As almost everyone by this point has noticed, even committed church attenders are attending weekend church services less often.

Online options are one of ten reasons I’ve previously outlined on why even committed Christians are attending church less frequently (here are the other 9).

But just how seriously is technology digging into attendance and what can a church leader do in response?

The question is challenging because the change happening around us is so rapid, and those who fail to respond will likely be left clinging to a model that worked a decade ago.

I used to relate to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (where I still pastor The Summit Church), the way a virus relates to its host culture. We were trying to draw people out from the city up into our organism — the church. Once people were in the system, we would utilize their energy, time, and money to make our institution great.

The city existed for us, not the other way around.

A few years into my ministry there, I was teaching our church through the book of Acts, and we came to Acts 8:6-8: “The crowds paid attention with one mind to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the signs he was performing . . . so there was much joy in that city.”

I asked our church if there was “much joy” in the city as a result of our presence there. Sadly, we believed the answer was “no.” If anything, our city would probably have been relieved to see us disappear, since that would mean one less mail-out to throw away at Easter and the city’s recovery of a tax-exempt piece of property.

Welcome to Season 1, Episode 11 of the Selma on Leadership podcast. In this episode, me and my and co-host Kristen McCall discuss how to be content in every season of life, whether you’re an older seasoned leader or a young mom of toddlers and all the seasons in between. Often times it’s easy to miss the beauty of the season you’re in right now by looking too far ahead and wishing for different circumstances.