DALLAS (ABP) — The single most important ingredient to the vitality of the 21st-century church is a new breed of leaders, according to a director at the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Those young leaders, Reggie Thomas says, must pioneer approaches away from the institutionalism many churches have espoused in recent years. And they must at all costs avoid the “holy huddles” so prevalent in some circles.
Thomas directs the BGCT's congregational leadership team. He says church leaders who seek to be effective may fail if they don't consider the most important social reality in the church: culture. While some churches conform to culture in an attempt to engage it, he said, others give up and isolate themselves. Then they form that huddle and stay within the four walls of the church.
“A lot of churches are out of touch with their community,” he said. “A lot of people don't intersect with the church's culture.”
Thomas spends his time developing young leaders so they'll avoid the extremes of either sequestering themselves or completely conforming to pop culture. The former pastor of churches in California, Texas and Tennessee is currently leading “creative church leadership” workshops across the state.
Thomas considers being “missional” an essential characteristic of a 21st century leader. He encourages pastors and leaders to go into communities to meet people, instead of waiting for people to come to them.
A missional church is always changing but always faithful to the Word of God, Thomas tells his clients. In other words, the church must change with the culture in order to engage the culture.
And considering that the church no longer holds the community standing it once did in the 1960s and 1970s, Thomas implores leaders to get creative in the way they change.
“Leaders need to create a network around them for support, counsel, accountability and implementation of vision,” Thomas said. “Don't rely on previous ministry models, but seek to try different things to attract people to Christ.”
-30-