Leaders in Living Rooms
LILR 094 | Stephen Foster of St Aldates, Oxford on the Difference Between Stuck Church and Revival
Nov 21, 2023
Stephen Foster, leader of St Aldates Church in Oxford and Alpha advisor, shares his journey from law to ministry. He discusses the challenge of churches aging inwardly and emphasizes the need to attract younger generations while honoring older members. Stephen offers insights on engaging a pre-Christian context, advocating for intentional community building. He underscores the importance of revitalizing church leadership through prayer, passion, and fostering multi-generational culture, making the church exciting for all ages.
41:44
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Quick takeaways
- Church leaders must intentionally reverse the trend of aging and inward focus by fostering youth engagement and outreach.
- Genuine conversions within the church community inspire collective goals, emphasizing the importance of sharing transformative faith stories with others.
Deep dives
The Natural Drift of Churches
Churches typically experience a natural drift towards growing older and becoming more inward-focused over time. This trend occurs without any intentional action to maintain a younger demographic or outreach efforts. As churches age, the gap between the needs of the surrounding community, which often becomes younger, and the church's congregation widens. Leaders must actively work to reverse this trend by fostering an environment that encourages youth engagement and outreach.
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