Trend Watching

 Here are some trends that sociologists are recognizing. Do you think any of these might affect the attitudes of your students?

Here are five lifestyle angles that Trend Watching says we should keep an eye on in ’07. I’ve added possible ministry correlations to help pastors and church leaders discuss what they can do in their ministry context to seize the day.

1) Transient Lifestyles—People have shorter satisfaction spans, which means they’re more interested in experiencing something new. A simple application of this in the church realm might be that a two- to four-month series on the book of Job will need to be replaced with a three- to four-week miniseries. Whatever it is you’re doing, look for more—and shorter—ways to do it. Keep creating new themes and events.

2) Participative Lifestyles—Consumers, especially younger consumers, want creative experiences. A ministry application would be to reduce the amount of sit-around, passive Bible studies, and instead engage participants by using their talents; for example through doing a service project or creating multi-sensory learning lessons. (See the cover story, “Make It Stick,” in Nov/Dec Rev! Magazine, at http://www.rev.org.)

3) Connecting Lifestyles—“In a post-material world, all that’s left to covet is…other people,” says Trend Watching. So don’t just hope people get together to socialize. Churches need to take concerted efforts to help make friendship matches, akin to eHarmony. (I spoke to eHarmony staff members recently who said that this service resulted in approximately 1 percent of all marriages in the U.S. in 2006.)

4) Eco-Lifestyles—Environmental friendliness is now in vogue with influencers. So what is your church doing to promote recycling, carpooling, or cleaning up dumps around your community? Does the pastor drive a Prius or a gas-guzzling SUV?

5) Add Your Own Status Lifestyle—Trend Watching suggests that effective marketers look beyond traditional status lifestyles and help develop unique opportunities for people to feel esteemed and engaged.

Source: MondayMorningInsight.com > Trend Watching:  A Change of Status