Mandy said...

We could ask our parents to move out there with us - they're old. :)