People in different generations in our congregations are often using the same language but meaning different things.
Congregations are centers of competing needs.
They used to be able to help people find consensus as a group. Now the cultural focus is all on the individual and what makes individuals happy. The challenge today is for churches to help people find themselves in community and meet their needs too. Rendle said that in his lifetime the value shift from group to individual has been dramatic. We once saw ourselves as Americans first or members of the Lutheran Church first.