Social Trends and Mission Opportunities

Last week over 20 people from across the District attended an online presentation hosted by Pastor for Congregational Support, Brett Kennett, who shared some of the data from McCrindle Research . Mark McCrindle is well recognized researcher on social trends and impacts.

Pastor Brett highlighted the ‘rise of the regions’ as many people can retain their city jobs while living regionally. The reasons for the shift from urban and metropolitan to more rural and regional can include:
• Affordability
• A longing for ‘local’ community
• Quieter less ‘busy’ environment
• Decreased commute
• Desire to be out of the city and away from COVID-19 cases

The age demographic of people in this scenario tended to the over 50s but younger age groups were also represented.

A ‘takeaway’ was that COVID has changed the way church members and leaders think about church not just for now but into the future. We are challenged to think about how these yearnings for different lifestyle impact our church communities including that in the metro areas we may be farewelling people AND we may be called to help ‘introduce’ them to their next church community, AND they may continue to maintain a congregational relationship online.

One of Pr Brett’s key questions was, how can we, as Christians called to share the good news, respond to trends such as migration, yearning for community, but also working from home. We need to be prepared to make changes.

Following the presentation there was some time for sharing where people could talk about the challenges of sharing faith in this time, and other related topics.

This was the first of future online presentations. If you would like receive information about future online mission and ministry focused presentations please watch out for further events via District eNews and the District FacebBook page

McCrindle Rise of the Regions
McCrindle Top 10 tends for 2021

Click the link to find out more about McCrindle Research