Ed Stetzer the Director of Lifeway Research and Lifeway’s Missiologist in Residence. Stetzer was recently interview on his opinions about life and ministry in the suburbs. This interview is short and helpful and I encourage you to read the entire interview by clicking HERE.
I found the following Q and A’s helpful:
Do you think suburban churches are selling out to consumerism instead of making disciples? If so, in what way?
Of course. And so are urban and rural churches. Consumerism is the bane of our world, not the bane of the suburbs. People who think that there is not consumerism in the city have never lived in a real city.
I lived among the poor and they want their needs met just like anyone else — that is not a suburban thing, that is a depravity thing. The difference is that in the suburbs people have the means to express their consumerism outwardly.
How can we live more missionally in suburbia (any practical suggestions)?
I am not sure I would say it is much different in the suburbs than in the city or in the rural area. Let me suggest a few applications that might differ in the suburbs.
First, I think churches in the suburbs need to reconsider and discover again the nature of the biblical gospel. To many, the suburbs mean success. I live in such a place — people move to my area because it is where the other successful people are moving. It is no closer to downtown that 5 other suburbs I could list, but it is the go-to place on the north side of Nashville. Thus, it attracts people who value success. Obviously, a biblical gospel calls us to weakness and not strength. In the midst of the celebration of riches and opulence around us, we hold up a gospel of self-denial, poverty of spirit, and forgiveness of sin.
Again… I encourage you to read this short and helpful interview by clicking HERE.
