1. By
Rev. Karen Fitz La Barge, Minister of Technology
Presbytery of Lake Michigan Meeting at Sturgis
April 8th, 2014

2. Phyllis Tickle, The Great Emergence
“Every 500 years the church cleans out its attic and has a rummage sale.”
EARLY CHURCH
-No buildings. Met in people’s homes.
-No professional pastors with Master’s of Divinity degrees. Everyone
ministered.
-No pipe organs or sound systems. No paid musicians or church staff.
-Ate together, sharing food.
-Persecuted and martyred.
-Organized to fix the problems in their community, took care of widows and
orphans.
EMPORER CONSTANTINE- 313 AD
-Christianity and Politics joined forces.
-Christianity was legitimized by Edict of Milan and no longer persecuted.
-Era of Councils. Nicea 325 to Chalcedon in 451
THE GREAT SCHISM 1053 AD
-The Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church split. Two
churches both having “The true church”. Christianity has continued
denominational splitting since.
THE REFORMATION 1517
-Luther, Calvin, John Knox, Zwingli
Johannes Gutenburg: The printing press –Changed the way that people got
information & learned. Era of literacy born.

3. It isn’t just your church. Denominations are shrinking.
PCUSA: 2,493,781 members in 2001. 1,849,496 in 2012.
UMC: 8,411,503 members in 2000. 7,679,850 in 2010.
ELCA: 5,288,048 members in 1987. 4,059,785 in 2011.
Look bigger. It isn’t just churches.
Organizations are losing members everywhere:
Elks Club. 1976: 1,611,139 members 2011: 869,019
American Rose Society:
1987: over 30,000 members. 2014: 8,000 members.

4. http://cara.georgetown.edu/entrysacraments.pdf
While the
Catholic
church is
growing
worldwide,
Western
Millennials are
declining
confirmation
class.

5.  Generation X –born in 1960’s – early 1980s
Thoroughly Postmodern = Multiple Truths Exist.
Latch-Key kids. High percent of parents divorced.
College Educated. Suspicious of Institutions.
Raised on TV, Computer Labs in College. Dropping
out of church in large numbers, consider church
irrelevant to society. Waiting for baby boomers to
retire for better jobs.
 Millennial Generation born 1982 -2004
Frequently unchurched. 72 % “Spiritual but not
religious.” Raised on technology. Will text rather
than call. Helicopter parents worried about their
self esteem. Instant communication and flash mobs.
Expecting great jobs right out of college, now facing
huge debt loads and severe underemployment.

9. As of September 2013:
 71% of online adults use Facebook
 22% use LinkedIn
 21% use Pinterest
 18% use Twitter
 17% use Instagram

10.  “Virtual party telephone line with pictures”
and videos”

11. “Online resume and recommendations used for business networking.”

12. “Shared virtual corkboard where you save your interesting internet pages.”

13.  “Global headlines, quotes and comments”

14. “Shared Digital Photo/ Video Album.” --Most frequently used with cell phones.

15.  2.5 Billion email users in the world.
Google and gmail.com users: 425 million in 2012.
 YouTube (Google) 1 Billion unique visitors per
month.Millennials watch more YouTube than Cable
TV. Advertising is leaving TV and going to YouTube.
 1 in 8 internet searches are for pornography. 68% of
Millennial men and 18% of Millennial women use
porn at least once a week. Most go to free porn
sites online.
 More than 6 billion text messages are sent everyday.
Millennials text at the rate of over 3000 texts a
month.

18. 
http://www.hartfordinstitute.org/research/technolo
gy-Internet-use.html Scott Thumma
 Just having a website or the church using facebook is
not enough to save a church.
 Congregations that are growing generally have similar
characteristics:
1) High openness to change
2) Lack of conflict (especially about change)
3) Contemporary worship
4) A vision for technology use that distinguishes them
5) A lot of their members involved in recruiting via
online social media and in community relationships.

19. http://youtu.be/o0HvNXZ9Oa0

21.  Background of empty chairs.
 Too distant / too dark to see face.
 Lots of shots of balding head.
 38 minute long video.
 No likes. No comments.
 Low Budget = Low Commitment to those not
in the community.

22. http://youtu.be/KGlx11BxF24

24.  # Linked to Twitter
 4 Minutes Long.
 Fast paced. Interesting.
 Video clips in video.
 Millennial relatable images.
 Likes, Dislikes and Comments.
 High Budget = High Commitment to those
outside the community.

25. From hearing the word to seeing and hearing it with images and videos?
Moving from a print culture to an online culture?
Creating members or creating a movement?
Retreating from community or engaging with community?
Music for the churched or music for the un churched?
Club Houses or Community Development Centers?
If your church had no building or staff expenses, what project would
you use your money and energy for in your community?